Rating: 
Summary: Terrrrrific book!
Review: .... Once again I gently suggested that she might want to try co-sleeping. Well it turns out she bought a copy of Good Nights, which I'd only heard about through the grape vine until then but recommended anyway from what I'd heard, and that night, she and her husband and daughter had the best night's sleep they'd ever had together. She was so happy. The change in her after two good nights of sleep was remarkable. Of course, then I had to get a copy of this book, and it's nothing short of wonderful. My years of experience with the family bed (four kids, three have "graduated," as the authors of this book call it), have been sweet, warm, loving, fun, and fulfilling for my husband, myself, and our children. Sleeping in this way, as most humans have done since the beginning of humandom, has helped bring us closer as a family, and I truly think it gave our kids the start in life they needed to build the beautiful lives they each have. With Good Nights, I finally have something I can show friends and new parents that says YES, you can have a good marriage and the family bed (how do they think we had time and desire to make all four kids? Thank goodness for the guest room bed!), NO, you don't have to choose between spouse and kids when you do the family bed, YES, you can get excellent sleep with the family bed, YES, there are solutions to problems that pop up, YES, there are ways to make the bed very safe, YES, there are ways to help children move into their own bed WELL before college. (In case any anti family bedders are reading, that's a joke. My kids all were in their room(s) before age 3 1/2. Before that they each moved to their own beds in our room.) Babies don't need cry it out sleep training, as the book points out. In some other countries, making a baby cry it out alone in a crib is looked on as child abuse. The authors of Good Nights aren't adamant about the family bed being the only way, and they don't condemn people that really need sleep and resort to sleep training. But they make the best, most coherent, well-researched argument for the family bed I've ever seen. They've done their homework. Dr. Gordon and Maria Goodavage get a big hug from my brood and me, and from the countless babies and families their super informative, entertaining, educational book will help in the future.
Rating:
Summary: We are so grateful for this book!
Review: A few weeks ago I bought Good Nights. At that time my DH and I were sharing our bed with our 5 yr old and our 18 month old. Between the bouncing of the bed anytime anyone moved and the tight quarters and my little guy's night nursing every two hours, sleep quality was poor. I'd wake up every morning so tired, and my little guy would be out of sorts often, and my DH had a back ache from sleeping in wierd positions just to have room. My 5 year old said he never wanted to leave the family bed. We all loved it, but I had come to the point where it was time to move on! I'm no good to anyone when I'm that sleep deprived. I know that probably sounds awful to a lot of hardcore attachment parenters, but it was too much to take any more. I read the book, and as they say, I laughed and I cried. I felt very affirmed for having slept beside our guys for so long, and I felt relieved; finally there was a book with tons and tons of practical information on how to deal with the not so perfect aspects of co-sleeping. (Love the title of the chapter on solutions to common family bed sleep problems -- "The Sandman Cometh.") The chapter on helping a child wean from the family bed was a tremendous help to us. It gave us so many ideas for moving Ty to his own space that we were able to transition him to his own ROOM by using a few of the tips. Room, yes room! We got him bunk beds (Dr. Gordon and his co-author say it's the number one successful method family bedders have used!) for his previously unused bedroom. He was very excited and slept in there from the first night! After a week or so he got a little scared after watching a Scooby Doo movie, and wanted to return to our room for one night. By then we'd set up a bed beside ours, and we welcomed him back for what we hoped was only one night. Dr. Gordon says to realize kids will sometimes come back for a night or a part of the night, and to welcome them. I agree. If we'd pushed him out, it would have been like the forbidden fruit. The next night he was back in his room. I followed another tip in the chapter and when he was apprehensive about going to sleep, I promised to do some work in the family room right next door to his room (our BABY was now sleeping through the night most of the time and I could do this! - more on this in a minute) and this was very comforting to him. Next time I checked, it was sleep city in his room. Since then, he hasn't revisited. All he asks is that I lie in bed with him after shutting out the light after booktime, so I can be with him as his eyes adjust! As far as Zach, we did end up using the 10 Nights method. I couldn't really do that when Ty was in the room, because I knew it would mean some crying. But it really worked for us! By night 8, Zach was snoozing for five hours straight. He is now happily sleeping through the night in our bed. It is SO much easier this way, and everyone is so much better rested. My DH no longer has back aches! This is all like some kind of miracle. (I felt awful, awful, awful the first few nights of 10 nights because Zach was indeed protesting, but I was right there and I think he "got" it that he wasn't going to have to go through this alone. I'm glad I didn't do this when he was younger, because I could actually explain it to him a little and I think that helped.) In addition, the book helped us decide to replace our mattress with a futon because everytime one of us moved, the others moved too and it was bad for sleep. With the futon on our box spring, there's a tremendous improvement! You just don't feel every move of the other bodies. We worked hard to make all this work. (We paid a tidy sum to the bed store(s) for the bunk beds, the twin bed in our room, and the futon!) But oh, was it worth it! I never regret for a minute doing the family bed. There are so many memories I'll treasure, and so much good has come to us all from it. (I loved the quotes from all the former family bed kids in the last chapter of the book. If you have doubts about how these kids can turn out, read this!) However, I also don't regret for a minute having followed the advice in Dr. Gordon's book. Life is good when you get enough sleep! I recommend Good Nights to anyone who 1) wants to co-sleep and wants to know all the great benefits or 2) is co-sleeping and wants help with dealing with the everyday problems or the big weaning stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Laura Dern is right --
Review: As one of my favorite actresses says on the cover of "Good Nights," "This is a fun, wonderful book every new parent should have." She is 100 percent right! Any new or future parent who is concerned about sleep should read this book. When I was pregnant I never thought I'd let our baby sleep with us but after she came into the world it seemed like the most natural, best thing to do, especially after we tried and tried the bassinette and she would immediately wake up and cry every time and wouldn't go back to sleep. We've all been sleeping so much better since doing the family bed, but I've taken so much grief for our decision to not do the crib/cry it out methods. This book is so supportive that I got teary a few times reading it. There's everything from strong scientific arguments in favor of the family bed to advice on how to keep it safe and how to deal with critics. My husband's favorite chapter is the one on how to keep the sizzle in your sex life -- it's given us some good ideas for fun new places to try to be intimate AWAY from the baby of course!
