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Babies: 0 - 3 Months
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Who has read this book and what can you tell me? A male co-worker of DH recommended it to us. I guess I am asking for a mother's opinion...please! TIA!
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Re: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
I've heard good things about the book. I bought it but haven't read it all the way through. It's VERY detailed about sleep! I like some things, but some don't seem realistic to me. Most of the examples have people putting their kids to bed about 6 or 7 and that's not realistic for us. My DH would never see them if we did that!!
I do agree with the fact that at this age, most kids can't be up more than 2 hours at a time.
I used the book to watch for signs of sleepiness and that seems to work for me. Of course, each child is different in that regard. One twin will go down happy and just fall asleep but his brother HAS to cry himself to sleep. It doesn't matter if we put him down awake, asleep, whatever. When he hits the crib, he cries on and off for about 15 minutes before he falls asleep. We go and check on him periodically so he's not CIO, but he will not go to sleep without crying.
I really like the book, but I'm kind of a nerd. It's very detailed and not nearly as user friendly as others I have read.
It goes into sleep "science" in great depth and provides guidelines for healthy sleep at different age periods.
One thing I do want to mention, is that I've seen several people (not in this thread) dismiss the book as CIO. While the author is not anti-CIO, and several of his example stories show successful use of CIO, he doesn't advocate any particular method of getting a baby to sleep. It's much about recognizing and supporting age appropriate sleep need than what method is used. His main comment on getting a child to sleep is that you can use a soothing/no cry method, or a CIO method, and that's its easy to go from the former to the latter, but it works badly if you are inconsistent in what method you use. He's not anti-Ferber either, but says that Ferberizing can be complicated and difficult, and, in his experience, doesn't result in less crying than just plain CIO.
the book says that you need to protect the sleep schedule and if one parent gets less time with the child, it is for the sake of the child, so you should do it.
we use this book and it has been a life saver for us. our son was very fussy until about 3 months. the book goes into how post-colic/fussy babies usually have sleep problems and it gives suggestions that help fix them.
I have it & I really like it. It is a little hard to read though b/c of all the statistics. I think there is great information in it & I think that's why DD is sleeping so much better.
We had some problems with reflux but things are back on track now.
He is more about protecting sleep than a method of getting a baby to sleep. He thinks it's more important for the baby to sleep than worry about how to get the baby to sleep.
I understand the concept, but I'm not willing to not let my kids spend time with their dad. I know sleep is important, but so is a relationship with both parents, IMO. My kids sleep just fine going to bed between 8 and 9. They wake up one time, if at all, around 4. I soothe them for about 10 minutes and they sleep until 6 or 7 for a feeding. Then it's a short awake period and then a good nap.
I guess my point is, I agree sleep is important, but his "complete" method didn't work for our family.