Rating: Summary: If Only All Expectant Parents Would Read This Book! Review: This book is the most persuasive case I've ever read, not just bed sharing, but for holding and nursing our babies. Even if parents don't like the idea of sleeping with their babies and children, this book should persuade them at least to hold their babies more of the time than most in our society do. If all new parents would read this well-researched book, we might turn the tide on parenting styles that have babies isolated in cribs, carriages and car seats. Jackson shows that babies are meant to be close to their caretakers, that touch is crucial to their well being and that staying close with one's baby actually makes early parenthood easier on the parents.
Rating: Summary: Lots of Interesting Research Review: This book is well researched and contains a lot of interesting information that I hadn't come across anywhere else. My main complaint about the book is that the way it's written is somewhat disjointed - I find that the author often jumps back & forth between making different points instead of making a point and then moving on. But it's got a lot of good info & is worth reading. Also, anyone interested in this book will probably love a book called "Our Babies, Ourselves" by Meredith Small, which I thought was excellent & includes a very good chapter on co-sleeping.
Rating: Summary: Read this book -- it's about more than just cosleeping. Review: This book is wonderful. Even though I'd already read a lot about the subjects that it tackles (cosleeping, breastfeeding, child-rearing, among others), and already practice a lot of what it advocates, I found it to be eye-opening and mind-opening in so many unexpected ways. It is well-written and very well-researched -- and thus more worthwhile and more convincing than some books/articles on the same subject which are too shrill, propagandistic, and/or New Age-y for my taste. Even if you don't think you're interested in cosleeping, but are interested in breastfeeding, or in rearing a happy and secure child, this book has something for you. I only wish I'd discovered it sooner! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down (and more so than the previous reviewer, I found the first half of the book both fascinating and informative -- perhaps even more so than the later "practical" chapters).
Rating: Summary: Not bad, not that helpful Review: This is a fine book for anyone who wants the basics of why letting a baby sleep in your bed is OK, but it lacks the practical everyday tips so many new parents need. I just read (and reviewed for Amazon) the book Good Nights: The Happy Parents Guide to the Family Bed, which has everything I could ask for in a book about this subject -- humor, excellent scientific research and chapters chock full of practical advice. Three in a Bed is a decent book for those new parents who want more philosophy and history than helpful advice that will let them get more sleep. I don't know many new parents who fit that description, but I know they're out there!
Rating: Summary: Wonderful Arguments & Support for CoSleeping Review: This is a great book to read if you are considering sharing sleep and need more information. The research is great and the arguments are amazingly astute. This book is easy to read, very interesting, and compelling. This is a great place to find irrefutable support not only for the "Family Bed" but also for Attachment Parenting [or "Natural" Parenting]. I wish I'd had this book two years ago when my child was an infant. Unfortunately I just discovered it a few months ago. While I still enjoyed reading it, I would have gotten more out of it as a "beginner" co-sleeper. My only complaint was that I wish there was more of the "Practical" section. What is there is great, but I really feel like the author could probably write a whole book just on the practicalities of co-sleeping. In fact, that's a book I'd *love* to see on the market!
Rating: Summary: SLEEP WITH YOUR KIDS! Review: This is the book I got right after my son was born, and I was exhausted from trying to get him to sleep in his crib. I was crying every time I failed and took him into bed with me. That was the only time we slept- him next to me, nursing. But the guilt was killing me! I didn't want to answer anymore "Is he sleeping through the night?" questions and I was getting a lot of advice like: "Once you out him in your bed- you'll never get him out!" This book, and it's well researched info changed my mind forever and after reading it, we got a bedrail and slept well every night since. Now my son is 3, and sleeps in his bed most of the time, but snuggles in with us and his baby sister when he needs it. It's not always comfortable, but kids are only small for a short time and someday, they'll be too big and to independent to snuggle with us like this! USE YOUR INSTINCT!
Rating: Summary: Not as much practical advice as I was looking for. Review: Though I wholeheartedly agree with the philospohy of this book and am thankful it's out there to educate more people, I was looking for more detailed practical information on co-sleeping. As I have often found with "attachment-parenting" related books, they spend a good deal of ink on the philospohy. It's like preaching to the choir -- I'm already onboard, just tell me what I need to know to do it! The author does get to this toward the end of the book, but her advice is strictly from her own experience. I think she also paints an overly rosey picture of the family bed and her own experience sounds too good to be true. I had this image that co-sleeping would involve waiting til my baby showed signs of tiredness, then simply nursing her off to sleep, slipping away to have an hour or so to myself or with my husband in the evening, then slipping back into bed, maybe nursing again before drifting off, until the next time she awoke for a feed. HA! Though I love having my baby close and nursing her, don't think that co-sleepig will mean getting baby off to bed is a breeze; or that they will stay asleep (or even in the bed for that matter) before you've come to bed for the night. Nor are you likely to you "sleep through" night nursings while Dad sleeps soundly next to you and babe. The book fails to mention the reality of many of these scenarios. She also says her babies never cried at night, but does she mean all-out wailing or the very common wimpering as they stir at night to be cuddled up again, or nursed back to sleep? It should also be explained that it is very common for breastfed babies to want to nurse for a looong time when they go to sleep, and to nurse back to sleep when they wake up at night, and that you will probably do this *quite* a bit in the family bed. Knowing this in advance would've helped me accept the reality of co-sleeping, instead of thinking I was actually going to get more sleep and that my baby would never cry at night. I didn't find enough suggestions for some of my practical concerns like: should I keep the newborn baby right next to me for nursing, or keep a little space between us for her safety? Then when she got older, how to help baby to sleep when she doesn't fall asleep nursing, nor wants to be held, but rather flops all around the bed for an hour or more, while I try to keep her from rolling off the bed; and how to keep her safely contained on the bed when I'm not in the bed; how to keep warm without smothering the baby in bed linens; what is the best breathable bed pad to keep you and baby dry...and so on. I found the book to be a good inspiration and somewaht insightful on parenting matters. However, if you're looking for tips on the little things that will ease your mind and make the family bed comfortable for your family, you may have to learn mostly by trial and asking as many people as you can who co-sleep, what works for them.
|