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Summary: How your baby can come to "sleep like a baby"
Review: This book is wonderful. Our son had trouble taking naps and going to sleep at night until we tried Weissbluth's methods. Readers should note that all negative reviews of this book are based on discredited ideology (e.g., the slanderous suggestion that Dr. Weissbluth must hate children because he counsels firmness) rather than on experience (i.e., the critics don't seem to have actually tried Dr. Weissbluth's methods). Positive reviews are by readers who tried the methods (and had tried others as well) and found them to work. Set aside your ideology and try it, for your child's, and your family's, sake.
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Summary: Good info, method not for me
Review: I would recommend this book for the information on children's sleep cycles (how much, how many naps, when naps should be taken, etc.) but found the "cry for hours" approach unecessarily harsh. I would recommend Ferber's book for a gentler approach.
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Summary: Start early to prevent unhealthy sleep habits.
Review: Preventing a bad habit is always easier than changing a bad habit. Eating lots of candy is a simple example. Giving a child too much attention at the time when his body's internal clock is entering the biological sleep zone is not so obvious. But in both examples, the child will protest if you give less candy or less attention. Starting early to avoid junk food or a 'junk' sleep schedule makes life much easier for the entire family because you avoid the stress of having to change the child's expectations. I care for patients with parents from all walks of life (including those with HMO insurance) and have been doing so for over 25 years. I strongly believe that parents enormously benefit from the very beginning by asking themselves "When I behave this way to my child, what is my child learning?"
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Summary: Not for every family . . .
Review: I feel compelled to write because this book has gotten such rave reviews here. I have to say that this book really irritated me. I read it with high hopes of help with my daughter's sleep problems and came away very disappointed. First of all, Dr. Weissbluth seems like he really dislikes kids. There are some statements about "fussy, bratty" toddlers who don't sleep well who may grow up to be "fat kids" that are incredibly mean coming from a pediatrician. The author implies that his method will work with every child and if it doesn't, it's the parents' fault. Actually, it's the mother's fault because she has deep seated psychological problems that prevent her from appropriately separating from her baby or she hates her husband. Seriously, I felt guilty for about two seconds after I read it (an uncharacteristic lapse that was probably due to severe sleep deprivation) and then I laughed. This just doesn't work for my daughter and it isn't my fault or my husband's fault. All of the examples in this book are of children that responded to the "technique" within a day or two. He says that you may have to let your child cry as long as three or four hours (!!) before they get learn that it's "sleep time" but he never gives an example of a family that was able to withstand that kind of torture. All his examples are of families where the child cried for 30 minutes the first night but went right to sleep the next. It's totally unrealistic. I think the worst thing about this book is that he says in several places that you have to put your child down, close the door and not come back until morning (no matter how much your child protests) and you can't be inconsistent on that point. In other places he says that it's perfectly normal for some children to wake up once a night for a feeding but he doesn't tell you how to go to your child to feed her without being "inconsistent" about responding to her cries. He also implies a causal relationship between ADD in children and poor infant sleep habits but never shows how his methods have helped children "prone" to ADD at all. All that being said, he does make some good points about the importance of good sleep for people of all ages and the scientific studies are interesting. I know that for some children, his techniques work - I have a couple of friends who swear by it. For other children, like my daughter, who are strong-willed and refuse to be "trained," it just doesn't work. Read it if you must but do not let Dr. Weissbluth make you feel guilty if it doesn't work for your family. The scary thing is that we almost used Dr. Weissbluth as our pediatrician - I should give thanks that he doesn't take HMO patients!
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Summary: We couldn't have done it without Dr. Weissbluth!!!
Review: As first time parents, we wanted to give our baby a healthy start. Other mother's in my Chicago friendship network recommended Dr. Weissbluth's book and we read it from cover to cover in one night. Our son was born 21 months ago and has followed Dr. Weissbluth's sleep schedule from day one. He slept through the night completely by three months and has been a textbook baby ever since. The key to healthy sleeping success is putting the needs of your baby first. My husband and I worked our outings and errands around our baby's needs. We were not "chained to the crib" as a few friends commented. Rather, we respected the changing needs of our son and planned accordingly. Our social life didn't suffer, and when we met other friends with babies, our son tended to be the most pleasant of the group. The book works if you follow the plan. Our toddler can tell you. We say the magic words, "what time is it?" and he climbs up the stairs saying "night night."
