The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night: Foreword by William Sears, M.D.

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The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night: Foreword by William Sears, M.D.

3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 · rating details · 3,382 ratings · 530 reviews

A breakthrough approach for a good night's sleep--with no tears

There are two schools of thought for encouraging babies to sleep through the night: the hotly debated Ferber technique of letting the baby "cry it out," or the grin-and-bear-it solution of getting up from dusk to dawn as often as necessary. If you don't believe in letting your baby cry it out, but desperately w...more

Paperback, 208 pages

Published March 28th 2002 by McGraw-Hill (first published 2002)

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What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber

The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

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10th out of 161 books — 81 voters

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Apr 07, 2007 Lynne rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who are really attachment oriented

OK, so here's the deal with The No Cry Sleep Solution.

I got this book because I really did not want to let my baby cry it out. I was pretty much attachment parenting from the time my baby was born until, oh, about 3 days after reading this book!

I did get a few good tidbits from the book, which is why it was not a "1."

First, having a really good bedtime routine is essential.
Second, Pantley's "gentle removal method" for stopping your baby from nursing to sleep works great. In fact, not only does...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Liz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mom-helps

Her intent = 4.5 stars
Her writing = 3 stars
Her theories = 3 stars
Her experience = 1.5 stars
Astonishing advice = 0 stars
Her overall success = 2 stars

Why do these so called experts see parenting styles as black or white? You leave your baby to cry it out, you are a detached emotionally unavailable parent who should not have had kids but rather run a corporation. You respond to every cry, you are "attached" and your deserve a golden star your child will be perfect and you can write a book about it....more Her intent = 4.5 stars
Her writing = 3 stars
Her theories = 3 stars
Her experience = 1.5 stars
Astonishing advice = 0 stars
Her overall success = 2 stars

Why do these so called experts see parenting styles as black or white? You leave your baby to cry it out, you are a detached emotionally unavailable parent who should not have had kids but rather run a corporation. You respond to every cry, you are "attached" and your deserve a golden star your child will be perfect and you can write a book about it.

According to Pantley anyway.

I do like that she wrote the book in attempt to help mothers see there are alternatives to "crying it out." But I find it really hypocritical that she whines about such "sleep experts" for making her feel like a bad mom (for not teaching her kids to sleep) and then the last thing you read in her book is her singling out a mother at a baseball games as unloving and negligent because she rocked her child's car seat when he started to stir (instead of shoving a boob in his face).

I agree with most her ideas, and thought of just about all of them on my own (with a little tool called common sense) before I read her book. I did sleep logs. I waited a minute before responded to each cry. I lingered on the nursery floor and sang lullabies as he drifted off to sleep. Does this qualify me to write a book? I say no.

Though, I do think I'm a little more qualified than she. I did all those things naturally with my first child. She wrote this book after her 4th couldn't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time. I know each kid is different, but I got the impression that her first 3 didn't sleep a whole lot better.

Also, it bugs me that she tries to reassure mothers that someday, regardless of your success with infant sleep training, your child will learn to sleep through the night, because we all do. Incorrect. I have spoken with several mothers (and read in several other sleep books) that some kids really do get up EVERY night, even when their 17. I think Pantley has good advice for those kids. Things like two free "come to mom and dad's room" coupons; once the two tickets are gone, tough luck. The nest next to mom and dad's bed is also a really good idea. A glass of water, flashlight, and one toy on the nightstand: good idea. The rewards posters, all of it great ideas for toddlers and even teens. But to promise people their kids will eventually sleep through the night is not a solution for mothers worn out and sleep deprived.

I personally have not resorted to the cry it out method, and I never intend to. Still, books like Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby and Babywise work much better for me and my little boy. You just have to realize these authors are on the opposite end of the spectrum as far as your effects go. They'll say if you respond to every cry with a feeding you're child will have ADHD and throw tantrums as they grow older. I say, there's a lot more to parenting then how you respond to cries the first 6 months out of the womb. Though I do think the Babywis author makes a good point when he says this kind of attachment parenting ignores what might actually be making your baby cry. Personally, I tried feed for comfort, and it backfired. My little guy was crying cause his tummy hurt and he had bad reflux. More food makes that situation even worse, even though the baby is eager to drink more cause sucking at mom's breast is comforting.

