Marc Weissbluth M.D. - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

Pros: Lots of information about sleep and great suggestions
Cons: only so much is useful at a time as it covers infancy to adolescence

As a parent of a new infant one thing that is unavoidable to not think about, is the ability to get any good sleep. Well maybe not so much for my husband..but that's not totally his fault that he doesn't lactate. Regardless, I checked out some books on ...

Pros: helpful information about sleep training; interesting discussion of science of sleep
Cons: recommendations can be too rigid

When one becomes a new parent, there is an overwhelming amount of information to learn, advice to receive, and gear to purchase. After the first month, when you start to come up for air, you may find yourself ready to start a library of books about ...

Pros: excellent information, practical tips, easy to follow
Cons: none

I purchased this book when my baby was 3 months old and I was a my wits end because I thought he was a terrible sleeper. It turns out, he is an amazing sleeper, I just needed some help getting him there. This book was such an incredible help to me, I've ...

Pros: great information about the sleep process
Cons: not as procedural as I expected

First, a little background to let you know why I decided to read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

For her first 6 months, I nursed my daughter Maggie to sleep at night. Once she started crawling, she didn't want to go to sleep...

Pros: Interesting and helpful information on the process and mechanics of a child's brain and sleep
Cons: Some would prefer a step-by-step plan, but this didn't bother me personally

My son is 6 months old. Over the last month, he has been getting more and more cranky when awake, and sleeping less. Our baby who once sleep peacefully through the night was now waking 4, 5, 10 times per night. He would scream until I picked him up (and...

Pros: Good overall book on the importance of sleep.
Cons: Not enough instruction on how to employ his method.

Once our son reached his first birthday and my husband and I still found ourselves up all hours of the night trying to get our baby back to sleep we realized we may have a problem. Shortly thereafter I discovered I was pregnant and the issue of sleep...

Pros: Explains normal sleep habits by age
Cons: Recommends some crying it out

As a mom of twins, I have thought a LOT about sleep. I've probably thought about it more than I've done it! After muh reading, I recommended the Weissbluth book to several friends and got some negative feedback so I thought a bit about how I found the...

Pros: Great book for reference and nap schedule.
Cons: Sometimes can be redundant.

The background of the book 1) The premise of the book is that your child will be a happy child when he/she is fully rested. The author explains that babies all have a specific sleep cycle. If you are able to match "putting them down" to their ...

Pros: Very individual-family oriented, presents many strategies
Cons: Spans a large age range, won't need the end of the book for awhile

I am a first time parent and I have to admit that I was completely unprepared for the overwhelming feelings of inadequacy that I felt when my son was born. I didn't question my abilities in caring for him but as I started looking into it I realized that ...

Pros: Long on information.
Cons: Shorter on plan.

Other books on infant sleep claim that babies can't fight sleep until they're six to nine months old. My baby was fighting sleep by the time he was two and a half months old; by three months old, he had pretty much stopped losing. My easy, cheerful...

Pros: Our family has slept well from 3 months on, need I say more?
Cons: If you don't like structure, this book may not work for you.

About the book: This book, written by a pediatrician, is a step-by-step guide to getting your baby or child to sleep well. It includes question and answer sections, study results, charts and graphs, and testimonials. It tends to jump around a bit, but ...

Pros: Not only gives advice on what to do, but explains why.
Cons: Not all parents believe what the book says.

I know eight other people who have followed the advice in this book (mostly because I've given the book to them) and all have found it accurate and valuable. This is probably as close to an "Owner's Manual" as you can get for a baby. No advice is ...

Pros: Great information and perspective on sleep.
Cons: I disagreed with crying it out before 4 or 5 months.

This book is great because it helps you set boundaries with your child early on when it comes to sleep. This is because sleep is SO important to babies and I underestimated that. I also did not know that the more baby's sleep the MORE THEY SLEEP. Sleep begets Sleep. This book explained that well. Also, you can learn how to get your baby on THEIR best schedule rather than your own as some books promote.

The only thing I would recommend would be that you wait to start this book until the baby is four months old. I just think that crying it out is bad before that. Baby's don't even know how to manipulate you with crying until they are 4 or 5 months old. I recommend "Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp for the first 4 to 5 months.

Pros: Adaptable for family sleep habits and for baby's temperament. Works for everybody.
Cons: Says "Never wake a sleeping child" but then later gives reasonable exceptions.

I recommend this book to everyone!! It all makes sense as I read it, but I'm still amazed at how much I learned in this book. It is not at all about ignoring your baby's cries, but rather about making sure that baby gets the sleep s/he needs, which is much more than I had realized. My daughter was sleeping 12 hours straight by 12 weeks old and napping well, too. At 7 months, she still is and she is a very happy, smiling, thriving baby. Friends whose children don't sleep as well often comment on what a "good baby" she is, but I think she's just well rested.