Rating: 
Summary: A lifesaver for this Mommy of twins!
Review: This book was recommended to me when my twins were four months old. At that time they did well at night but wouldn't nap. I loved this book because it gives parents choices as to how to put their child to sleep and whether to let their child cry it out (which isn't necessary if you are following the method and observing your child). I charted my children's sleep and within one week they were napping soundly and consistently. His theories of "sleep begets sleep" and timing of sleep have proven time and again to be true. Now, at 21 months, my twins are still the best sleepers of any children I know and are happy, delightful joys to be with. While the book isn't specifically geared to twins, the methods are adaptable to multiples. This book saved my sanity and made parenting twins a double delight - I have more than twice the fun! I give it to all my expectant friends.
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Summary: If you have a colicky baby, BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: This book will explain why colicky babies act the way they do. And the evidence is based on science, not opinion. It explains how colic (real colic, not just a sometimes fussy baby) appears from 1-2 weeks of age and WHY. It helped me to understand why my son was so fussy (10-15 hours of unconsolible crying per day) in the first 3 months of his life. It helped me to understand that I did not cause this behavior and that there was not much I could do to prevent it. And it explains what you can do to help your baby sleep once the colic has stopped. The author adresses the unique needs of the POSTCOLIC BABY AND PARENT. To say this book is worth its weight in gold would be an understatement.
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Summary: Worked well for mommy and child
Review: I found this book after realizing that I needed to find a way I could put my son to sleep without leaving him alone to cry it out. I liked the research that the author talks about and the recommended guidelines. It provides some great suggestions of how to structure a child's sleep and encourages the parent to listen to their child's needs (the difference between "not feeling well" and "not wanting to go to sleep"). These methods seemed do-able and more humane to me than others that I read about, providing flexibility where needed.
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Summary: Seems incomplete if you have more than one child
Review: I got this book for our second child. Our first child sleeps just fine, but I wanted to make sure we got off on the right foot with #2.
The book has good information in it, and I found it interesting, but somewhat incomplete. How does the feeding schedule work into the sleep schedule? They have to work together somehow, it would seem, but there was no mention of eating at all that I could find other than to say that babies don't wake up because they're hungry.
Secondly, some of the advice is fine if there's only one child in the house, or if you have sound proof walls. But it's difficult to let your baby cry himself to sleep when there's another child sleeping nearby, no advice there either. I guess the second child has to grin and bear it like the parents... not an easy task for a two year old. In a perfect world, you could plan your day around your baby's nap schedule, but again, with other children in the house, that's nearly impossible. I was a little disappointed to find no acknowledgement of the "second child" challenges.
I liked that the chapters were divided up by age ranges, and the descriptions of the different types of sleep. That has been helpful as a reference.
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Summary: This is the one book I'd keep
Review: If someone told me I had to give up ALL of my books related to pregnancy and parenting (and there are many!) and could just keep one, this would be it. As a scientist, I appreciate the science behind the advice in this book. As a parent, I appreciate the anecdotes and the pep talk from the author on (1) why sleep is so important and (2) how to get through the rough parts of helping my child learn good sleep habits. Because of this book, I believe my 8-month-old daughter is well on the way to having good sleep habits and getting the sleep she needs for optimal development. If you are having any problems at all in the sleep realm, buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Very poorly written
Review: I truely don't think anyone edited this book before it was published--it is extremely hard to get through due to it's poor organization, contradictions in the text, etc. That said, it does seem to contain some helpful information although it was definately not the book for our family. From it we learned to watch both our infant as well as the clock to make sure we helped him to sleep before he became overtired. Unfortunately, when we tried the methods of "training" suggested in this book, the end result was a baby who cried (Dr. Weissbluth claims that if you follow his method this will not happen, yet several of his real-life cases in the book talk about their babies crying for well over an hour at a time).
Finally we realized that our son is a human being, not a puppy, and does not need "training". There is no need for a baby to cry, calling for his parents, all in the name of getting him to be a "good sleeper". We want to foster independence in our child, not force it before he's ready.