If you've let yourself feel guilty over occasionally rocking your little one to sleep or holding him through a nap or if you have no experience with children, this book may be for you. But if you have a serious sleep problem on your hands and your kid isn't old enough to care about a sticker on a poster, I suggest something else.(less)

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Jul 06, 2012 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

80% of the advice in here is stuff we were doing already because we've read Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, Revised Edition: Birth to Age 5 and The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two. We were following this advice before, during, and after our daughter's sleep problems developed. Another 10% of the advice was just ridiculous grasping at straws. Then 5% is just waiting for the problem to get better (which the author explicitly says the book isn't in...more

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Aug 28, 2008 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book in conjunction with Ferber's Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems, just to get a range of perspective. I definitely liked the approach in this book better than Ferber's: it's based in attachment parenting principles, focuses first on whether the parent themselves sees a problem or just feels pressured to have a child that "sleeps through the night", and emphasizes that the process of getting a frequently waking child to sleep in longer chunks can be a long one that requires patie...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Neligh rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people about to have a baby

The excellent podcast "pregtastic" has an interview with the author of this book on their website. It's episode 139 May 19, 2009 or you can click here: http://www.pregtastic.com/new-moms-ne...

William Sears writes the forward for this book in which he says:

"Sleep -or more accurately, the lack of sleep- is one of the most challenging aspects of parenting during the first year or two of a baby's life. The biggest hurdle is getting the baby to sleep through the night. Parents who are sensitive to th...more

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Jul 02, 2008 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Parents of newborns

Recommended to Lisa by: Friends from an online group I belong to

I liked this book and found it to be helpful. That said, my baby did not have major sleep issues when I started it, nor was he an older baby (he was about 5 months). We were also instinctively using some of the book's recommendations already, so that made implementing it much easier.

We're not interested in letting our baby cry it out and this book helped us feel supported in that stance. It's true that many of the suggestions are commonsense, but we found this book helped to "tie it all together...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Cailean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Well, if you know us, you know that when we have babies we more or less practice "attachment parenting," which we didn't even know existed until we were already doing it. It just felt natural to have our babies co-sleep, to not use a bottle or pacifier, etc. Little did we realize that I would become the "human pacifier" and that our oldest would have a very hard time weaning herself out of our bed. Fortunately we learned how to not begin that issue with our next two, but it still remained for ou...more

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Feb 18, 2008 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: moms of older children with behavioral sleep issues

While this book claims to be the third option for sleep-deprived parents (1 being: "cry-it-out," and 2 being "live with it"), I found that it was more like "live with it," with a couple of helpful pointers to make you feel like you are doing something. Or perhaps it works as the preparation phase before going on to the Ferber method.

First of all, like most self-help books, it could have been about 10 pages. I read over half of it before I got to her actual methodology. The first half is dedicat...more While this book claims to be the third option for sleep-deprived parents (1 being: "cry-it-out," and 2 being "live with it"), I found that it was more like "live with it," with a couple of helpful pointers to make you feel like you are doing something. Or perhaps it works as the preparation phase before going on to the Ferber method.

First of all, like most self-help books, it could have been about 10 pages. I read over half of it before I got to her actual methodology. The first half is dedicated to just plain sleeping facts about babies -- virtually nothing I had not heard before. Then, her 6 phase process is explained in about 3 pages which is followed by a couple chapters of encouragement. There is also workbook like sheets to be filled in as you document your progress.

The advice is pretty basic: create a bedtime routine (perhaps with a bath, bedtime music, reading stories, a "lovey", key sleep words, etc.) and then gradually put baby to sleep when baby is more and more awake so that baby will learn to fall asleep without you and gradually decreasing your degree of hands-on comfort during nighttime wake-ups. This really didn't work with me because my daughter would often go to bed completely awake, and it did not change how many times she woke up in the night or how well she responded to my comforting her in any way other than nursing her back to sleep.

I think this book is primarily directed towards moms of older children with behavioral sleep issues, rather than actually teaching a young infant (mine is 4 1/2 months) how to sleep better. There is no way a little baby is going to respond to "verbal soothing" in the middle of the night. The author is a proponent of co-sleeping, and breastfeeds her 18-month old. So I think her approach is accurately described as: "live with it" until it's ridiculous and your child can completely understand that he/she needs to stay asleep all night (i.e. at least 1 year old), and then incorporate this method.

