 2008-11-24 - GREAT Book on Sleep! IT WORKS!!!
This book sometimes gets a bad rap for being too harsh in its methods. Not every parent agrees with the extinction method (also known as letting your baby "cry it out"). Letting your baby cry is hard, that's for sure, but IT WORKS. My sister got me this book when I was pregnant with my daughter, who was born in 2005. She is now 3 and a champion sleeper, thanks our adherence to the recommendations and methods in this book. My son, who is 8 months old, was a great sleeper from the day he was born, but developed the habit of getting up every 2 hours to nurse at night after his 6 month growth spurt. After two months of exhaustion (and one cranky, overtired baby), I finally got around to reading Dr. Weissbluth's chapter on Months Five to Twelve, especially the section on correcting sleep problems. Although I've read the whole book many times in the past 3 1/2 years, it was still helpful to review Dr. Weissbluth's ideas.
I realized that I was reinforcing my son's bad habit by getting up to feed him every time he made a sound at night. The first night of the extinction method, my son cried for TWO AND A HALF HOURS (from midnight to 2:30am). It was agonizing not to get up to comfort him. [This is the part where you need your spouse to be committed to this 100% because when you are ready to get up and go to your baby, you need your significant other to grab your hand and reassure you and remind you why you're doing this in the first place (or even to physically restrain you).]
The second night, my son slept for 10 hours straight (and so did I, without even getting up once to make sure he was okay, if that tells you how tired I was). IT WAS AMAZING.
It might take more than one night (Dr. Weissbluth says that the average is about 3 days/nights to reset the sleep schedule), but trust me, it really works. You have to steel yourself for a few difficult nights, but it's really worth it in the long run.
This book has been my bible whenever we encounter a sleep problem!
 2008-11-24 - Great for solving toddler sleep problems!
I love this book for toddlers (one year plus). We co-slept with our daughter until that age, then moved her into her own crib. I'm not sure we could have done it without this book. This book is excellent for sleep problems with toddlers, absolutely amazing.
Our daughter refused to stay in her big girl bed until we established a system of sleep rules and rewards. The sleep rules we have chosen are: 1. stay in bed 2. be quiet 3. close your eyes 4. go to sleep. Our daughter gets a cookie every morning if she followed the sleep rules. Same deal (an additional small treat) if she stays in her bed until morning.
I would not use this book for infants unless you are prepared to let your baby cry it our for hours.
2008-11-22 - LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!
I could not have lived with out discovering this book with my first child and I am glad that I kept it around for my second child. OUR LIVES REVOLVE AROUND THIS BOOK!!! I get one for all my friends that get pregnant and they also love it.
2008-11-20 - Dr. Weissbluth is the best
Dr. Weissbluth saved my life! After 9 months of my son not sleeping, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Dr. Weissbluth's advice got him sleeping through the night almost immediately and pretty painlessly. I had tried everything else, and had read every sleep book, but nothing else worked. It's the combination of things that Dr. Weissbluth suggests that works. I highly recommend this book!
2008-11-19 - AMAZING
I felt compelled to write a review about this book...It literally changed the way that I think about sleep. My son was always a good sleeper, and we were very blessed that he started sleeping through the night (9 hours or more!) at just over 2 months of age. That lasted until about 3 months, when he started waking up again. Around that time, he also started fighting taking naps. I would nurse him until he fell asleep, sneak him into his crib, and tiptoe out of the room. If he woke up, all hell broke loose and we started the process over again...It was exhausting, and my poor baby was hardly getting any sleep during the day, unless he slept in my arms. We bought this book when he was 3.5 months old. After ONE night of following the plan exactly as he describes, the bebe is back to sleeping through the night, but now its between 11-12 hours STRAIGHT. He also takes three solid naps a day. I put him in his crib awake, he smiles, finds his thumb, and goes to sleep on his own. It is truly amazing and adorable. He wakes up from naps and bedtime happy and alert, and he actually tells me when he's ready to nap. I've learned how to read his cues, and we can plan the day around his nap needs. Whenever someone tells me that they are shocked at how much he sleeps, I just think to myself that that is how much babies NEED to sleep, it's just that most babies/kids are overly tired.
I highly recommend this book. It gives a lot of detail about why sleep is so important, and it gives information for how to handle the older child who starts waking up again. The first night was hard, we both cried, but after that, things changed for the better. IMMEDIATELY. My 5 month old can even sleep away from home, so it's not like we're attached to his crib. Sorry for the long review, but I hope it is helpful for someone else. And good luck!
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