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The Baby Sleep Guide: Practical Advice to Establish Good Sleep Habits
Babies do wake at night, but you can help them to learn to sleep with some gentle guidance.
Sleep. It’s the most precious commodity, especially when you’re struggling to find it. 'The Baby Sleep Guide' provides simple and easy techniques to help you establish positive sleep habits early on that will pay dividends in the long term.
Includes expert support and advice on:
• How to settle your baby
• Understanding baby sleep cycles
• Establishing a night-time routine
• Safe sleep
Designed to be deliberately concise for time-poor parents, 'The Baby Sleep Guide' offers clear solutions to ensure a good night’s sleep for everyone.
Sleep. It’s the most precious commodity, especially when you’re struggling to find it. 'The Baby Sleep Guide' provides simple and easy techniques to help you establish positive sleep habits early on that will pay dividends in the long term.
Includes expert support and advice on:
• How to settle your baby
• Understanding baby sleep cycles
• Establishing a night-time routine
• Safe sleep
Designed to be deliberately concise for time-poor parents, 'The Baby Sleep Guide' offers clear solutions to ensure a good night’s sleep for everyone.
- GenresParentingNonfiction
145 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 12, 2015
68 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 26, 2017
I have not read this book from beginning to end as my baby was 7 months old when I came across it, so I only picked what was relevant to my case. Most of the advice in the book is addressed to mothers with younger babies, but there is some quite useful information for older babies too. The chapters are very well divided and clearly titled, so it's easy to find out which bits are the ones you need.
I followed one of the methods for the 6+ months old babies for about 2.5-3 weeks - right after we moved the baby to his own room and cot. My son started sleeping without having to be cuddled, with me just singing, patting his back or reading to him. That was great progress at the time!
Now that he is almost 11 months, I just put him to bed, tell him a few reassuring words and leave the room. He is fast asleep within 10 minutes, almost no crying at all!
I can't be sure this book is suitable for everyone, but for us it did the trick!
I followed one of the methods for the 6+ months old babies for about 2.5-3 weeks - right after we moved the baby to his own room and cot. My son started sleeping without having to be cuddled, with me just singing, patting his back or reading to him. That was great progress at the time!
Now that he is almost 11 months, I just put him to bed, tell him a few reassuring words and leave the room. He is fast asleep within 10 minutes, almost no crying at all!
I can't be sure this book is suitable for everyone, but for us it did the trick!
June 13, 2020
One of the best books
I've been at my wits end with my baby girl not sleeping. Nothing was working. I was recommended numerous methods and books to help me. However, I randomly came across this beauty and have loved reading it.
As a new, first time mum I have become sleep deprived with my 4 month baby and out it down to a number of things. I thought I had a routine but after reading this book I realized I wasn't being consistent.
The tone of the book isn't patronising and guides parent through each step beautifully. I am on day two and although I've found it hard I'm already seeing the rewards. I've got everything crossed it will continue.
As well as guidance, it provides examples of different babies who have gone through various sleep 'humps' as I call them. Reading these have shown me there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank your Stephanie. Here's to a life of good sleep for my little girl
I've been at my wits end with my baby girl not sleeping. Nothing was working. I was recommended numerous methods and books to help me. However, I randomly came across this beauty and have loved reading it.
As a new, first time mum I have become sleep deprived with my 4 month baby and out it down to a number of things. I thought I had a routine but after reading this book I realized I wasn't being consistent.
The tone of the book isn't patronising and guides parent through each step beautifully. I am on day two and although I've found it hard I'm already seeing the rewards. I've got everything crossed it will continue.
As well as guidance, it provides examples of different babies who have gone through various sleep 'humps' as I call them. Reading these have shown me there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank your Stephanie. Here's to a life of good sleep for my little girl
April 18, 2022
We started reading this book when our baby was almost 6 months old. Up to that time we've always rocked or fed him to sleep and he was waking up between three and six times every night. The first thing we did was to introduce some flexible scheduling during the day time, making sure he was taking three or four naps everyday and not feeding him too often. This improved his mood considerably and made it easier to put him to sleep at night.
Then we started using the "gradual retreat" method to teach him to fall asleep in his cot with one of us sitting next to it both for naps and night time. At first it was pretty challenging, he was crying almost all the time sometimes up to more than an hour, most commonly 30 to 40 minutes, but finally he fell asleep. Occasionally (maybe as soon as day two) he would fall asleep in less than 10 minutes or in less than 20 but with less crying.