No good for me.

I think you can get the same good advice without having to wade through pages and pages of fluff.(less)

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Apr 16, 2013 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Tired parents of little ones

Shelves: parenting-books

A beacon of hope to those mired in the fog of sleep deprivation.

There is an almost universal malady among parents of young children and babies and it’s called Sleep Deprived. You know if you suffer from this condition if your baggy eyes remind you to that you need to call Grandma June, your pillow hair resists all attempts at taming, you put the cereal in the fridge and milk in the cupboard, and slinged to your body is a bundle from heaven for whom all of this is worthwhile.

But you think, “Can’...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Robert Beveridge rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one, really

Shelves: finished, owned-and-still-own

Elizabeth Pantley, The No-Cry Sleep Solution (Contemporary Books, 2002)

There are two camps when it comes to “how to get your baby to bed” books—there's the cry-it-out camp and there's the no-cry camp. When it comes down to the empirical brass tacks, as it were, I could go either way (I reviewed, relatively favorably, the cry-it-out book The Dream Sleeper for Amazon Vine back in February 2012). But I have discovered, both through reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution and through witnessing some very...more Elizabeth Pantley, The No-Cry Sleep Solution (Contemporary Books, 2002)

There are two camps when it comes to “how to get your baby to bed” books—there's the cry-it-out camp and there's the no-cry camp. When it comes down to the empirical brass tacks, as it were, I could go either way (I reviewed, relatively favorably, the cry-it-out book The Dream Sleeper for Amazon Vine back in February 2012). But I have discovered, both through reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution and through witnessing some very heated discussions on Facebook, that the no-cry camp is no longer a school of thought—it has been elevated to an almost religious dogma. And that is a turn-off, no matter what the subject.

Why? Because the no-cry camp is not willing to live and let live, as the cry-it-out camp do. When the latter mention the existence of the former, it is to note they exist, mostly for the sake of completeness. (Fairness. Who'd'a'thunk?) On the other hand, when the no-cry camp mention the cry-it-out camp, it's to paint them as subhuman monsters who are to be eradicated from the face of the earth at all costs. Well, okay, that's something of a (minor) exaggeration; they do, on the other hand, paint cry-it-outers as neglectful, perhaps abusive, parents. This while (and I rush to add that I am not condemning this practice out of hand, just mentioning that others do), at least in the case of The No-Cry Sleep Solution, wholeheartedly endorsing co-sleeping. Here's an interesting passage from the preface: “The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission does not recommend co-sleeping with an infant. Nevertheless, many parents do share sleep with their baby. The safety list and references to co-sleeping in this book are not intended to be construed as permission to use this parenting practice, but are provided as information for those parents who have researched this issue and have made a choice to co-sleep with their baby.” Wow, if that's not a perfect example of CYA language (and, while I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, CYA language that it seems to me would not hold up for even a fraction of a second if challenged during a lawsuit), I've never seen one before.

But man, I'm getting away from my original point in that paragraph. Sorry. Here's another fun passage from the preface: “I decided then and there: [all advocates of cry-it-out are] wrong. Horribly, intolerably, painfully wrong.” [ed. note: I could probably stop there. Value-judgment words much? And lest I make you think that perhaps I put in an absolute where Pantley did not use one, the original quote I bracketed is “they are all wrong”, emphasis mine. She does use the absolute.] I was convinced that this is a simplistic and harsh way to treat another human being, let alone the precious little love of my life. I would never again allow her to cry it out. Even more, I vowed not to let any of her brothers or sisters-to-be suffer the horrible experience we'd just endured.” Wow. If you endorse the cry-it-out camp, in other words, you are treating children in a “simplistic and harsh” way, making them suffer through a “horrible experience”. Might as well just tie yourself to the stake so you can be burnt.

