Hellobee

I read all but #5, 7, 8, and 10. I swore by “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” and have recommended it to three of my friends. I always go back to it every time I run into something unusual.

I can’t believe how many books I’ve read! I read all except #4, 7, 8, and 10!

I think #5 the 90 minute baby sleep program is good but it’s not something I go back to when I have problems because the whole book revolves around one central theme- after 90 min of wake time, prepare your child for nap lol. also, every baby has a different ideal wake time so its really up to you to test it out by trial and error…

#6 baby wise was too extreme for us… it tells you to sleep train your baby from day 1 and honestly.. I don’t think it works for all babies… I think babies learn to sleep as they grow and their abilities to sleep develops over time! so I don’t think the method in baby wise is good for me since it’ll involve too much crying while waiting for baby to mature

#3 the no cry sleep solution was good. lots of good tips on how to prevent sleep problems and gently ease your baby to sleep on his/her own… but if you already have a problem baby… this book is not going to help you all that much quickly haha

I think #1 and #2 are really good books… the truth is.. like Mrs. Bee said- there is going to be some crying… sleep training or not. we never formally sleep trained our baby but there were times we definitely let him cry it out a bit before going to get him. his sleep got better as he got older and he learned to sleep on his own from the opportunities given to him to learn

I would recommend that people stay away from Babywise. A number of children have died from sticking to the rigorous schedule recommended. We’ve been a Dr. Sears family, but I also like Elizabeth Pantley (The No Cry Sleep Solution), even though we needed to use hybrid techniques. We still don’t have it all dialed in, but next time we’re going to try some different techniques, since obviously we don’t have sleep dialed in!

I have been warned against using Babywise…use of it’s strict scheduling has been tied to failure to thrive. Here’s the wikipedia entry on the book (it has more information on the criticisms and concerns about it): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Becoming_Baby_Wise

I only “read” 1 and 9 and didn’t need to buy anymore. I also consulted with my son’s pediatrician who basically said to not let him cry anymore than 45 minutes to 1 hour. I was lucky that my son was a good sleeper after I sleep trained him. The longest I ever let him cry was for 45 minutes and that was like once or twice. All other times took between 20-30 minutes before he would fall asleep. At least initially.

I have a feeling that I may need to re-read and/or buy more books after #2 comes. They say one is always harder than the other.

@Mrs. Jacks: i don’t believe in babywise either, but it’s such a controversial book, i thought it would be interesting to discuss!

@Mrs. Bee: I think it’s a good book to discuss. I only read it because some of my patients’ parents were using it, so I had to learn about it to counsel them. I had a very *ahem* strong reaction to it.

@Mrs. Jacks: you’re the first pediatrician that i know that is pro attachment parenting. all the doctors in my practice, and my friends’ practices are very pro CIO and anti cosleeping!

I read #2 and #9 and used the Ferber CIO method. The Ferber book is good to become more knowledgeable re: baby sleep and the general CIO/check method but I’ve also read that some info is either outdated or incorrect (not sure what though).

I enjoyed reading Happiest Baby on the Block cause I found the “4th trimester” premise to be pretty intriguing. That, and the 4 S’s actually did work for us. Of course, I found out about the DVD only after I read it.

I read 1, 2, 3 and 4…I was desperate to get some information!

Ferber is what worked for us, but I do maintain some babies never need sleep training. My kid isn’t blessed with good sleep and might not ever be, but I don’t take it personally any more. I also don’t really listen to moms that have perfect sleepers, not that I don’t believe them, but I don’t need to feel badly about my son’s sleep habits.

I read almost all of them but in the end we found The Baby Whisperer and the No-Cry books suited us best. But of Pantley’s No-Cry books, we actually found we got the most helpful tips from The No-Cry Nap Solution…

@Mrs. Bee: There are a few of us out there, but not very many… and I’ll admit that our own pediatrician who is amazing in all other ways, thinks we’re nuts for doing AP! Maybe it’s harder in some ways, but it *feels* right to me. It’s the way we did it for 100’s of 1000’s of years and it seemed to have been evolutionarily advantageous. Also, I lived in East Africa where it is practiced almost exclusively and I was always so impressed at how well adjusted those children are! You can’t really do good clinical trials to test it, so I totally accept the legitimacy of other methods too

My main resource was “Sleeping Through the Night” by Jodi something. It was really common sense and we basically used it. I know everyone loves Health Sleep Habits Happy Child, but I hated it. I thought it was extremely poorly organized, internally contradictory, and just frustrating. On one page he’ll say “Never wake a sleeping baby,” in bold. Seven pages later he will say “You may need to wake your child if their nap gets too close to bed time.” I think I’m too type A to like this book!

@Mini Piccolini: the no cry sleep solution did not work for us, but i’ll have to check out the nap version!

I’ve only read #5 and #9 – both somewhat helpful. I promised my husband that I wouldn’t read any more books b/c I’m just confusing myself on which way is the “right” way – which frustrates me. Our LO is a pretty good sleeper but is struggling with a 2 am wake-up right now. He goes back to sleep right away if we pick him up and bounce him a little or put him in his swing – but I would like to break this habit so he’ll sleep through the night (at least until early morning). He is 4 mo. Anyone have any good tips on night-time wake-ups and what worked for them? Maybe this is a better comment/question for the boards…

I am looking forward to these reviews as I agree with @Mrs. Bee that sleep is such a challenge. I have Healthy Sleep Habits but it isn’t applicable yet since my munchkin is only 8 weeks. It is good to know it worked for others. Happiest Baby is waiting for me at the library.

