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Summary: Phoenomenal and sound advice!
Review: I must concur with the majority of the reviews that truly this book has made being a first time mother a joyful, restful experience because my 4 month old daughter is joyful and rested! I followed this book from day one and appreciated its room for differences in children. For my daughter, Dr. Weissbluth has been right on the money. My daughter sleeps like a champion--3 naps a days ranging from 1-3 hours each, and sleeps from 6:30 PM-7AM. Friends and family do not believe her ability to sleep so much at such an early age, my mother still things something is wrong with her! But the fact remains, that because of this book I was educated of the sleep habits of babies and simply allowed my child to sleep according to her needs--not my needs. Now she is a charming child when she is awake and is content and alert and happy--no fussy baby! I know when the fussiness begins she's telling me its bedtime. This book has allowed me to enjoy this first experience because my daughter is rested, happy, and healthy. IT IS A MUST BUY FOR ALL PARENTS!
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Summary: This book saved me from going over the edge!
Review: For anyone who has a baby who sleeps poorly at night... buy this book immediately. I tried the tips Dr. Weissbluth recommended and had amazing results the first night!!!! I can't read this book fast enough!!
Rating: 
Summary: Overall Good, but some Bad
Review: Overall, I share what seems to be people's overwhelming impression of this book--it has great GENERAL guidelines for helping your child get good sleep. I think the best thing this book does is help new and inexperienced parents understand how important good, quality sleep is for their babies. In our "go go" society that can get overlooked. I also agree with another reviewer that says this book is not that well written--it's not! A lot of the writing is a real struggle to get through. A good editing would improve this book tremendously. That said, I must say my biggest gripe with this book was the pressure it seemed to place on parents to have "perfect timing" for setting a sleep schedule. Dr. Weisbluth uses this phrase REPEATEDLY in the book (eg, with perfect timing there will be no crying when you lay your baby down for a nap, etc etc) Well, excuse me, but where does such perfection exist? I think the child's disposition is going to have a lot more of a role in determining if the child cries a little, a lot or not at all when put down for sleep. In general, I found Dr. Weisbluth's book unwilling to acknowledge that some babies are just going to be more difficult sleepers, no matter how scheduled you get them or how much you try to "perfectly" time their sleep. I personally found it very disheartening when the scenarios in his book would describe the horrible two or three nights of crying at bedtime his case family was facing, when my husband and I were listening to our son still cry extensively at bedtime after implementing the book's methods months and months earlier. Even worse were daytime naps, because while or son would eventually fall asleep and stay asleep for at least several hours at night, during the day he could cry at naptime for almost an hour and then only sleep ten minutes, day after day, with no improvement.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful advice, although horribly written
Review: My baby is now ten weeks old. He had always been fussy in the evenings and was not sleeping long stretches yet at night. I started looking into sleeping books because of the fussiness and because I noticed that he wasn't sleeping anywhere close the the 15-18 hours per day that most doctors say a baby his age should be sleeping. I took Dr. Weissbluth's advice to put him down for a nap as soon as he starts showing signs of fatigue, but in any case, within two hours of wakefulness. The first couple of days were tough because he was only taking half hour naps, but after that, he started napping normally and his nighttime sleep started to get longer. After only a week, my son is now sleeping for one seven hour stretch at night and falls asleep on his own at night.
Although Dr. Weissbluth provides lots of useful information and research statistics, the book is extremely poorly written. His advice seems to work, but the book is in terrible need of a complete rewrite and reorganization. I also find the personal stories of his patients' successes annoying. The bold print reminders in the book frequently contradict one another although I think Dr. Weissbluth does try to explain the contradictions somewhere in the book, if one can find the explanation.
Finally, I think that the attack on his method of crying it out is unwarranted. He does not say anywhere that I could find, that he advocates letting the child cry himself to sleep, in fact, in the early months, he specifically says to try letting him cry at first in five minute increments.
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Summary: The best book for new moms!
Review: A friend let me borrow this book along with three other books on how to get my baby to sleep better. This by far was the best! It gave great advice and seemed much more thorough in its detail on how to solve sleep problems for your child. I am buying my own copy and will buy one for anyone I know with an infant.
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Summary: It works!