As I said back during the first paragraph, I could go either way. And you know what? Based on my experience (I have two children, one seventeen years old, the other fifteen months), the kid's going to cry anyway. No, I don't like the sound of it—I think humans are hard-wired to hate the sound of a baby crying, and to have the urge to stop it from happening. No-cry seems like a pretty good way to go... or it would if its advocates, at least the ones who write books and participate in facebook discussions on the subject, weren't such zealots. I find it hard to judge the content of this book empirically because, over the course of reading it, I developed such a strong antipathy towards its author's attitude toward those who subscribe to a different point of view than she does. At one point, I simply stopped trying and decided to give the book the gentleman's C. Why? Because (a) despite the differences in dogma and Pantley's endorsement of co-sleeping, which is thoroughly banned by the cry-it-out camp, a great deal of what is in The No-Cry Sleep Solution will look familiar to anyone who's read a cry-it-out book; I wasn't taking notes enough to be able to give you a solid number, but eyeballing it, I'd say I covered about 80% of what's in this book while reading The Dream Sleeper. (And thus this silliness reminds me of Christians vs. Muslims even more.) And because (b) my review doesn't matter, because you're not going to care about style. If you're already in the no-cry camp, this book is going to be preaching to the choir, and my guess is that if you're already in the cry-it-out camp, this book isn't going to sway you to the other side. Which makes this review, or any other review, utterly irrelevant. ** ½ (less)

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Nov 08, 2012 Bridgid rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This book gives some practical solutions, but they aren't presented in a very organized manner. For sleep deprived parents, it's a bit of a wade through other discussions to get to the meat of her method.

I agree that she makes a great point about how babies sometimes seem to be waking up b/c they are making noises, when in fact they are still asleep. Waiting a moment to see if they go back to sleep, pausing to listen to the type and intensity of the cry is a key step for parents whose instincts...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Curtis Edmonds rated it 4 of 5 stars

There were a couple of times, reading this book, that I laughed. Not because it's a comedy (it isn't) but because the idea of doing a log for baby sleep patterns was... erm... well... let's just say it wouldn't have flown in our house.

Our twins were born in 2009, and I can't say much about the time when they were very little because I don't remember any of it and what I do I have blocked out. It was the most exhausting, demanding thing I have ever done or would ever want to do. The idea that I...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: baby-books, nonfiction

What I liked...
Its written very simply and in a choppy way, which I like because I don't feel I need to read the whole book, so his style allowed me to read bits and pieces without feeling like I was missing much.
The author gave me a few tips to help my daughter sleep better. Yay!

Dislikes...
My problem seems to be an unusual one. My 2 month old sleeps through the night, as in 10 hours at a time. Sounds great, but she did not nap. At all. All day. She clearly needed more sleep, but could not fall...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have a 9 month old daughter and for the last 9 months, she has been a great sleeper... as long as she is in my bed, or in my arms, or anywhere other than in her crib, or by herself. It is my own fault really. When she was a newborn, I rocked her to sleep and could not get enough of her newborn goodness, so I held her while she slept for hours at a time. As I began to realize that she needed to be able to, 1. fall asleep on her own and 2. sleep in her own bed, I discovered very quickly that I n...more I have a 9 month old daughter and for the last 9 months, she has been a great sleeper... as long as she is in my bed, or in my arms, or anywhere other than in her crib, or by herself. It is my own fault really. When she was a newborn, I rocked her to sleep and could not get enough of her newborn goodness, so I held her while she slept for hours at a time. As I began to realize that she needed to be able to, 1. fall asleep on her own and 2. sleep in her own bed, I discovered very quickly that I needed help. As I researched and spoke to family and friends about baby sleep, it became a re-occurring theme that I was supposed to let her "cry it out" in her crib and that she would soon realize that she was to go to sleep in her crib and that would be the end of my sleep troubles. After hearing this message over and over and being told that I was spoiling her by not letting her cry, my husband and I tried letting her cry in her crib. After a frustrating night of tears and arguing with my husband, my poor confused baby had the worst night of sleep in her entire life. I decided that letting my sweet baby cry did not work for me, no matter what people thought.

Then I found the No-Cry Sleep Solution book by Elizabeth Pantley. This book is a serious must read for anyone who has had sleep issues with their babies. I was skeptical at first, as I skimmed through the book, but then certain sentences began to jump out to me. One of them was where Elizabeth said something along the lines of "Parenting doesn’t stop at night". I absolutely agree with this sentence. Since putting this book into play, and referring back to it all the time, my baby girl is sleeping much better in her crib, for longer stretches of time.

