"healthy sleep habits, happy child"

[Anglyn]

Has anyone read this and if so, was it worth reading? It was recommended to me and I'm just wondering if there are any sentiments about this book either way. Let me know and thanks!

[Louisep]

I can't express enough how much I wish I'd never read this book. It made me completely paranoid about how much sleep and when ds was getting. Ds is high needs and needed holding all the time up until 4 months and still will only nap with me next to him. Things like this and rocking or wearing to sleep are frowned upon in the book. It also promotes cry it out. Some people like the science of sleep side to the book but you can get that in The No Cry Sleep Solution which is pro family bed and anti CIO. Maybe the Weissbluth book works for those mythical babies who can be put down drowsy but awake but not my babe. It made me feel so bad about my parenting style - it's VERY mainstream.

[Anglyn]

See, now that's what I was afraid of. We totally do the family bed and never ever cio! However, I AM interested in the science of it. But I don't want to waste my time reading something that goes against everything I believe. The person who recommended it said the book says there is a certain wave of sleep that kids miss out on completely if they are not asleep by 830pm. I am curious about this. My kids have NEVER been asleep that early, never! Yet they get all the sleep they need. They are like me, night owls, hard to settle down at night but once asleep, they will sleep as much as they need. Since we homeschool it's not a problem for them to sleep til noon if they need to.

What is the deal with being asleep at 830? I havent the no cry sleep solution either.

I'm not really interested in methods for helping kids sleep or anything like that, I'm just really curious about the science of sleeping. I was always made to feel like there was something wrong with my parenting because I could not get my first child to sleep at a reasonable hour no matter what I did, but I now know a lot more about sleeping and I feel that number one, we are just genetically different (my brother also can't sleep in the early evening/night hours) and two, our society is structured only for extreme morning people.

Still I often wonder how much is biology and how much is these are the sleeping patterns we have learned, so I like to read all the sleep science stuff!

I don't see how any one who actually did research can be against cosleeping as the research clearly bears it out as preferable.

[LadyCatherine185]

Horrible book. It will make you feel like a failure if your baby doesn't sleep and you don't let them CIO. Very pro-CIO.

I recommend reading Sleepless in America, it has all of the research on sleep but is more AP friendly!

[Anglyn]

Cool, I hadn't even heard of that one!

I won't bother to read this one then. That's why I came here to get recommendations!

[sapphire_chan]

Does the healthy sleep habits happy child book actually quote studies that look at the benefits of not waking at night in children under four? Because the one literature review I've read on sleep studies that was trying to show that extinction methods, i.e. not responding to a child at night, were the best thing didn't include any studies that showed that babies benefited from longer uninterrupted stretches of sleep--or, indeed, any studies that looked at the effects of longer stretches of uninterrupted stretches of sleep on children under age 4.

[justKate]

OP, if you want the Weisbluth book anyway, PM me and I'll mail you mine. It's brand new. He does seem geared towards CIO but offers a strategy if you're one of those baby spoiling parents that can't stand to hear your baby cry. My words, not his.

Casey,
baby spoiler extraordinaire

[Jend1002]

In my endless search for info about my son's sleep, I came upon this website that I personally think is a bit messy and hard to follow but has a ton of info and a ton of literature references. I found it interesting anyway.

Here's a link to a page that may be of interest to you:
http://www.parentingscience.com/baby...-patterns.html

[voxana]

Originally Posted by Jend1002

Here's a link to a page that may be of interest to you:
http://www.parentingscience.com/baby...-patterns.html

Great website, thanks for sharing that!

I found "No Cry Nap Solution" more helpful than "No-Cry Sleep Solution" because the "Nap Solution" presents all the same info as the Weisbluth book without CIO. It is helpful to learn about (most) babies' natural daily rhythms and sleep needs, for example the idea that a 3mo is usually more than ready for a nap after being awake for 2 hours.

[Anglyn]

Great website, thanks!

[jnet24]

Iknow I am reviving an older thread.but I just came on her to start a thread on how awful I thougth this book was. DS's ST recommended it to me and it is hard to read. Of course I just looked up the preschooler part and it actually advocates for installing a lock on your child's door to teach them not to come out of their rooms. It even says to take your child with you when you buy it and install it in front of them.

[Jend1002]

Originally Posted by jnet24

Of course I just looked up the preschooler part and it actually advocates for installing a lock on your child's door to teach them not to come out of their rooms. It even says to take your child with you when you buy it and install it in front of them.

Ugh. This saddens me so much. I truly HATE this trend of "managing" our children. Awful.

[Jayray]

I did like this book for the science part--he has done a lot of research with sleep rhythms and I was really clueless (especially about napping) when DS was born. He is very pro CIO--so if you don't want any nagging voice in your brain saying "but Dr. W said it's okay!" then you definitely shouldn't read it (or just read the first half). But he says if you choose the family bed, then that's fine and he "allows" unlimited nursing because it doesn't interrupt baby or mom's sleep that much.

I found a lot of the information helpful, but the CIO stuff and other forceful sleep methods he suggests (if you don't want to be a "baby spoiler" like the PP said!) are pretty gross.

Also (again a repeat from PP), I agree the No Cry Nap Solution has a lot of the sleep rhythm/science info w/o the CIO stuff. This actually made me really confident about it since they both agreed on that aspect.

[NiteNicole]

I think I stopped reading when he got to the part about how they might cry hard enough to throw up, but just ignore it. Clean it up after they go to sleep.

FIRST OF ALL, no, I'm not leaving my child in vomit.

Second, if I need her to sleep so badly that I am willing to let her sit in vomit...do you really think I'm going to risk waking her by changing her clothing and bed and cleaning her up?

Third, if he's so smart why doesn't he know that children who will cry until the point of vomiting because they can't sleep are probably not kids who can sleep through a bed and clothing change.

Ugh.

Another vote for Sleepless in America.