I’m looking forward to these reviews! Baby sleep fascinates me

I’ve only read 1 and 9, though I’ve learned a lot about 4 online. I think that reading too many sleep books can absolutely make you crazy, especially since so many things can mess with an expertly executed sleep regimen. I use the general principles from 1, but Weissbluth is sometimes too rigid for me. Yeah, it might not be as good if my kid takes an occasional nap in the car, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Also glad to see we’ve already had warnings against Babywise!

I just bought #9 as a DVD since most of the reviews that I saw said the book was a little overly lengthy. It has great reviews and I’m excited to check it out!

I’ve read 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9… and did a hybrid of things, but #1 and #4 were my favorite.

We have The Happiest Baby dvd, and I swear by it. Karp’s techniques have really worked for us. Is there anything more in the book about sleep beyond swaddling and white noise?

I read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and while it was enjoyable to read it was not really that helpful to me in that I didn’t find that if offered any real solutions or practical tips – it was just too general for me.

I also read Babywise and did not find it to be any more harsh or strict than the Baby Whisperer…and it references Dr. Weissbluth’s studies. I was against even reading it at first because of all the criticism around it, but when I actually read it, it was not so extreme and he constantly says parents need to use their judgment and to always feed/comfort your baby if there is reason to…he discourages just letting your baby cry and cry. I found Babywise to be EXTREMELY helpful in offering practical tips and now my baby sleeps 10-11 hours a night (she is 11 weeks old).

I also used Moms On Call (www.momsoncall.com), which I found so helpful in structuring a flexible day and night routine for my baby and now she is a great night sleeper and day napper. Before using Babywise and Moms On Call she had really short naps (I wasn’t allowing her to put herself back to sleep as she was transitioning through sleep cycles) and it took forever to put her down at night (her bedtime would be 11-12 b/c I would have to constantly go back and comfort her back to sleep)…it only took a few naps and 2-3 days for the bedtime routine to kick in…and now she puts herself down for naps that last 90 minutes to 2 hours and her bedtime is 8:00 and once she is down she may fuss for a while (no hard crying) and then she is out for 10-11 hours.

I was so against any type of CIO and really wanted to do AP, but once she got a bit bigger and too heavy for me to hold/sway to sleep, I realized AP wasn’t working for me. I tried putting her in the crib drowsy and as I watched the clock and watched her on the monitor, she never cried for long and she shocked me in being able to fall asleep on her own. My limit was 3 minutes…if she cried hard for 3 minutes, I would go in to comfort her by picking her up and she would calm down right away and when I put her back down she would cry for maybe 30 seconds and then fall asleep…this only happened for 2 nights…and fortunately for me I did not have to endure more than a few minutes of crying. Now she kind of fusses, but no crying and as I watch her on the monitor her fussing will get louder as her eyes start to close and then she’ll fall asleep. I’ve heard that it is harder as the baby gets older so its better to start earlier…and I know every baby is different and some babies are more sensitive, but this really worked for me…and believe me I was so doubtful the tips from Babywise would work and believed it was just going to fail and I would go back to the AP style parenting to sleep methods…but it worked and I am now a believer and so happy my baby is enjoying hours and hours of sleep.

If your baby is healthy and thriving, I would highly recommend Babywise and Moms On Call.

1, 4, 6, & 9 were all super helpful for us!

okay, just read all the comments and am “dying” myself over the bashing of baby wise. I read it myself about 1000 times and found it extremely helpful. It reiterates on almost every page that you should never let a clock dictate your feedings and that a parent must asses a hungry baby. It explains that if your child took a full feeding and is crying 3o minutes later then typically (it excludes sick, teething, or underweight babies as well as negates time during growth spurts) your child is crying for reasons other than hunger. It also reminds parents never to let your child go more than 2-3 hours without a full feeding and that your first goal as a parent is to establish healthy and constant eating habits and that sleep will fall into place on after a baby is properly fed. This is right on par with the AAP’s recommendations for feedings. I just laugh at anyone who judges Babywise because they’re obviously too ignorant to read it properly.

@julia – i didn’t see anyone “bashing” babywise…

@julia — No one is bashing, but when a book has received the kind of criticism Babywise has, parents should go into it with eyes wide open like you. And maybe they will ultimately find it helpful, too, but they should still know the backstory.

@julia – i’m not sure if i remember correctly but doesn’t babywise suggest a 4 hour feeding interval?

i know lots of parents who absolutely swear by babywise. i read it because my friend recommended it (she is hardcore into sleep training). i have to reread it because all the sleep books kinda melded together after the first couple i read, but i have heard of stories where babies failed to thrive because parents followed babywise principles very strictly. it’ll be interesting to go back and look at the book and open up a discussion about it!

@Mrs.Bee if you don’t recall, then go research and re-read before making the statement. It’s such a short book. If parents misread a book and their kid fails to thrive, why is the book being blamed? That’s really unfair to the authors. As for the “bashing” – it definitely reads like bashing – it’s as if the book should be dismissed entirely. It’s a great read.

I would definitely add one more book here and for me it could be the only one on the list: “How to teach a baby to fall asleep alone” by Susan Urban. It could be the only one because it is in the nutshell so instead of reading all those books it took me an hour or so to get to know everything about sleep training with step by step instructions. Great guide! My daughter he literally changed into a sleeping champ in 3 days. Can really recommend it. I found the guide on I guess the author’s website: www. parental-love.com

Emma you were right! the method from Urban’s guide works. I got the guide and gave it a try. I only wanted to be able to put my son in his own crib and have him fall asleep on his own. I just thought it was impossible. After a few days (exactly 4 days) fortunately I can say that I was wrong! my boy doesn’t need to be rock to sleep anymore! Thanks!

Emma Looks like S. Urban’s guide is really worth to try! It helped me to make my 5 months old daughter sleep without rocking her to sleep in just 3 days! I am very happy with the results! can recommend it!