God bless you all for whom this book helped but it just didn't do the trick for us. I must admit that there is some great general advice in there but when I got this book I was desperate and needed help immediately, not a month to 3 months down the road. Ms. Pantley's advice is definitely gentle but very, very time consuming. She even says that it may take 30-120 days to work. Well, how much of that is the techniques or is the child just more developmentally ready to sleep better? If you have lots of time and are not at the end of your rope then give this a try but if you are desperate like I was then I don't think you should waste your time with this.
A little background: I am a stay-at-home mom and spent most days home alone with my baby. I ended up holding my child for every nap and co-slept with her as well. In addition, I nursed her to sleep every time. At this point my child never slept more than 3 hours at a time and usually only 1-2 hours........ for 5 months!!! The moment I put her down she'd scream so I just continued to hold her. I was so sleep deprived that I was going nutty. I knew I had to do something and I got this book b/c the thought of letting my baby "cry it out" absolutely broke my heart.
Well, I tried Ms. Pantley's advice for 2 weeks and I was seeing very, very little progress. I then decided that I just needed to bite the bullet and get the other popular books that were a little more "strong armed" and see if any of them seemed more practical. I gravitated toward those that were written by experts (and MD and PhD who actually work in the area of child sleep disorders), those being Dr. Ferber and Mindell. After reading both, I realized that the "cry it out" method isn't as cruel as it sounds and it was what I had to try. (In fact, I think Ferber's term "progressive waiting" more aptly describes the technique.) Well, I'm here to tell you that it worked just like they say- by day 3 it was drastically better! The most she ever cried was 45 minutes and that was not the screaming banshee I was afraid she'd be. After 2 nights she was pretty consistenly sleeping 8-9 hours straight.
I think that those of you who are at the end of your rope like I was really need to bypass this book and give the "progressive waiting" aka "cry it out" method a try. If it gets too bad, then stop, but give it a try at least. It was the best thing I did for my baby and me.

Great buy! This book was written by someone who has experienced sleepless night and knows what she is talking about. This is not some doctor behind a desk writing a book. This is a mother. I dont believe in crying it out. I feel its inhumane,however each to their own.The book is easy to understand and there are step by step instructions including a log sheet to see the sleeping improve.I am still in the process of following this book but I really enjoyed reading it.I have many many baby sleeping books. I actually think I have most of the sleeping books and if I knew about this book earlier,I would not have wasted so much money on all the others. If there is a baby sleeping book out there to buy....This is it!

I'm not a mother who could let my daughter cry. Everyone told me my sleep problems were a result of "giving in to easily." Then I found this wonderful book. Finally, someone who understands the ache in a mother's heart when her baby is crying. This book will not dissappoint. You have to work at it, but isn't that what being a parent is all about?
My daughter is now sleeping almost through the night. I'm a happier mother and that makes everyone happy.

We did the Ferber method of sleep training with my son when he was 5 months old, and it worked very well at that age. He was a great sleeper and napper from that point until at 8 months old when he got a cold/stuffy nose that hung around for 2 weeks - during which time he couldn't sleep well and in order for him to be able to breathe through his nose at all, we had to hold him upright against our chests, so that's what we did for him to fall asleep for naps and at bedtime. After the cold finally went away and we attempted to go back to our old routine of laying him down (sleepy but awake) to sleep, he would start crying, and was by then able to pull himself up to standing, which made the whole process much worse.

After a few days of attempting to retrain with the Ferber method, I decided it wasn't worth it. Even though I knew the Ferber method would probably work again eventually, all I could think was: how many days of misery would it take, and then what would happen the next time he got sick or we traveled? I definitely did not want to go through the stress and guilt of hearing him cry if we would have to retrain with the Ferber method each time something like that happened.

