Rating: 
Summary: Best of the Baby Sleep Books
Review: This book was recommended to us from a mother of three. It has a multitude of information and is a must for parents that want a good night's sleep for themselves and the baby.
Rating:
Summary: Flexibility and Workability
Review: I wanted to respond to the person who reviewed this book from Calgary. I am also from Calgary. Although the quotes you mentioned from the book are acurate, the context in which you have placed them in your review are not. I am a caring mother with a 7 mth old. I bought this book when my child was 3 mths old. The reason I read the entire book was because of its flexibility. In the section 4-12 mths where he suggests starting to allow your child to cry he also points out that if you are not ready for this approach to try again later when your child is older. We followed the Dr.'s advice. I was not comfortable with allowing my child to cry. The Dr. says that sleep training does not involve crying if you time it correctly and follow the biological sleep cycles of your child. We found that this book was a happy medium between those "experts" who suggest sleeping with your child until they are 12 and the other "experts" who suggest you let your child "cry it out" at 3 wks old. You definately have to take this program and modify it for yourself. He suggests you watch your baby and do what works best for you and your family. Nothing you read can be followed straight to the letter and work for everyone. I found as a new mother I was desperate to read something that would tell me the "right" information. The fact is, you just have to find what works for you and makes you feel good about being a parent and what works for your child. I now have a little boy who sleeps 9-11, 1-3, and the entire night from 7pm to 7am. He is happy and cheerful and loves his crib and all things associated with sleeping. Just a note, in total (over the past 4 mths of doing the program) this has involved about 20 minutes of crying total (not per day, or per sleep time). You do not have to leave them to cry to have this program work for you! Congrats Dr. for a book that CAN work for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not all or nothing!
Review: It is important when reading any book to take from it what can work for you and leave what doesn't. I will never agree with letting my baby cry indefinitely at night. There is just no reason for that, and if I shut the door and just let her cry, I would really have no way of knowing if she truly needed me. Yes, that would be cruel.However... there is a world of difference between a cry that signals "Mommy, I need you!" and one that is a cry due to fatigue. I have a 5 1/2 month old daughter who has recently started crying at night when she needs to go to sleep. It is plain to see that she is overtired, so we have started an earlier bedtime. That has made such a big difference. My husband and I made the mistake of taking her out of her crib initially during these crying bouts, only to find that she WAS tired, but would perk up again, all smiley, because she got out of the crib. She's smart enough to figure out that if she cries, we would eventually pick her up. We have started just going in at certain intervals just to reassure her and pat her on the back. That is all she needs. Picking her up, nursing her again (which was what I was doing) was just setting her up for habits that would be harder and harder to break. Don't underestimate the importance of sleep. Weissbluth does make that point pretty clear, and we have found with our daughter that the amount of sleep she gets DIRECTLY influences her behavior. There were so many times I let her skip naps, stay up late, etc. only to find her so crabby and upset the next day. She does need her sleep, yes, but I have found that the "middle of the road" approach we've taken (earlier bedtime, reassurances for her as needed) has made a world of difference. Please take from this book what will work for you. There is no one saying that you have to use the Weissbluth method exclusively. Trust your parental instincts. No one knows your child better than you do!
Rating: 
Summary: Too rigid
Review: This book contains interesting information, but I found his approach to be too rigid for my baby. He advocates one approach for all babies, which I think is unrealistic. I tried this approach for a couple of days with great difficulty. I called my pediatrician and she said many parents get frustrated with this book because they try to follow his advice of naps every 2 hours, etc. and it doesn't work for many babies. She suggested Ferber's book, which I am now ordering.
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!
Review: Follow this book if you want to ease your mind about neglecting your child. This book contains some really terrible suggestions and may seriously damage your trust relationship with your child. A crying infant should always be attended to. This book's advice could be dangerous. In time, your baby will sleep through the night. I don't know how any parent could sleep at night if they follow the advice in this book.
Rating:
Summary: From a sleepless in Seattle mom
Review: Ok,I wish I'd read this book while I was pregnant, rather than after my son was four months old and crabby all the time. I bought this book two weeks ago, and since then my catnapping son has now learned to nap for 2 hours at a time and sleep quite well thru the nite (three nights we made it all the way thru), waking only for a feeding or two. The real progress is that he will now go right back to sleep after waking. We were up two hours at a time walking, rocking, and soothing him back to sleep whenever he awoke at night. Now, he rolls over and snoozes. This book has saved our sanity and shown us that we have a very fun son after all, as long as we allow him to get some sleep. I highly recommend the book, and to remember to customize the ideas to your child's needs. It's worked wonders for us.
Rating:
Summary: Of course it works - it's the Nazi sleep method!
