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Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
One of the country's leading researchers updates his revolutionary approach to solving--and preventing--your children's sleep problems
Here Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a distinguished pediatrician and father of four, offers his groundbreaking program to ensure the best sleep for your child. In Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, he explains with authority and reassurance his step-b...more
Here Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a distinguished pediatrician and father of four, offers his groundbreaking program to ensure the best sleep for your child. In Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, he explains with authority and reassurance his step-b...more
Hardcover, 544 pages
Published
March 17th 2009
by Ballantine Books
(first published 1987)
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This book was recommended to me by a good friend who had literally poured over every book she could find on the topic of sleep. She sees it as the sleep bible.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time with the book for several reasons.
1) It's very dense with a small typeface - note easy to read when you're exhausted and looking for a solution.
2) It's totally unclear where in the book there's actual practical information on how to help your child sleep.
3) The author ...more
Unfortunately, I had a hard time with the book for several reasons.
1) It's very dense with a small typeface - note easy to read when you're exhausted and looking for a solution.
2) It's totally unclear where in the book there's actual practical information on how to help your child sleep.
3) The author ...more
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This is the most amazing sleep book ever written. I read it with my first and it is a miracle! It totally teaches you how to train your kids to sleep. I refreshed my memory and re-read parts of it with our second and it still worked wonders. Every parent of a newborn should read this. You'll never regret that you did!
Kelly
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone with an open mind about nighttime parenting
First off, let me say that I didn't actually "read" this book cover to cover. I skimmed it. A LOT of people recommend this book, and I can see why. But it bugs me. In my opinion, the author has a "do or die" approach, like if you don't help your child sleep better NOW and in his (the author's) way, he/she is going to suffer for it for the rest of their lives. It made me feel guilty as a parent for not doing everything he says, like I'm harming my child, which I know I'm not. ...more
I feel like all the books say the same thing in different ways and then sell it as the ONLY thing that works. The funniest thing is that they also seem to say that if you pay attention to your child you will notice patterns and respond according to your best instincts. DUH!! Pay attention to what your child needs. I never thought of that! I feel like most of these books are written to make mothers/parents feel bad, especially if you are breastfeeding. God forbid you don't like to hear your...more
I really love this book – though I notice I almost always hear negative reviews and comments about him which is a huge shame. People think of him as having a "cry it out" stance and of being anti-"attachment parenting" but this couldn't be further from the truth. What is great is that he doesn't have one philosophy or think there is one method of doing things. He gives many different sleep strategies that include no crying, some crying, and "cry it out" and he tel...more
Decent.
This book is really not great for babies under 4 months of age, although it did introduce me to an important concept (don't keep a very young baby awake for more than 2 hours!). It is geared more to babies 5+ months and toddlers, preschoolers, children. For the first four months, definitely go to Dr. Harvey Karp's "The Happiest Baby on the Block," which is astoundingly good--and I recommend the DVD more than the book.
Dr. W is extremely knowledgeable ...more
This book is really not great for babies under 4 months of age, although it did introduce me to an important concept (don't keep a very young baby awake for more than 2 hours!). It is geared more to babies 5+ months and toddlers, preschoolers, children. For the first four months, definitely go to Dr. Harvey Karp's "The Happiest Baby on the Block," which is astoundingly good--and I recommend the DVD more than the book.
Dr. W is extremely knowledgeable ...more
*sigh* i am obssessed with sleep. and it's not something i'm proud of. my first child was a crappy sleeper and i was set on making sure that the second one would be better rested. well, here i am, with baby #2, and though she definitely sleeps better, she's still, you know...a baby. and she has her good days and her bad days. that said, weissbluth's book is really good about explaining the science behind infant sleep and stresses the importance behind having a well-rested child in a culture wher...more
This book makes me feel like a failure as a parent when my child has sleep issues. I hate his preachy tone and militant approach. I have literally thrown it across the room in frustration. Several times when we have encountered a new sleep issue with Nora, I go back to this book, hoping that he'll have some good advice. We are currently trying his "sleep rules" approach to deal with her getting out of bed a thousand times a night, with some success, but I think it has more to do wi...more
Although the writing feels confused and hodgepodge-y throughout, Weissbluth provides concrete information and advice on how to help your child sleep well, especially for first-time parents. I followed the author's suggestion of reading certain chapters while pregnant and felt like I had a good handle on what to expect and how to help with regards to sleeping when my daughter was born. Now, I often refer to the book's month by month guide on how parents can help their children establish healthy...more
The sleep bible! I swear this is the book that saved my life and now has me pregnant for the third time. Sleeping babies are the best babies ever, and this book teaches parents how to make sure their kids get all the sleep they need, how to get them to sleep, details on how much, napping, falling asleep in cars, etc - I still read it for my 3 year old and review it for my 1yr old...plus it has tips all the way to to the teen years. I have not met anyone yet who has religiously followed it say it...more
The book is a little hard to navigate, but there is some really helpful information in here. I like how he divides the book into age-specific chapters. It's nice to go straight to the chapter relevant to your child to get a sense of what sleep patterns are healthy for that age. His suggestion to always soothe a newborn to sleep within one to two hours of wakefulness was so helpful - it really cut down on cranky periods. The idea that more sleep = more sleep was counterintuitive at first, but...more
I loved this book so much that after returning it to the library, I bought a copy of my own!