So, I decided to read the No Cry Sleep Solution. She gives many good pointers for helping your baby to fall asleep as well as to sleep longer, both at naps and at bedtime/through the night. We were already employing the majority of her ideas, but I did get new information that I feel is sound advice. The best evidence is that my son will now allow us to lay him down for naps and at bedtime as he's sleepy, but falls asleep on his own, with no crying. I admit this approach requires more patience and time initially, but in my opinion it was totally worth it to avoid the days of crying! I would suggest reading this book to any parent interested in learning good techniques for helping their baby to sleep well. I initially checked this out through the library but intend to buy one to have on hand for future reference with our next child(ren)!

Pros
-This book was easy to read and relate to.
-May introduce some new ideas
-May be a good book to read before you start reading Ferber.
-Better reference for Nursing moms.

Cons
- Most things discussed in this book most people already know.
- Her gental removal plan turned my great nurser into a biter. He would start to dose and I would remove the nipple. After a few times he would jerk himself awake and bite down because he was affraid I would take it away!
- Doesn't really go into changes in schedules and traveling that well.

Overall the one thing I did get from this book, was to improve his naps and this would improve his night time sleep. I ended up doing a more gentle Cry it out method and it has turned my 8 time-a-night waker into 1 time and with only 15 mins of crying MAX.

The No-Cry Sleep Solution book helped us to help our baby get into a healthy sleep rhythm in a gentle, gradual, intuitive way that felt right. Reading the book made me feel calm and, as a result, I was able to carry out the advice in the book with confidence and see results quickly.

It's very obvious that this book was written by an experienced, compassionate, caring mother. Her tone is very pleasant and reassuring and her message and methods are clear.

If you need guidance during the rough period when it seems your baby will never have a consistent sleep schedule and you feel like all the other books are either self-contradictory or simply not working, definitely try The No-Sleep Solution.

Our 10-month old sleeps very well already. But once in a while she'll wake up through out the night, while other nights she sleeps through. I bought this book to make sure we are doing the right things. I am impressed with the research the author has done. I now know what we are doing right on the nights our baby sleeps through and what we have done wrong when she keeps getting up at night. This is a must-read for all parents! The book even provides advices to use when your baby reaches different ages. I really don't have much time to read, so I read this book while my baby plays in her crib before she falls asleep. I can then use the advices I learned on her next nap. No more crying to sleep! No more guilt!

I bought this book because I was exhausted and about 650 people had given it positive reviews. It actually does work!!! Within 12 days, my son was sleeping through the night, and I re-entered the world of functioning, thinking human beings!! Pantley has taken a very scientific approach to developing this method, and it shows. It seems to be geared more toward co-sleeping families, but she includes advice for crib-sleepers as well.

I am so tired of the pressure that is placed on a mother to get her baby to be "good". This book is a wonderful tool. It gives you option after option and doesn't give "rules". You take what you can use and what works for you in your family. I love it when she says you can do whatever it takes. . . even if it means nursing again to get your baby to sleep. It gives me a huge sense of control to allows me to forgive myself instead of thinking I'm a bad mother for not following the rules.

It is also a very easy-to-read book. I was over half way through it before I knew it and I didn't expect to find time to read without falling asleep. I am totally in love with this book.

After just the first few chapters, I started implimenting a routine and a regular naptime based on his cues and it was almost instant that my 10 1/2 month old son started going to sleep without a fight. Now we are working on sleeping for longer stretches. The methods in this book are so stress free! I know we will make our goals with the help of the No-Cry Sleep solutions.

My friends are amazed that I can walk into the room of my sleeping 7 month old and put up his clothes and he never wakes up. This is because we set him up on the right foundation from the beginning. Every mom and dad should read this book and realize the potential that even a 6-7 week old baby has regarding there sleep habits.
This is now the only gift that I give to mom's at baby showers and if anyone ever ask for any ideas on sleepy I refer them to this book. Thank you Mrs. Pantley for sharing such wonderful tips and ideas and making me realize that I am doing the best possible job that I can. BZ of AL

Well, there's a good chance that you can find portions that relate to your baby too. I'm actually reading this book at the 4 month point... almost 2 months after I started to systematically and logically come to many of the same conclusions as this author (and of course borrowing ideas from other books that I've read). I'm not sure if I would have understood her many practical points just by reading them but they are certainly dead on when compared with my months of studious logging, suspicions, and experiments. Unless you have the time to hide out in a cabin with your baby and spouse for almost two months as I did, you may never be sufficiently isolated from social commitments to see the patterns that the author describes succinctly. With the holidays upon us and the baby's needs evolving, this book is a good source of reminders on how to stay focused on the baby and her needs -- which will in turn keep the whole family happy!