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Summary: Most Helpful
Review: I stumbled on this informative book quite by accident while looking for books on how to deal with colic. Not only were there comforting words about colicky behavior (yes, it did pass), but after she outgrew that, I was able to recognize signs of tiredness, and most importantly, how critically important adequate sleep is for a child. my daughte is now 18 months, and anytime I have a question or concern, I refer to this book. It has been one of the best buys I ever made. Most importantly, Dr. Weissbluth emphasizes the need for parents to recognize their own child's individual sleep needs and how they work into a particular family. Opinions certainly vary about this, but my husband and I feel that when both we and our child are well-rested, that we are better parents. The book is a most useful guideline of children's sleep habits. Children are individuals, but they all have a need for rest and sleep in order to learn and grow. I recommend this book if you do not want to do the family bed, or nightime wakenings in a child past 6-8 months old are becoming intolerable.
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Summary: The best infant/child sleep book available.
Review: As a new parent, I was overwhelmed by the challenges of infant/baby sleep patterns, and my own lack of sleep. After reading many books, this book addressed my concerns in a thoughtful manner, and was less rigid than some of the other popluar books. It really helped at the 4 to 5 month age when sleep training became an issue for me.
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Summary: How long do I let my baby cry at nap time?
Review: On page 120, I stated that it's all right for children to cry for three to four hours. When writing the book and doing sleep consultations, I gave parents a 'package' of suggestions including early bedtimes, stop reinforcing night wakings except for feeding, consistency in soothing to sleep, controlling the wake up time, and age appropriate nap times. When all elements were in place, I had not observed crying for more than an hour at nap time. My intent was to shift the focus from crying to sleeping. However, when children are extremely over-tired from too late a bed time, fragmented night sleep, or naps occurring at the wrong times, children are less able to fall asleep for naps. During sleep training, my advice is to do the entire 'package' and leave your child alone at naps for no more than one hour. If no nap occurs during that hour, rescue your child and and try again at the next sleep period(nap or night) but start a little earlier.
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Summary: Makes Illogical Claims and Shows Basic Disrespect for Kids
Review: Dr. Weissbluth shows himself to be an "ends justify the means" type of guy in this book, both in his method of retraining children to sleep (in which he states, for instance, that one should let a 4mo. old cry for four hours to achieve a daytime nap, p.120), and in his argument, which contains some completely fallacious claims. 1) He says that if your child is above 90%tile or below 10%tile for total hours of sleep you should suspect a sleep problem. He then goes on to cite a success story on p.115 in which a 3-4 mo. old was trained to sleep 18-20 hours a day, which is off Dr. Weissbluth's very own sleep percentile chart! 2) in order to persuade parents not to respond to a child's painful "growing pains" in the legs, he cites studies that show that these pains do not coincide with growth spurts. From this he jumps to the conclusion that soothing such pains only meets emotional needs (p.56). Perhaps the pain is just misnamed (some call it restless leg syndrome I believe), as opposed to an invention of a crafty child just trying to get extra attention (his descriptive words from p.36). Don't be fooled. This man definitely believes that more sleep is better, not just that kids should get enough and learn to go to bed without protest. I don't necessarily disagree with training a child to go to sleep by letting them cry, but don't insult your intelligence by using this book to convince yourself it's okay. END
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Summary: Good but a bit harsh
Review: The book has excellent info on baby's sleep needs and cycles. However, I think the author's recommendation that kids should be left for hours is unnecessary and too harsh on the PARENTS! Ferber's book (Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems) suggests you can go in every so often to reassure the kid. I think this also works fine, since your child will realize s/he must go to sleep either way. When traveling, a gentle pat on the back also helps.
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