Now, after three weeks using this method, consistency paid off; the average time for him to fall asleep on his own is between 15 and 25 minutes with very little crying most of the time. My wife still breastfeeds him twice every night but the rest of the times he wakes up he is able to fall back to sleep on his own.
So, at least in our case, progress was slow but steady, with some good surprises from time to time. We are confident it will continue to improve and we see all this effort as an investment for the near future. We feel that the ability to go to sleep on one's own is a skill that our baby deserves to learn and it will be valuable for him his whole life.
I would recommend this book to any parents that are thinking in sleep training their baby, unless they are completely against letting him cry at all. Probably it would be easier if you start sooner, around 3 months old, but I would still expect some crying here and there.
Then we started using the "gradual retreat" method to teach him to fall asleep in his cot with one of us sitting next to it both for naps and night time. At first it was pretty challenging, he was crying almost all the time sometimes up to more than an hour, most commonly 30 to 40 minutes, but finally he fell asleep. Occasionally (maybe as soon as day two) he would fall asleep in less than 10 minutes or in less than 20 but with less crying.
Now, after three weeks using this method, consistency paid off; the average time for him to fall asleep on his own is between 15 and 25 minutes with very little crying most of the time. My wife still breastfeeds him twice every night but the rest of the times he wakes up he is able to fall back to sleep on his own.
So, at least in our case, progress was slow but steady, with some good surprises from time to time. We are confident it will continue to improve and we see all this effort as an investment for the near future. We feel that the ability to go to sleep on one's own is a skill that our baby deserves to learn and it will be valuable for him his whole life.
I would recommend this book to any parents that are thinking in sleep training their baby, unless they are completely against letting him cry at all. Probably it would be easier if you start sooner, around 3 months old, but I would still expect some crying here and there.
May 17, 2023
Only tells you what not to do and does not offer any real practical advice for babies who will cry if put down at night. Just told to put them down awake but drowsy and leave them which doesn't work if you have a baby who will continue to cry in this situation. Also any advice around breastfeeding is totally contradictory to advice from lactation experts and is actually quite harmful to the way breastfeeding is viewed, supply, etc.
January 31, 2025
Practical but so very daunting.
August 1, 2022
I bought this for us after looking for British authors on the topic of sleep, and realising we got ourselves in a bit of a trap with our 3 week old co-sleeping and only being able to sleep practically on us. (there is nothing wrong with co-sleeping, it's just not something we want)
I highly recommend the book. It is concise and offers good insight with practical examples. It gave me a good understanding of our baby's sleeping needs and things to consider to help us and the baby sleep better over the next year.
I feel confident to start helping our boy get out of depending on co-sleeping. We haven't started the process yet, I hope it's as effective as other reviews suggest. Perhaps I'll update my review if I can in a month or two from now. We haven't applied what we've learnt yet largely because the author suggests up to 2 months 'anything goes' and focus on bonding / finding rhythm.
The author does not impose a "one size fits all" solution. She is not pro "cry it out" nor is she pro constant love and attention. She provides several solutions and walks through them all to help you make a decision with the approach you're happy with. She does really well to do it in a fairly short read.
If your baby is older, e.g. 6 months, still buy this book - the author makes effort to help readers with babies of that age, too. It's not solely for expecting parents or newborns.
I saw a comment from another reviewer suggesting they felt the tone was "tough love" and made to feel like you're doing things wrong. I did not vibe a "tough love" attitude at all. You will likely feel like you're doing it wrong while reading this if your current practice is wildly off-base compared to the author's suggestions. If you are buying a help book, be open minded and expect to learn. Don't feel the need to implement everything.
I highly recommend the book. It is concise and offers good insight with practical examples. It gave me a good understanding of our baby's sleeping needs and things to consider to help us and the baby sleep better over the next year.
I feel confident to start helping our boy get out of depending on co-sleeping. We haven't started the process yet, I hope it's as effective as other reviews suggest. Perhaps I'll update my review if I can in a month or two from now. We haven't applied what we've learnt yet largely because the author suggests up to 2 months 'anything goes' and focus on bonding / finding rhythm.