Well, there's a good chance that you can find portions that relate to your baby too. I'm actually reading this book at the 4 month point... almost 2 months after I systematically and logically came to many of the same conclusions as this author. I'm not sure if I would have understood her many practical points just by reading them but they are certainly dead on when compared with my months of studious logging, suspicions, and experiments. Unless you have the time to hide out in a cabin with your baby and spouse for almost two months as I did, you may never be sufficiently isolated from social commitments to see the patterns that the author describes succinctly. With the holidays upon us and the baby's needs evolving, this book is a good source of reminders on how to stay focused on the baby and her needs -- which will in turn keep the whole family happy!

I have a 6 month old daughter that has never slept more than 1.5 hours at anytime and never on her own. She had terrible acid reflux that went undiagnosed until she was 3 months old and the Dr's kept telling me she was "colicky". Laying down pained her so I did what any compassionate parent does, I walked her to sleep and held her for naps and at night she slept on her side curled up into me so she could nurse as it was the only thing that soothed her (she won't take a paci). She wakes up 5-8 times each night and can't soothe herself, so nurses, sometimes waking up for 1 hour or more. After 6 long months of this, I am back to work and need my sleep more than ever, so at my Dr's advice (and multiple other peoples), I bought Dr. Ferber's book. I was not comfortable having my little girl cry and was not comfortable with the system and happen to run accross this book. I figured it could not hurt to try and last resort, I may need to let her "cry it out". Parents in the same situation: PLEASE TRY THIS FIRST, IT WORKED FOR US IMMEDIATELY!!
I cringe thinking that I would have set her in her crib and just left her to cry when all I had to do is lay her in 1/2 asleep (usually she wakes up and cries for us to pick her up) and talk to her in a soothing voice while touching, kissing and reassuring her. It took her 45 minutes to fall asleep and when she finally did, each time she woke up, she was able to soothe herself as she fell asleep there. She still woke up 3 times between 8-7pm to eat, but this was the FIRST night! I know it sounds so common sense, but what this book gave us was confidence to stick to the plan and take baby steps. I know we have a long road ahead of us, but this was MAJOR progress for our little one - remember, she had NEVER let us put her in her crib and with these little changes and a new mindframe, it worked! PLEASE try this method first and if it doesn't work for you, move on to the next. We as parents love our children and all of them are different, so yes it may or may not work, but it is a GREAT place to start!

This book is a much more gentle way to have your baby get on a sleep schedule at night. I didn't want my son to "cry it out" and this book offered suggestions and methods to avoid just that. It is realistic (doesn't promise your 4-month old will sleep 12 hours straight) and helpful.

I highly recommend this book! Not only for the amazing tips Elizabeth Pantley provides, but for the encouragement & affirmation she also gives!

I implemented her program only three days ago, which by the way is very flexible to your own child's needs, and I am already seeing results! My 8mo. old took a two hour nap this morning!! I know things may vary, but going from to 15 minutes here, and 15 minutes there, I am truly thankful!!

With this book you will no longer beat yourself up or wonder if you are doing things "the right way." She so lovingly encourages you every step. She also provides an extremely helpful nap & night time logs. Along with the logs she includes a step-by-step plan of attack, if you will, for how you will progress in the program!

There were answers for everything: how to transition your baby from a family bed to their own bed. This was something I wondered about for months - and her ideas are so basic, so thoughtful, and simple!

I also love the pictures that are shown in the book. She used "test mommies" when writing this book, and throughout her book she uses their quotes or pictures as an almost guide to help one read through. I found the quotes extremely encouraging!

