Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child | Marc Weissbluth | From co-sleeping to the crib in 4 nights

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child | Marc Weissbluth | It worked for us

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Healthy Sleep Habi...

	Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child Marc Weissbluth Ballantine Books, 2003 - 345 pages average customer review:based on 1129 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From co-sleeping to the crib in 4 nights

What critics fail to understand (or fail to read in the book), is that Dr. Weissbluth reveres the bond between children and parents, and teaches you to be in tune with your baby's needs, not to ignore them. If you follow his techniques from the beginning, you may never have any crying at all. Crying is what happens when parents miss their babies' sleep cues and let them become overtired.

We follow Dr. Weissbluth's advice about naps and bedtimes religiously, and our daughter is the happiest, most well rested baby around. She co-slept with us for 11 months (something Dr. Weissbluth addresses and supports), but she moved to her crib when it began interfering with her ability to fall, and stay, asleep. There was a lot of crying, from her and us, but after 4 nights, she was sleeping a solid 12 hours in her crib, with at most a few minutes of fussing (not crying).

There is a lot to learn, but Dr. Weissbluth explains everything very well, and answers many common questions. For people who think this book just advocates dumping your child in the crib and closing the door: It took us 3-4 months to learn to pick up on our daughter's sleep cues. Now, we are so in tune with her sleep needs, we can predict what time she will need to sleep, and for how long, by observing her for 30 seconds. Thanks to this book, we have become more effective parents, and our daughter has learned how to get the sleep she needs to get the most enjoyment out of every day. How is that lazy or cruel parenting?

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It worked for us

I'm a dedicated follower of this book's principles. I'm also a fan of Dr. Weissbluth's style and approach, which seem sensible and moderate to me. His methods and advice worked very well for our family and we continue to consult the book as different situations arise (a baby's sleep keeps changing as he/she gets older!).

Informative but I wasn't completely sold on the cry-it-out techniques

This book was really helpful in learning to recognize when my baby is ready for sleep. It also explained the vitality of sleep for infants very thoroughly, however I was very turned off with the section that talks about letting the baby cry-it-out. Particularly the part where the author says to let the baby scream as long as needed and even if he/she vomits on themselves, don't pick them up, just clean up the vomit and leave the room. A little too heartless and cruel for my taste.

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