Elizabeth's gentle approach to parenting and the love that pours out of her book, make me feel as though I have a friend coaching me and standing with me every step of the way. The easy to read instructions and helpful hints in the book are exactly what I needed. She covers every sleep problem that I could think of, even my own situation of exclusive breastfeeding, so feeding during the night, nursing to sleep and co-sleeping... all hard habits to break!

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone that is having sleep issues with their babies. I had the philosophy that if I brought this baby into this world, I would not ignore her cries at night. I became a sleep martyr, not getting nearly enough sleep for myself and thinking it was just my lot in life at this present time. Seriously, buy the book and read it from cover to cover and then put the ideas into play. In no time, you too will be sleeping well as your baby sleeps peacefully through the night!
(less)

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Feb 22, 2012 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book,on a gentle way to get a baby to sleep this book is handsdown the best.It takes time, but anything worth while does. It helped me turn my baby from a 30-40 min napper into a 2- 2 1/2 hour napper, and to go from waking every 2 hours to sleeping 12 hours straight- i did use a few things off the internet and other books as well for a better idea of a structured routine-but this book was so nice, it was written with a great tone, no putting down. It is one of the best baby books I...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Kell rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009

There are some really nice ideas in this book, but I can't help wishing that my own baby could read the book himself, understand it, and act upon it, because I have to say, it didn't work for me.

As it turned out, we had already tried / were already trying many of the ideas in this book and to no avail. The only thing we hadn't already done was keeping a sleep log, which, in the end, served only one purpose - to frustrate and stress me out, which I did not need!

I've now been following the book si...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Allison Means rated it 4 of 5 stars

New parents still figuring out how to be parents: please consider reading.

As a new mom I've discovered an entirely different part of myself that I had no idea existed. I used to think I would be the "disciplinarian" when it came to children between me and my husband, but after just five short months I now know that is not going to the case, and I don't feel bad about it.

Another thing that I've learned is that people LOVE to give you advice on how you SHOULD be raising your child because that's h...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Laura Scudiere rated it 3 of 5 stars

While some of this advice is good for a first time parent, I found that a great deal of the book is just meant to soothe new parents who are having trouble getting their kid to sleep (i.e. "You will get through this.") and the other chunk is like reading an infomerical.
This book had a few common sense suggestions that were worthwhile. (What really made the difference for us was just our child's growth.)
One beneficial suggestion was to record the baby's wakings so that you can compare objectively...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Penni Russon rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who has adopted some elements of attachment parenting but wants to retain a sense of self

Shelves: kindle

I bought this book the other night at almost midnight after a particularly hard struggle getting our 11 month old son to sleep (our third child).

The advice in here is nothing startlingly new to me, much of what she suggests we used to good effect with our first daughters. But I am really glad I read this book because she reminded me how important the dinner bath books breast bed routine is, and after a few days of using that I can see how effective it is. We are concentrating on getting him to...more

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Nov 13, 2010 Annika rated it 5 of 5 stars

The only baby "help" book I've ever read, because it's all I've ever needed.

I'm not buying into that "let your child scream themselves to sleep" thing. A baby is not a toddler, a baby is not a preschooler, a baby is not a naughty little child who is angry about having to go to bed. A baby is just that, a completey helpless human who relies on only ONE method to let you know MANY different things: cry.

I'm already biased going into this book to read it, that I don't believe in "cry it out" and I w...more The only baby "help" book I've ever read, because it's all I've ever needed.

I'm not buying into that "let your child scream themselves to sleep" thing. A baby is not a toddler, a baby is not a preschooler, a baby is not a naughty little child who is angry about having to go to bed. A baby is just that, a completey helpless human who relies on only ONE method to let you know MANY different things: cry.

I'm already biased going into this book to read it, that I don't believe in "cry it out" and I won't practice it on my kids. So I appreciate finding book that claims to be "gentle" in its approach to helping your baby sleep through the night. For those of us parents who didn't have those miraculous wonder babies who slept through the night at 2-months on.