Review: I have the older version of this book, but I've read it so many times I can practically quote parts of it!It's very simple and practical information. You put the baby down for a nap after he/she has been up for about an hour. And then let them sleep until they wake up. You also set a resonable bedtime. Dr. Weisbluth believes that the more sleep they get, the more they sleep. And while it sounds like it would be the reverse, it is actually the truth. I know some people might find his method of letting the child "cry it out" to be cruel, but if it works, and your child is sleeping well after a few days, then I think it's all worth it. My husband and I also thought it to be cruel, but after several months of trying assorted other methods, and going sleep-free, we were tired and ready to try anything. A friend suggested this book, and after three nights of following it, our son was going to sleep (happily, I might add) by himself, and waking up 12 hours later, well rested and happy! During the day, I would follow the program of putting him down after about an hour of being awake. In the beginning, he couldn't even go an hour. He was so tired because previously I was following some other program, and I was misreading my son's tiredness. Dr. Weisbluth suggests that you put your child down before they are really tired (and therefore too cranky to wind down on their own). And this also worked! It was like a miracle. As soon as my son was rubbing his eyes, and yawning, I'd rush him to his crib and he would fall asleep within minutes. Magic! My only pet peeve about this book are the stories from his patients he uses to illustrate the method. They kind of go on and on, and did not fit my experience or anywhere near it. And in the older version, he had a woman who said that it was OK for her to smoke because it made her feel good, and that was what she needed. I'm a big believer that one shouldn't smoke around their kids (even if it makes them feel good), but that is my personal opinion. And I'd imagine that a pediatrician (which Dr. Weisbluth is) would say the same. I don't know if this woman's story is in the revised version. But other than that, this book works!
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Summary: This book saved my life
Review: I have read this book maybe 20 times since I first bought it, and it has literally been my child-rearing bible. ...Dr. Weissbluth was my son's first pediatrician, and he is absolutely the kindest, most wonderful doctor I have ever seen. When we moved from Chicago, I cried more about the fact that we would not be able to use Dr. Weissbluth than the fact we were leaving behind friends! His sleep methods, which he teaches to all his patients, have saved my life. We had a colicky baby and the ONLY thing that helped was establishing good sleep habits. Dr. Weissbluth's methods -- which involve scheduling naps and consistent nighttime sleep -- help your child to be rested and happy. One reviewer below states that Dr. Weissbluth is "cruel" and that instead of using his methods she has reverted to allowing her child to "sleep in the family bed" where she wakes up "several times a night." While that may work for them, our family is happier because our children sleep in their own beds all night WITHOUT ever waking. If that is your goal too, please buy this book. It is wonderful...
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Summary: If you follow this advice it WILL WORK for you!
Review: As a new mother of an 8 week old. I have found this to be the most valuable gift we received. I just ordered a copy for my pregnant friend! My husband and I HAD been trying to keep the baby awake in the evenings until midnight in hopes of sleeping through 'till morning (this rarely succeeded in getting us - if we were lucky -through the night to 6am and the baby fussed all day). The day I got this book we put our then 6 week old baby down at 8pm - allowed her to cry 5 minutes and she slept until 3am, took a bottle, and then promptly fell back to sleep until 8am!!!! At 8 weeks we have the nights back to ourselves for a much needed break and still get 8 hours of sleep!
...Dr. W clearly states there will be vacations, special occassions, and illnesses but that within a few days you and your child can be right back on track. Maybe some people just won't slow down enough to give their child a good nights sleep. I suppose if they don't try Dr. W's advice- they will never know how well it works. It is their loss ( and the child's of course!) I personally believe that sticking to a "schedule" to the best of ones ability is better than none at all. Of course, the closer it is followed the better it will work! We have fallen out of schedule one time so that we could take the baby to an evening football game. The next day and night were just more solid proof that this book is right on the money. We're sticking to it....
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Summary: This book saved my life!
Review: My daughter was born in December of 99 and at 3 weeks old got RSV. So needless to say, her sleeping schedule evolved around taking medications and just trying to get comfortable enough to breathe much less sleep. She was over with after about 2 months and then had NO sleep schedule at all. She would go to bed at 1 am or 2 or even 3 and then be awake at 7. Nap? What's that? I was a mess. She had no sleep and I had no sleep and was trying to work a night job too. My sister in law recommended this book and a week later a called her in tears saying "that book has saved my life!" Since then, Megan sleeps from 9pm to 9am and takes at LEAST a 2 hour nap, sometimes 3. I keep repeating in my mind the doctor's theory that "sleep induces sleep" and it's so true! For parents of babies and children that had to sleep when they could but are now healthy, this will CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Theirs too!
Rating:
Summary: Happy child, happy parents
Review: After months of trying the "baby wise" method(unsuccessfully), I came across this book. Finally, something that makes sense to those of us who don't believe in letting our babies "cry it out."
Everything Dr. Weissbluth describes and recomends in his book really made sense. My five month old is falling asleep on her own,without fussiness, taking naps during the day, going to bed earlier than I had ever imagined, and sleeping through the night. I reccommend this book to all expecting parents. Read it before the baby comes; it will help you understand what your newborn is going through, and how you can identify sleeping patterns in order to help your baby develop his/her healthy sleeping habits.
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