We ended up getting The Baby Book by Dr. Sears. It's not at all how I expected to be parenting my child, but it's given me permission to follow my instincts on things like the sleep issue. Things are certainly not perfect but we are all more at ease.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must-Read for New Parents
Review: I bought this book when my firstborn was only a few weeks old after having attempted and rejected (with many tears and much guilt) the Babywise "one-size-fits-all" and "just-trust-me-it-works" approach to infant sleep. I am a professional who works with the infant and toddler population, and what I wanted in a book on infant sleep was some hard data and research to support the author's position. Dr. Weissbluth does, I think, a wonderful job of supporting his position with his own clinical data as well as other research on childhood sleep patterns. Within a few days of implementing his "watch for signs of tiredness" trick and the two-hour limit on awake time for my son, I went from an insecure new parent with an I'm-inadequate-and-a-horrible-mother attitude (the result of the Babywise guilt-trip) to a confident partner of my newborn in developing his healthy sleep patterns. In fact, I feel so confident in my abilities now that I don't plan on pulling this book off of the shelf very often when my second child is born in two months. I already know what to expect and when to expect it in regards to my daughter's sleep patterns, and I know how my behavior can shape my baby's sleep habits in the future.The most valuable part of Dr. Weissbluth's book is that he consistently reassures the parent that, although he has knowledge about childhood sleep patterns, each parent is the specialist in his or her own child. I took the recommendations from his book and, once implemented, found that all he had really taught me was to observe my son's behavior to judge how well-rested he was and to trust my own instincts as a parent. Just from watching my son I learned that his limit for being awake at an early age was only 90 minutes and that he would start to hiccup and reach for his ears when he was hitting his maximum level of stimulation. I would then quickly whisk him off to a quiet and darkened room and watch him fall asleep without any crying at all. What a miracle! With this early sleep training, my son and I avoided much of the turmoil that many parents go through. He started sleeping through the entire night (12 hours) at three months of age. I can count on two hands the number of times I have had to let him cry himself to sleep (and those episodes never lasted more than 30 minutes, even as a self-assured little toddler), and he is now two years of age. When I tell him that it is time for bed or for his nap, I get smiles and enthusiasm, not tantrums. He loves his routine and he loves to be well rested! (Don't we all?) I'm sure that part of the success of my son has been his own special personality, but I am equally convinced that his good behavior is related to his being well-rested, and this I attribute to the fact that he learned as a small infant to fall asleep when he is tired. Thank you, Dr. Weissbluth! The reason I give the book four stars and not five is that Dr. Weissbluth needs to find himself a good editor. The revised edition of this book is an improvement, although a small one, on the original version. Ironically, his organization (or disorganization, I should say) of the book reminds me of some hyperactive and sleep-deprived person trying to get his thoughts out all at once. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this book and have done so frequently in my professional role in working with families. Even if you strongly oppose sleep-training or "crying-it-out," there is something of value to you in this book. Learning to read your child's sleep cues, knowing the biological basis for infant sleep and how they relate to your own child, and having a framework for what "typical" sleep patterns look like for most (but not all) infants is valuable information for parents on either side of the "crying-it-out" fence. Dr. Weissbluth takes a wonderfully moderate approach to this issue (compared to the abomination of Babywise!) by discouraging letting a baby cry to sleep before four months of age (and a no-guilt disclaimer to revisit the issue when the infant is older if it causes the parents too much stress) and limiting the length of time a parent should let an infant cry before intervening. Having perused many parenting books on a variety of topics for my job, I would list this one as my "sleep Bible."
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Summary: GOD SENT
Review: This book is amazing! I have totally trained my baby to sleep solely based on this book. Not only does the book give you the tools to teach the baby to sleep, but also tells you why sleep is so important for their growth and health.
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Summary: An Absolute Must
Review: After reading this book and following its recommendations, our baby now sleeps like -- well -- a baby! I have not ready other books on sleeping for babies, but this book has been a lifesaver. We tried to get our baby to sleep through the night by keeping him up in the evenings. After reading this book, we learned that it had the opposite effect -- it made him overtired to the point of preventing him from falling asleep. Our other strategy -- of rocking and nursing him when he kept crying at night -- further prevented him from falling asleep until the wee hours of the morning. After learning that infants his age should generally be up for no more than two hours at a time, we gave him naps in the evening, which helped him to sleep through the night! We also made sure that he got plenty of naps during the day, and he is now a happy and smily and well rested baby. The book also gives advice about the sleeping needs and habits of children through the teenage years, so it should be a great reference book for years. I've recommended and bought this book for friends and family and give it the highest rating.
Rating:
Summary: An absolute necessity
Review: I believe this book is responsible for all the comments I get about how well-tempered my son is. Weissbluth talks a lot about how lack of sleep can cause children to be fussy, irritable, and high-strung. For certain age ranges, he has recommendations on how much sleep a child needs. He also discusses how a well-rested child will learn better and be happier. I bought this book when my son was 8 weeks old and started using it immediately with fantastic results. Sometimes it can be hard to stick to the advice, but the pay off is worth it. At 3 months, he slept through the night. At 8 1/2 months, he sleeps 11-12 hours and is asleep by 7 pm. He also takes 2 naps that are between 1 and 2 hours each. People always comment on how good he is. In fact, the only time he cries and gets fussy is if he doesn't nap well or is ready to go to sleep. The difference between my well-rested son and my tired son is like night and day. Because of this book, my husband and I can easily tell when our son is getting tired. We have learned all the signs and whisk him off to bed immediately. The benefits of this book have been huge. The only criticism that I have is that the book needs some editing. It tends to meander and jump around. It is not the easiest or the most exciting read, but the information that it has is priceless.
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