She has this heart-wrenching section at the beginning on the physiological makeup of "cry it out", for those who maybe want somejustification for not doing that and have well-meaning relatives who say "Well you cried yourself to sleep at four months old and you turned out fine". Maybe, maybe not. Here's what I know, it was done to me and it takes me forever to fall asleep. I have to have this huge ordeal/routine to fall asleep and I'm a very light sleeper. It's not always pleasant. My husband on the other hand, was never left to cry, and he can fall asleep anywhere, just by sitting still enough. Must be nice? Maybe means nothing at all? Never will know. I just know with MY kids, in this time of "attachment parenting awareness", it isn't practiced by me.

Pantley's biggest key is CONSISTENCY. It's her claim that sticking to it is what will finally "click". We started our bedtime routine with our then-8-month-old baby and it took 3 months for him to "click". At 11 months, he slept all night long, that is, bedtime to wake time and not one peep. So...safe to say 3 months of a very consistent routine (read: not schedule...routine). He's now 3 years old and we're still there. HE still uses some "sleep cues" (explained in the book) to help him fall asleep.

Pantley is a huge advocate on co-sleeping, which I'm not practicing, but I can't slam the door on either. Since my first child was a rotten sleeper, I'm now in the camp that says "Who cares where the kid falls asleep, as long as he SLEEPS". She's also a stickler that every.single.member of the family needs to sleep where they can get the best sleep. I get it now.

I've lent this book to three or four friends, and I can't remember who has it now. It's worth the buy, even full-price. (less)

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Mar 03, 2010 Amyleemc rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal-nonfiction

I credit this book with the ideas that have gotten my son to sleep by himself. Okay, okay, he's still waking up once a night and I'm going into his bed, but that's the next hurdle to get over and I'm confident we will.

The key things I learned, either through the book (admittedly, I finished it 3 months ago) or through my process:
1 - be patient. They say do something for 10 days before giving in. Somewhere else I've read that something becomes a habit after 3 days for a child this young. So, don...more

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Oct 09, 2009 Tammye rated it 4 of 5 stars

As someone who is a big believer in not letting your child cry it out and who breastfeeds her child to sleep, this is definitely a book written for me. I am naturally not inclined to like this book because I abhor the idea of "training" of any kind, however she definitely offers a nice way to start working with your child should your child not be sleeping the five hours or more time span that makes up "sleeping through the night". What I like about Ms. Pantley is she asks you to be honest about...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Courtney rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a smattering of ideas that offer just what the title promises. Seems like generally good advice, and I agree with the author's promoting that babies need scaffolding to learn to sleep. This book reiterates the attachment parenting notion that "crying it out" might provide short term results but not do anything to build security and independence in a child over the long run. Even though I agreed with the general philosophy of this book, I felt continually bothered by the author's lac...more

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Jun 15, 2009 Philitsa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book a bit before my first daughter was born and just after, and I learned a lot. I was quite proud of myself at the time. I had a well-adjusted infant who had a set sleep and wake-up time. Sure, she would wake up in the middle of the night for feedings, but those were also on a schedule. And I justified those away by reminding myself that she was very low on the weight percentile scale. If she wanted to eat, she would eat!

Fast forward to almost a year later, and I'm done. Toast. I n...more

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Dec 31, 2009 Eileen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: parenting, read-in-2009

This book has some good tips, especially if you are not of the "cry it out" mentality. I don't believe in letting babies cry themselves to sleep. I will try some of the things she suggested. I probably won't follow it all to the letter as every situation is different. But there are some things that I think are good ideas. I wish I had known about these in the earlier months: establish a "lovey", establish a "sleep word or phrase", establish a definite bedtime schedule, put baby down early (6:30...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Sophie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: parenting-books

"Sleeping like a baby" must be the stupidest phrase ever used. If you've had a baby, you'll know that, for most of them, sleep if often the most difficult thing about being a parent in the early days!

There are plenty of advice books out there to help you teach your baby to sleep but most of them involve some degree of crying, something I just could not handle!

This book helps you to SLOWLY teach your baby to sleep by themselves, with no crying involved. Or very little. The book contains a smorg...more "Sleeping like a baby" must be the stupidest phrase ever used. If you've had a baby, you'll know that, for most of them, sleep if often the most difficult thing about being a parent in the early days!

There are plenty of advice books out there to help you teach your baby to sleep but most of them involve some degree of crying, something I just could not handle!