Review: My little girl was sleeping through the night (till 7am), but she didn't go to bed till late (10pm). My wife and I bought the book in an attempt to instill health sleep habits. Of course we purchased this book. The title matched our desires and there were scores of satisfied parents. What a mistake! Dr. Weissbluth recommends letting your baby cry itself to sleep...for up to an hour or more! We grudgingly tried to utilize the good doctor's methods and, to our great disappointment, we only succeeded in making our daughter trust us less. The result of Dr. Weissbluth's book is that now my daughter can't put herself to sleep, she's terrified of her crib, she wakes up every morning at 4am, we can't soothe her by talking or touching her, and her sleep habits are totally disrupted. Letting a baby cry over an hour is a heartless and sadistic method of instilling "healthy sleep habits." What's the doctor's next book going to be? "Dachau Daycare"? A very unhappy (and sleepy) customer.
Rating:
Summary: Cruel and Unsafe
Review: The whole philosophy of the book is that children's need for sleep takes precedence over all other needs of the child: need for security, (Maslow), need to develop trust (Erickson), and other basic needs like breastmilk and water. Weissbluth's definition of a sleep problem is when the child not sleeping becomes a problem for the parent. His solution is that up to four months, parents should meet the babies' needs for cuddles, feeding, etc. After four months, he advocates letting the baby cry it out for however long it takes until the baby stops crying and goes to sleep. The parents are not to check on the baby or pat it's back or talk. When asked "How long should I let my baby cry?", he replies, "to establish regular naps, and consolidated sleep overnight, there is no time limit." p.134 "We are leaving the baby alone to forget the expection to be picked up." The most offensive part of the book in on page 157 in the 4 month to 12 month age, where he replies to a mother whose baby is so upset, she vomits: "If the vomiting always occurs, I think you will want to always go in to clean her promptly and then leave her again. If the vomiting is irregular and occasional, you should try waiting until after you think she is deeply asleep before checking, and then quickly clean her if needed." The parents are not to check to see if the baby choked? They are advised to make her fall asleep in her vomit? What if her body is dangling from the crib slats? What if she has a tummyache, or is hungry or has a thread wrapped around her toe? The parents are just supposed to ignore it until she gives up sobbing in desparation? Weissbluth also makes statements in the book that are not backed by studies: Letting a baby cry for hours on end without soothing, reassuring, or picking up, does no emotional damage in the long term. Kids become independent by being ignored and learning to meet their own needs by self soothing, rahter then by being nurtured ny parents and having their needs met quickly. Kids that demand more emotional/social time with parents are called "bratty". Temperment can be changed by sleep increases. A child's behaviour is not linked to temperment, but is linked to the amount of rest they get. Parents have ultimate *control* over their child's sleep. They are not just facilitators of sleep, but can make their children go to sleep. Breastmilk and formula are just as satiating because of the similar calorie count. (He discounts that breastmilk is easier to digest and therefore breastfed babies can be hungrier through the night. ) Adults who are addicted to their lovers, probably had Mothers who couldn't allow them to separate, self soothe, or grow. p.236 A nine month old baby has the cognitive ability to "stick it to his Mother" and planned out ways to manipulate her. p.218 Infants that have every need met are left with "undischarged aggression". The infant is robbed of desire because his every need is anticipated and met before being experienced. p.78 "Two and a half hours of crying is normal during a sleep training program. " (The baby is two months old.) P. 97 to 99 The need for attention and soothing at night is not a need, but a want, like the desire for candy. p. 164 This book is not only cruel but dangerous. A parent who can ignore her babies crys in the midst of vomit for hours on end, is not going to be a nurturing, responsive parent during the day. The need for attention, food, soothing, cuddles and security are basic needs of babies and children. Sleep is also a need. As a responsible parent you can find ways to give your child both.
Rating:
Summary: It works!
Review: I was very skeptical of the information presented in the book but had a miserable, non-napping 5 month-old boy. He slept very well at night but would not nap consistently during the day and then would be crabby and unhappy in the early evening before bed. We thought this was his personality. After 3 weeks of using the methods in the book he is napping during the day and sleeping better at night. Naps aside he is now happy,bubbly fun and alert and the "crabby baby" is gone. This is one kid who thrives on schedules and understanding that hurdle was a breakthrough. He now cries very rarely when put down for naps and seems to look forward to them. Of course keeping them on a schedule is challenging but in our case well worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: A "Must Read" for every parent and parent-to-be!
Review: I am a neonatal nurse and a mother of two: a ten-year old son and a seven-year-old daughter, both of whom were extremely "colicky"! This book absolutely saved my sanity during those extraordinarily difficult first months. And it continues to be helpful today. Dr. Weissbluth is a highly respected pediatrician who has thoroughly studied sleep patterns in children of all ages, and his advice is based upon that sound research. So few people, including professionals (pediatricians and nurses)understand much about sleep patterns, and especially about colic, and it can be very frustrating trying to get a helpful solution to one's inquiry about these "problems". This is such a sound, logical book! Dr. Weissbluth also offers wonderful advice with regards to sleep for parents of toddlers, school-aged children, and adolescents, so this book is useful throughout all of a parent's childrearing years.
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