My daughter had gotten to a point where she would not fall asleep unless it was or or next to me. I couldn't put her down in her crib without her waking up and screaming. I read a few books - all that I could find time for with a fairly cranky daughter around - but nothing was really working. Everything else that I read seemed kind of theoretical. This book was full of science (not too much a...more
My daughter had gotten to a point where she would not fall asleep unless it was or or next to me. I couldn't put her down in her crib without her waking up and screaming. I read a few books - all that I could find time for with a fairly cranky daughter around - but nothing was really working. Everything else that I read seemed kind of theoretical. This book was full of science (not too much a...more
Dr. W has some worthwhile research info in the first section of the book, but I do not care for his approach to "sleep training". My opinion aside, the book is written poorly - he could easily accomplish in 20 pages what he takes nearly 400 to say. Not only does he repeat himself over and over and over (and over), he is constantly contradicting himself. The biggest example of this is his firm rule of "Never wake a sleeping baby," which he iterates in the first 200 pages ab...more
Weissbluth means well, but the entire premise of the book is based on a selfish outlook on parenting, under the guise of looking out for your child's best interest. Of course, any child will stop crying at some point after they're left along long enough in their own misery, and of course I will affect (and probably lessen) crying in the short-term while your child is in the "no one cares" mindset. But the long-term effects are what scare me. Even an infant values most highly your desir...more
We read this at the advice of our family doctor. I did find some useful tips in it as far as recognizing sleep signs and avoiding your baby getting overtired in order to target naps. While we are never going to be parents who let our baby "cry it out" it did offer helpful guidelines for allowing some self soothing and the importance of sleep. It has helped us get our daughter back into a routine of regular naps. She had established a natural and regular nap pattern, but had surgery at ...more
Another blogging friend who was a new mother sent her copy of this book along to me when she learned I was expecting a baby. She told me that this book, more than others she shared with me too, helped her and her husband best raise their son who presented challenges to sleeping. I am all about learning everything there is to know so I dove right in.
I really grabbed hold of the statement that "sleep is not optional." That children require sleep in order to grow and be healt...more
I really grabbed hold of the statement that "sleep is not optional." That children require sleep in order to grow and be healt...more
I haven't actually had my baby yet, so I don't know how well this works in practice. I just know it's got a good reputation for working.
I'd suggest using this more as a handbook rather than reading start-finish. There actually is practical info in here, but you have to work for it. Skip the intro, and use the index and TOC to help you cut through the crap. The individual case studies are interesting but don't really give you any tools, so you should feel free to skim or skip those t...more
I'd suggest using this more as a handbook rather than reading start-finish. There actually is practical info in here, but you have to work for it. Skip the intro, and use the index and TOC to help you cut through the crap. The individual case studies are interesting but don't really give you any tools, so you should feel free to skim or skip those t...more
I admit I bought the book when my son was 9 months old (he's now 2), and never read it. I was sure it was going to tell me to let him "cry it out," and I didn't want to hear it. But I reached a breaking point with my 7 month old daughter this week and decided that I Had to give it a try, or quietly (?) go nuts. Sure enough, it does tell you to let 'em cry it out, but it backs up this advice so well - and allows enough flexibility - that I actually feel pretty good about it. In fact,...more
Alright, I am giving this book stop ratings for it's content, but not its construction.
The information in this book is based on medical sleep studies of children and gives very concrete facts, expectations, and strategies while still assuming a wide range of normal in children's sleep aptitudes. I appreciated the different real life examples, the month by month break down of the first year, and the chapter on sleep problems. I love the premise that teaching your child healthy sle...more
The information in this book is based on medical sleep studies of children and gives very concrete facts, expectations, and strategies while still assuming a wide range of normal in children's sleep aptitudes. I appreciated the different real life examples, the month by month break down of the first year, and the chapter on sleep problems. I love the premise that teaching your child healthy sle...more
Breeana Shill
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Moms, Dads, Parents, Anyone with kids.
What a lifesaving book!
Like many first-time parents, I started off pretty darn ignorant. I did everything wrong regarding my firstborn's sleep habits for the first about 9 months. I became a miserable being surviving on almost no sleep and lots of frustration. My baby turned into a sullen little thing, too. I knew something had to be done when I realized he hardly smiled or giggled at all.
I researched different sleep-training books and liked the reviews from Amazon.com on...more
Like many first-time parents, I started off pretty darn ignorant. I did everything wrong regarding my firstborn's sleep habits for the first about 9 months. I became a miserable being surviving on almost no sleep and lots of frustration. My baby turned into a sullen little thing, too. I knew something had to be done when I realized he hardly smiled or giggled at all.