This book helps you to SLOWLY teach your baby to sleep by themselves, with no crying involved. Or very little. The book contains a smorgasboard of techniques to pick and choose from according to your babies age and sleeping issues. You fill in sleep logs at the start of the process and then every 10 days and watch your progress.

Now for our story: We started using the techniques at about 3 months of age and over about 2 months we saw small steps of progress - initially my daughter would need to feed till she was in a deep sleep, by the end of the 2 months I could pull her away after feeding and pat her bottom and she'd fall asleep like that. She initially needed about an hours worth of work to get her to sleep and we ended up developing a really good bedtime routing and cutting it down to about half an hour, of which only 10 mins was feeding. But she still woke every 1-2 hours at night.

Eventually we discovered that she had an underlying problem: food intolerance. See www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info for more information. We started the "Failsafe" diet and a couple of weeks into that she suddenly started waking only twice a night! If I make a mistake with the diet though, she's back to waking 8+ times...

I'm glad I read the No Cry Sleep Solution though, as it gave us the foundations for good sleep, so when the diet kicked in everything just fell into place. I'd definitely recommend it for all parents, and the earlier you can read it in your babies life (or pregnancy!) the better. Be aware though that if it doesn't work, there might be other issues out there that you need to address! (I have two friends whose babies have milk allergies, and for them cutting out dairy was the solution).
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Jan 30, 2008 Natalie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all parents

Shelves: parenting

This is one of my favorite books on infant sleep. I really appreciated the tone of this book. The author offers many helpful suggestions for helping babies sleep depending on your parenting style and your babies temperament. So many other sleep books I've read try to tell you that their way is the only way and you must be doing something wrong if it isn't working for your child. It was refreshing to read something that gave ideas without the guilt trip.

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Jan 19, 2010 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is the opposite of the BabyWise series, that I used for my first born child. It recommends a way to get your baby to sleep without using the "cry it out" method. I love the idea because it's so hard to listen to your little one cry but the book was not for me and my second born child. The book advises you to put the baby to sleep, however you usually do (nursing, rocking, swaying, etc.), but lay the baby down JUST BEFORE the baby is truly asleep. If the baby wakes up at all, pick them...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Roxanne added it

Shelves: baby-parenting, reference

Reserving judgment on this one until my baby decides to sleep for longer than 2 hours at a stretch. A lot of the tips sound really helpful and make sense (like making the bedtime routine calm and regular and quiet), and so we're doing those things while we wait for the baby cough of doom to go away. There were two things I didn't like about this book: Pantley talks a lot about naptime but provides no support for working parents who aren't around for naptime, and she includes some really horrific...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: advice_how-to_self-help, 2012, nonfiction

While I appreciate the idea of a method in between "cry it out" and "deal with it", I was infuriated by Pantley's inclusion of a speculative description of the agony a child might be feeling as they cry it out (e.g., "His little body is burning with desire and utter loneliness" - I'm paraphrasing, but that is exactly the tone.) You can't use that manipulative, mean tactic AND say that (a) that you're offering a moderate option or (b) that whatever works for a family is what's best. I'm not wild...more

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About Elizabeth Pantley

Parenting educator Elizabeth Pantley is president of Better Beginnings, Inc., a family resource and education company. Elizabeth frequently speaks to parents at schools, hospitals, and parent groups around the world. Her presentations are received with enthusiasm, and praised as realistic, warm and helpful.

She is a regular radio show guest and frequently quoted as a parenting expert in newspapers...more

More about Elizabeth Pantley...

Books by Elizabeth Pantley

The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Gentle Ways to Stop Bedtime Battles and Improve Your Child's Sleep

The No-Cry Potty Training Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Child Say Good-Bye to Diapers

The No-Cry Discipline Solution: Gentle Ways to Encourage Good Behavior Without Whining, Tantrums & Tears

The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems

Kid Cooperation: How to Stop Yelling, Nagging, and Pleading and Get Kids to Cooperate

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title link	preview: The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night: Foreword by William Sears, M.D.
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53611.The_No_Cry_Sleep_Solution?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347531658l/53611.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53611.The_No_Cry_Sleep_Solution?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night: Foreword by William Sears, M.D. by Elizabeth Pantley[/url]

The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night: Foreword by William Sears, M.D.

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