I can go on and on about this book! If you are thinking about this book it is because you are as sleep deprived as I was - THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU!!

I can remember not that long ago sitting in my daughter's room in the middle of the night thinking I must be the only mum in the world whose baby didn't sleep. I was lucky to get three hours sleep on any given night, and never three hours in a row. But thanks to Elizabeth Pantley and her book "the no-cry sleep solution" my little girl Milla has gone from a baby who breastfed 10 times a night to a gorgeous 18-month-old who sleeps between seven and ten hours straight!
Apart from being exhausted when Milla wasn't sleeping, I was miserable because of all the pressure being put on me to "do controlled crying" from extended family. One even said I was a "bad mother" for getting up at night for my girl and not teaching her to sleep by letting her "cry it out " for hours on end. Everything in my heart said controlled crying wasn't right for my Milla. She was a sensitive, gentle and caring girl who was very attached to her mummy. I loved my little girl too much to hear her cry because her mama wasn't there when she needed her.
After applying Pantley's gentle and practical tips, Milla is now sleeping peacefully - and knows that I am there for her when she needs me. I treasure every second with my little girl and am so glad I never abandoned her to cry. We have such a close and beautiful relationship. I feel like the luckiest mum in the world.
The first key point I learned from Pantley was that as long as Milla and I were getting enough sleep and we were happy - then we didn't have a problem - regardless of what anyone else thought. Milla now wakes once a night, between 5 and 6, and I give her early morning cuddles till get-up time. Controlled crying experts told me NEVER to cuddle my daughter back to sleep. I'm glad I ignored them because I treasure those mornings when I hold Milla in my arms and feel her soft breathing beside me. This is not a problem for us and a lovely start to our day.
Pantley's eight bedtime tips seemed rather simple and obvious at first - but once I put them into practice they actually worked. Milla no longer has a night light, has a long and quiet bedtime routine at the same time every night, no tv is allowed when Milla is in the room, she is now going to bed when her biological clock says is the right time for Milla (not what experts say) and while my husband calls me a "sleep Nazi", it works! And for those with sleep-log phobias, I still keep a meticulous sleep diary. It helps me notice subtle changes in Milla's sleep patterns as she grows older and her sleep needs change.
The final chapter in Pantley's book - Adult Sleep: Now It's Your Turn - was also a life saver. When Milla finally started sleeping well, I would lie awake for hours at night waiting for her to wake. I always tended to be a bit of an insomniac, and her tips for babies have actually also helped me!
I would strongly recommend this book to any mum who needs sleep and can't find it in her heart to do controlled crying. Pantley's approach might take a bit longer than controlled crying (though even controlled crying isn't guaranteed to fix sleep problems quickly and for life) but considering babies and toddlers grow up so quickly, it is worth the investment. My little girl goes to sleep with a sweet smile on her face, not tears!
Tanya from Australia.

The Pantley No Cry Sleep Solution has been a GREAT sleep help companion for us ever since we bought it for baby #1. The support and encouragement in this book gave my husband and I the stradegies we needed to stick to our gut resolve to NOT ignore our child when he was crying at night! Now that we have 4 children, we have 2 copies of this MUST-HAVE sleep resource. One to refer to whenever a new strategy was needed for our latest child . . . and another to loan out to friends and family when they were sleep deprived and desparate for immediate help! They say ANY sleep-solution will help if you follow it and use consistancy. But THIS is the one that freed my hubby and I to help our child w/o compromising our instinctive need continue to be there when our children need us in the night.

Good luck to you!
Blessings,
Kaycee Farrell
[...]