I researched different sleep-training books and liked the reviews from Amazon.com on...more
Syd
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
New and expecting moms
Shelves:
non-fiction,
kindle
I give this one two stars not because the ideas were bad. The concepts are fairly sound and it is helping me get my 3 month on a napping schedule that will help him grow and be happy. I've already seen significant improvement in his mood.
I give it two stars because the book repeats itself over and over and over. It needs a good editorial scrub. It's as if someone felt it should be a certain number of pages, so they kept stretching the material. It's very redundant and honestly, coul...more
I give it two stars because the book repeats itself over and over and over. It needs a good editorial scrub. It's as if someone felt it should be a certain number of pages, so they kept stretching the material. It's very redundant and honestly, coul...more
Though I marked 4 stars, I have to first add the disclaimer that there are several parts to this book that horrified me. For example: letting your child cry it out (CIO) until they vomit, and then not going in to clean the mess until the child is asleep or until the next morning...?! But the research indicates that CIO has no lasting negative effects, and this book strikes me as being the MOST evidence-based, scientific book on sleep rather than merely anecdotal/philosophy based as most of the...more
This book is amazing - the first sleep book I've read that is really backed by good research (not just advice or personal experience) and gives very helpful advice based on the specific age of your baby. I read Dr. Sears and it was helpful only for the period when I was co-sleeping with my baby. Dr. Weissbluth re-frames co-sleeping as either a voluntary choice, or a parent's caring reaction to a young baby's difficulty sleeping, but he goes way beyond that and discusses how to get your baby to...more
Carolyn
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
expectant parents, parents of young children
Recommended to Carolyn by:
Jennie
Shelves:
nonfiction
This book really helped a tremendous amount with my newborn! It has a lot of science/research information to back up the advice AND anecdotal information about specific families going through the same kind of things I was. As a new parent it was nice to see several choices of methods available to me to help me with my daughter - and it encouraged me to make the choice that we were comfortable with, it didn't push any one method over others.
I, too, didn't know that a baby could need ...more
I, too, didn't know that a baby could need ...more
I write this review while my 6-month old daughter naps peacefully in my bed... she won't nap in her crib. She'll sleep 10 hours at night (in a row!) in her crib, but will not nap there. That's why I picked up Weissbluth, but he was no help.
Anyway, here's what I didn't like about this book:
1. it is poorly written & horrendously organized- it seems like the purpose is to confuse you
2. Weissbluth mixes advice that is well backed by scientific evidence with advice that he s...more
Anyway, here's what I didn't like about this book:
1. it is poorly written & horrendously organized- it seems like the purpose is to confuse you
2. Weissbluth mixes advice that is well backed by scientific evidence with advice that he s...more
I am currently re-reading this book since I have a newborn again. With my first baby, I didn't find out about this book until she was 8 months old, and it was a life saver! But the sleep training was brutal, though absolutely worth it! She started going to bed at 6p and sleeping through the night! Now she's 3 and still goes to bed by 7:30p without any trouble. I am hoping that starting out from the begining with my newborn will be a little easier.
This book can be somewhat difficult to read, especially in the throes of a 6-week-long sleep-deprivation experiment (also known as an infant), but it is highly worth it. I am the kind of person who likes to understand "why" and "how, and Weissbluth's explanations about children's sleep cycles and the importance of good sleep helped me and my husband figure out how to cope with the chaos of the first six weeks and then work with our son to develop good sleeping habits. There were...more
I started reading this book because my wife and I are currently trying to figure out the best way to get our daughter to sleep (and get some sleep for ourselves). We thought we had things figured out, since we had a different newborn two years ago, but no.
This book answers a lot of questions and allays a lot of concerns. For the record, sleep patterns change at around six weeks after the due date, so it looks like Mirra may start to sleep instead of not sleep in the evenings.
...more
This book answers a lot of questions and allays a lot of concerns. For the record, sleep patterns change at around six weeks after the due date, so it looks like Mirra may start to sleep instead of not sleep in the evenings.
...more
I read this entire book, although it really is more of a "help yourself to whatever you need and go from there" type of book...I understand the concept, and in theory it works, but every child IS different and I truly believe you have to do what is right for you and your child.
I thin Marc is on the right track when it comes to the "sleep patterns" and making sure you recognize when your child is sleepy, and making sure you provide the adequate place for their slee...more
I thin Marc is on the right track when it comes to the "sleep patterns" and making sure you recognize when your child is sleepy, and making sure you provide the adequate place for their slee...more
I liked this book probably best of all the baby books I have read. With my first I read the baby whisperer book and I felt like I was always a failure because she wasn't following the schedule. My kids have both been cat-nappers and so I never knew what to do when they woke up before it was time to eat again. What I liked about this book was that it isn't a rigid schedule book. He teaches you about healthy sleep and why it is important for your child. He tells you to feed the baby when hungry an...more
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| healthy sleep habits | 2 | 40 | Sep 05, 2007 05:40pm |
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“...please remember that leaving your baby alone protesting for more fun with you while you get dressed is not the same things as abandonment. Similarly, leaving your baby alone protesting for more fun when she needs to sleep is not neglect. ”
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