Rating:
Summary: A book for all parents who need sleep!
Review: At last -- help, kindness, great science, wonderful reassurance, nice writing, and lots of smiles about the way so many of us sleep (yet so few of us admit to!!!). I've bought so many books about baby sleep, including two that deal a lot with the family bed, and this one is special. I loved every bit, from the incredible scientific reasons (complete with citations!) that the family bed is so good to the great advice on how to get a sound sleep (it really works!). I enjoy the gentle approach to a cuddly night of sleep with your favorite little munchkin, and even appreciate the fact that the authors included a couple of pages devoted to a kinder "sleep training" method for desperate parents who were at wits' end and about to resort to harsh "cry it out" methods. I showed it to a friend who had started "Ezzoizing" her baby, and she tried it successfully, and the baby is still in bed with them and everyone is sleeping better! (The authors seemed to hate to include the method, but I think my friend is glad they did, and I know her baby is, given the alternative.) The book has everything a family bedder needs. From ways to sleep safely with a baby at your side to funny retorts to critics to ways to wean a child from bed when the time comes, if you decide to help them with what the authors call a "nurturing nudge." (The authors also support letting the child decide when he or she is ready to move on.) This book has a moderate and very funny voice, nothing radically to the "left" of parenting, if you know what I mean. With this approach, it will help so many parents and babies, not just the ones who will nurse for five or six years. No preaching to the parishioners here! If a parent still needs extra assurance about their decision to do the family bed, just read the last chapter which has dozens of quotes from kids (really, adults mostly) who shared the family bed when younger. What a great bunch of people! I hope my three turn out so well. (So far so good!)
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Dr. Jay made me us feel good and supported for our decisions to co-sleep with our baby. The book offers good information and I find myself referring to it often.
Thanks Dr. Jay!!
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Dr. Jay made me us feel good and supported for our decisions to co-sleep with our baby. The book offers good information and I find myself referring to it often.
Thanks Dr. Jay!!
Rating:
Summary: If your baby's happiness really counts - read this book
Review: Excellent book, easy to read and well researched. I wish all parents would read this book and do what is most natural for parents and their offspring to do - sleep together (the world might just become a better place for all of us). We are a very happy co-sleeping family, everyone loves our baby and always comment on what a happy little human being she is. She hardly cries and we all sleep well. This book sums up all the benefits of co-sleeping and the downside of teaching a baby to sleep alone.
Rating:
Summary: Sanity for any new parent
Review: Fun to read, easy to understand, makes sense, doesn't take itself too seriously, gets us the sleep we were lacking before we read it. Baby's happy, we're happy, thank goodness for Good Nights!
Rating:
Summary: Up to Date, Positive and Encouraging!
Review: Good Nights is an encouraging, up to date and positive book. Informative and easy to read it covers various family bed styles, tips, testimonies, research, definitions of family bed, as well as safety, ending family bed and how to respond to all the questions and critisism. It is written in a positive style that does not attack, belittle or condem other methods. I really appreciated how it concisly covered a large variaty of situations- such as another newborn, siblings, twins, disabilities ect. The back of the book has detailed and helpful- index, bibliography and resourse sections. I found this book to be much more helpful and encouraging than "The family Bed". I wish I had read this book before my first child was born, but still found it helpful and uplifting as a family bedder of two small children.
Rating:
Summary: positive, helpful AND some science to back it up
Review: I am not going to repeat all the comments made by other reviewers about this book. I would simply agree with the overall opinion that this was one of the most well-written, positive parenting books I have read. My husband and I have only recently realized that the parenting approach we are taking with our 11 month-old son is called "attachment parenting" or that it is a new and growing trend. I am currently ordering the two popular books on the subject (Sears and Granju) to see if they are as helpful as this book has been. We have gotten a lot of open and subtle criticism for our "soft" approach with our son and it was nice to get some scientific support for our methods. We're both chemists and, as scientists, it is hard when the only defense of your parenting style is "it just feels right". While I disagree with some of the evolutionary arguments for co-sleeping, there is no disputing the book's published research results. I will be recommending this book to quite a few people.
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