The author does not impose a "one size fits all" solution. She is not pro "cry it out" nor is she pro constant love and attention. She provides several solutions and walks through them all to help you make a decision with the approach you're happy with. She does really well to do it in a fairly short read.
If your baby is older, e.g. 6 months, still buy this book - the author makes effort to help readers with babies of that age, too. It's not solely for expecting parents or newborns.
I saw a comment from another reviewer suggesting they felt the tone was "tough love" and made to feel like you're doing things wrong. I did not vibe a "tough love" attitude at all. You will likely feel like you're doing it wrong while reading this if your current practice is wildly off-base compared to the author's suggestions. If you are buying a help book, be open minded and expect to learn. Don't feel the need to implement everything.
September 6, 2017
Read this for my 6 month old baby who was waking between 2 and 4 times a night, after waking only once a night a month before.
I finished the book in a couple of days as it is easy to read, with different sections and headers. This enabled me to put it down and pick it up again throughout the day whilst looking after my demanding baby.
After reading just half the book on the first day, I implemented one of the suggestions and found my baby settled themselves after 5 minutes of her first night waking (11pm) and only needed my presence 8 hours after going to bed (3am). I think I got less sleep than my baby as I was waiting to hear their cries!
The second night, my baby only woke at 5am and then slept until 7:30am. I believe this was due to another suggestion I implemented during the day.
I haven't had this much sleep in months and am so pleased I found this book! I only wish I'd read it earlier and got more sleep when I needed it!
I finished the book in a couple of days as it is easy to read, with different sections and headers. This enabled me to put it down and pick it up again throughout the day whilst looking after my demanding baby.
After reading just half the book on the first day, I implemented one of the suggestions and found my baby settled themselves after 5 minutes of her first night waking (11pm) and only needed my presence 8 hours after going to bed (3am). I think I got less sleep than my baby as I was waiting to hear their cries!
The second night, my baby only woke at 5am and then slept until 7:30am. I believe this was due to another suggestion I implemented during the day.
I haven't had this much sleep in months and am so pleased I found this book! I only wish I'd read it earlier and got more sleep when I needed it!
June 18, 2019
I did a lot of skimming and focused reading of this book. I liked the straightforward approach to sleep she teaches for each age group and her honesty about what to expect when trying to replace bad sleep associations with older babies. Yes there will be some crying and no baby won't feel abandoned or unloved because you'll be there with them and comfort them as they learn to sleep independently. I'm sure thats controversial to some. Nothing completely new, but I found the suggested routines and schedules for each age group a helpful resource. The author offers one type of parenting style to consider as you make your way through the "learning to sleep" journey.
July 8, 2025
Straight to the point and super helpful. This book gives clear advice without making you feel overwhelmed. It covers real situations and offers tips that actually work. A lifesaver for tired parents trying to make it through the night.
July 14, 2018
Brilliant well balanced advice.
August 6, 2018
Practical, to the point, and well organized so that I could read the parts that mattered to me. Really liked this sleep guide!
March 24, 2019
Dropped one star for the homeopathic "remedy" recommendation. But it's nice to read a baby book that isn't padded out with fluff. Will revisit in a few weeks when we've tried...
April 28, 2019
Short and sweet
Very short book doesn't delve too much in to anything. Enough as a starting point but I felt I needed more.
Very short book doesn't delve too much in to anything. Enough as a starting point but I felt I needed more.
March 13, 2020
Absolutely awesome book, short, sweet and to the point. Helped me massively in getting my 3 month old baby into a good routine! No tears from baby and lots of sleep for mum and dad!
June 25, 2021
Really helpful book useful tips on various sleep issues. Easy to follow with different chapters on the different stages/difficulties
September 27, 2023
Useful, easy to follow abd straight forward advice to teach your baby to sleep safely
September 21, 2025
Very short book and easy to read. Plenty of tips that have given me ideas to implement.
March 16, 2017
Read in one day - some good ideas but not so much for older babies - will wait and see!
July 17, 2019
Don’t feed then to sleep they say, ha!
July 10, 2017
This book has a firm, "tough love" tone. If you're really struggling and already blaming yourself for your child's sleep problems (as I am), this book can be discouraging, as it points out all the things you're supposedly doing wrong.
August 8, 2018
Brilliant well balanced advice.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews