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Summary: MY BABY HAS A FANTASTIC PERSONALITY AS A RESULT OF THIS BOOK
Review: I am a very nurturing mother.. I'm not hard-core at all. I have found this book to be the best thing since sliced bread. If you are thinking of purchasing this book.. keep in mind that you can grab and use parts of his teachings. You don't have to use every recommendation he suggests. 75% of the time he's on target.My 6 month old has been sleeping like a lamb since 2 months. I started using his sleeping techniques at an early age. I have not had to let her "cry it out" because she has always been acustom to sleep based on the techniques/schedule. If she does happen to wake up in the middle of the night, or can't nap easily, I comfort and show her I am there because it usually means something is wrong; teething, a cold, soiled diaper and so-on. If a parent is finding that their children are crying themselves to sleep and they don't like that feeling.. they need to look at how Weissbluth describes the 20-30 minute soothing process. This can help prevent the crying from occuring because it triggers "nap/sleep" time and the baby is prepared and ready for it when you put them down. This book has been the bible to me and has made me a healthier mother where I can provide my daughter the best sleep possible.
She is a joy to be around because of it. People tell me this all the time.
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Summary: poorly written and wordy
Review: My baby is due in a few weeks and I've been reading a variety of books on sleeping methods. This book was highly recommended by a friend. Unfortunately, it's so poorly written and organized that I am unwilling to continue with the book! If you are someone who likes a book to get to the point and give you practical information, skip this one. The book doesn't even explain who is "talking" from paragraph to paragraph and erratically skips from Dr. Weissbluth's voice to stories of babies with poor sleeping habits by parents who are unintroduced and unidentified in the book.
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Summary: Didn't work for our infant
Review: My child is nearly three months old and is being breastfed. He is healthy and happy but not because of the advice in this book. In fact, whenever I try some of the suggestions, it backfires and can cause us to get even less sleep. I have found it to be more helpful to be aware of my baby's queues. When he is tired, I get him to sleep and keep him there in any way I can. My son simply does not want to go to sleep at 6 or 7. He wants to stay up til 10 or 11. Trying to force him to go to bed before he is ready only produces hours of earpiercing screams. Instead of ever getting to sleep, if forced, he simply screams into the next feeding time (when he starts trying to eat his fingers). Then he is upset and doesn't sleep well the rest of the night and we are frazzled. Instead, if we let him stay up (but in quiet wind down mode), he is happy, will let us put him in the crib and will generally go to sleep easily. He does still wake 2 times a night for feeding and wakes for good between 6 and 8. But this is normal for breastfed babies at this stage. When he wakes, 95% of the time it is because he's hungry. If not, he will happily snuggle into our bed and go back to sleep (maybe some noise scared him). I do not agree with the statements on "motionless sleep." In fact, the longest stretches of sleep he's gotten were in a swing. It's hard to argue that that was light sleep. When I tried the suggestion to turn off the swing after he falls asleep, my son wakes up and then cannot get bsck to sleep which can throw off a whole day. Would I like my son to go down for naps in his crib easily and to sleep longer at night? Of course. But all children are not the same. He seems perfectly happy on his short nighttime schedule with plenty of naps during the day in the swing, car seat, and carrier. According to my lactation consultant, nursing mothers should do whatever works to get their babies to rest so that they can rest. She also suggested that the book ignores events such as growth spurts. I found "Happiest Baby on the Block" much more helpful for the early months. Don't let this book make you feel like you are a bad parent! Maybe the advice is better for older children. I can't yet speak to that.
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Summary: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Review: Our boys, now age 7 and 9 are power sleepers thanks to this book. We followed the sleep training guidlines for each of them at about age 8 weeks. Sleep training took about 3 to 4 days of vigilence and has worked beautifully ever since. Our kids have never been overtired or overstimulated from lack of sleep. Both readily took 2 naps a day as toddlers and an afternoon nap until age 5. They fall asleep by 8:30 every night until this day. This book requires effort and discipline by parents. The sooner you sleep train your kids the better off they will be. It works, plain and simple. If you don't want to have wired and irritable kids, teach them how to sleep.
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Summary: The BEST book on sleep
Review: I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. It's full of really helpful information on sleep cycles, timing for naps, healthy sleep patterns, and how to help your child sleep better. I especially found his advice on the timing of naps to be lifesaving. After reading this book, I realized that my child's napping problems were all due to being overtired. When I followed the author's nap timing recommendations, my child went from being fussy all day on three short (20- to 30-minute) naps to being a happy baby who took three one- to two-hour naps--and this change happened the very first day I tried it. Weissbluth does advocate a "cry-it-out" approach that will irritate many parents; however, the reason this method is so popular is that it works. While I did not use his cry-it-out method, I found his information on bedtimes (earlier bedtime=happier child) to be really helpful. This is the one book that everyone in my moms' group found to be the most helpful for every sleep problem--including getting their children to sleep through the night and awaken happy and well rested. Some Amazon reviewers have criticized this book because they dislike his advocacy of the cry-it-out method. While some parents are fine with sleeping with their child or feeding him or her at night for more than a year (or two, or three), many are not, and those parents will find what they need here.
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Summary: This book will get your family the rest it needs!
Review: Every child I have ever met whose parents use this book is a pleasure to be around. Some parents do not like it because it enocurages them to stay home and establish early bedtimes (instead of being out and about in its infant seat at a restaurant or in a stroller). Although Weissbluth's methods appear to be "hardcore" to some people, if they are followed, things fall into place. In fact, I was told by a source close to the author that there almost is no such thing as a child "who just is not a good sleeper" (as most parents whose kids won't sleep offer as an explanation/rationalization). It is my personal opinion that not helping teach your child to fall asleep on its own and not providing guidance to that end is child abuse.
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Summary: Outdated and insensitive
Review: This book was first written in 1987 and the approach was how things were taught back then. Even the authors comment in the introduction that he "helped my wife raise four sons" (page xiv) demonstrates the old way of thinking - that he was the helper instead of parent-partner. There is a lot of interesting material about sleep and how important it is, but the book falls flat when it comes to solutions. The author explains that night wakings for feeding is normal, and that babies do wake in the night "wet, soiled or hungry" yet goes on to promote unlimited crying (Page 159 "When crying is open-ended the child learns to stop protesting")This is to teach a child not to rely upon the parents during the night, saying "We are leaving him alone to forget the expectation to be picked up." (page 159) I find the theory outdated and the methods harsh and insensitive. I'd recommend The Happiest Baby on the Block or The No-Cry Sleep Solution instead.
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Summary: We are sleeping now!!!
Review: Thank you Dr. Weissbluth for updating this how-to-sleep classic. It has allowed our family to establish beautiful sleep patterns for our three children who are all under the age of five. My husband and I are sleeping again as well. Dr. Weissbluth's easy to follow sleep plans were just what we needed to provide healthy sleep guides for our children. I found it easy to find the sections of the book that explain the right sleep schedule for each of my children. My kids enjoy going over their "sleep rules" before bed, it is as much of part of our bed time ritual as brushing their teeth. I absolutely love this book, keep by my bed for reference and I recommended to all families looking for a good night sleep!
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Summary: GREAT BOOK IF YOU CAN
Review: I continually recommend this book to friends and family. Three years ago, I learned sleep training takes work - and I can't tell you how many friends ridiculed my strict nap schedule (because I couldn't go to the mall for a baby stroll that day), but it certainly paid off. I have two great sleepers (ages 3 and 2) thanks to this book and have another on the way that I hope does not prove Dr. Weissbluth's methods wrong. For parents who believe sleep is healthy (and not just the baby), I highly recommend this book. We all love our sleep!
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Summary: Worked like magic!!
Review: I have a 4 1/2 month old that started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks. He suddenly started waking more and more during the night at around 14 weeks. Not only that, but he has always slept in his car seat since it was the only way to get him to sleep at night. He began to try to roll over in his carseat and I knew it was time to move him to the crib, so not only did I have a baby waking up every hour or so but I also had to switch sleeping places. I was adamantly against letting him cry. Everytime I tried the crib and he woke up and uttered a peep, I ran in to get him. I would place him back in his carseat but he would still wake up. Oh, I should also mention that getting him to nap was an ordeal. 3 times a day I would have to put him in his front carrier and vacuum the house. Anyway, my husband was out of town for a week and I was seriously sleep deprived. He sent me 2 books--Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby and The No-Cry Sleep Solution. I was convinced, after reading both books, I would start trying the No-Cry method. This seemed to make things worse. One night at 1:30 am, after being awaken every 20 minutes, I decided to put my baby in his crib, shut the door and see what would happen. After 5 minutes of crying, he was sound asleep until 6:30 am.
The next night, just as the Dr. said in his book, my baby cried a lot more (35 minutes) but fell asleep until 6:30 am. Yeah!!! Now, 4 days later, he goes down for his naps with 2 minutes of rocking in he dark room and he goes to sleep at night without any protest. I have to say that I felt that letting him cry would be cruel, but now I believe that letting go without proper sleep was more cruel. I wasn't even giving him a chance to fall asleep on his own. He is now on his way to being a great sleeper. Dr. Weissbluth's methods are sound and he gives a lot of evidence to back up his claims. All I know is that his advice worked like a charm. I have one last thing to say. My parents and their parents and countless generations before have let their babies cry at night. To me, it seems children today have less ability to handle things because parents rush in way to quickly to help. Maybe giving children a chance to do things on their own is best.
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