I was so happy when I finished reading this book. It has so many ideas, things to try, and information on sleep patterns. I had no idea why my little DD would not sleep or not sleep for long, but this book has given me some great insights into the world of my daughter! I bought this book when she was two and a half months old, and I will be using some or all of the methods in the book until she is old enough to sleep on her own! Thank you so much Elizabeth, you are truly a life saver.
Challon

I had really high hopes for this book, as it is so highly rated and seems to have helped a lot of parents deal with their childrens' sleep issues. My daughter, now 6 months old, has had trouble getting to sleep almost since birth. She was waking up 9 or 10 times every night and I was bringing her into bed with me just to get a couple of hours of unbroken sleep. By the time my daughter was 3 months old, I was tired, more tired than I've ever been in my life (my older child is a good sleeper), and desperate for a solution. Since I was terrified of the idea of my baby girl crying or being unhappy in any way, I bought Ms. Pantley's book.

Unfortunately, I was almost immediately put off by the author's tone and her approach to teaching her sleep method. She starts the book by basically selling her technique to the reader. The first chapter is peppered with scathing criticism of other sleep methods, glowing reviews from mothers who have successfully tried her method, and some very judgemental commentary about parents who use parenting techniques other than the ones the author herself is selling. As I'd already bought the book, I was a little confused by the author's apparent need to further justify her philosophies. But I was willing to disregard the negativity and try Ms. Pantley's sleep program.

The basic principles in the book are valid. The research outlines views shared by respected sleep experts including Drs. Sears and Ferber. Certain ideas in the book, especially the establishment of a concrete bedtime and a bedtime routine are very good, and are echoed by many other experts. However, the corrective measures that Ms. Pantley presents were impractical, overly passive and generally ineffective for my daughter.

I spent 3 months obsessively tracking the baby's sleep habits, making sleep plans, repeating my key words and phrases, and repeatedly attempting to progress from one phase to the next with no success. All the while my daytime life suffered immensely as I struggled to function on a few hours of broken sleep. Not only did I see no improvement, it seemed like my daughter's sleep problems actually got worse. Toward the end of my experience with the No-Cry Sleep Solution, she wouldn't stay in her crib more than 20 minutes at a time. She had learned that her cries would summon me promptly (the author insists that the parent must respond to the child's cries immediately) and that I would mommmy her back to sleep. My frustration was compounded by the fact that the author insists that any lack of progress can only be a result of some mistake or oversight on the part of the parent.

Ms. Pantley promises that there will be improvement, but constantly redefines what she means by "improvement," stating that "sleep through the night" simply means that the child will sleep for 5 consecutive hours sometime during the night. She frequently states that any positive change in the child's sleep habits, no matter how insignificant, should be taken as a great success. She constantly reminds the parent to be patient, but seems almost apologetic that her program is so lengthy. I have trouble putting faith in a so-called solution when its creator feels the need to constantly justify it.

I know some parents have had success with this program. I am very happy for them. Maybe my child is simply more stubborn than other children, or maybe she learns differently. Either way, the author's insistence that her methods will work on every child no matter what and that failure is always a result of the parents' wrongdoing finally put me off this book for good. I gave the program 3 months of my life and have nothing to show for it. I could not, in good conscience, continue to put my family through that nightmare. My baby needs her sleep even more than I do and it just wasn't healthy to continue to let her wake up 8 or more times during the night. I turned to another sleep program that, admittedly, involves some crying (though it is not a true "cry-it-out" method by any means) and am having great success.

I wish anyone who's considering trying this method the best of luck, but I would not recommend this book to anyone.

My daughter was not one of those babies who just magically started sleeping through the night at a couple months old, but when she was 10 months old she started sleeping for eleven hours a night without needing us to go to her, and we never made her "cry it out." In addition, she takes two, one-and-a-half hour naps each day. How did we get from our sleepless nights to where we are today? We used Elizabeth Pantley's book, The No Cry Sleep Solution. We were never comfortable leaving our daughter alone to cry herself to sleep, and we found this book to be a great, loving alternative to the sleep training methods out there. My daughter is breastfed and did spend time co-sleeping with us, but she now sleeps the entire night in her room without waking to nurse.

Pantley's book is well-organized, and in addition to her supportive, encouraging tone, she offers solutions that you can start trying right away. Her book is not a quick fix, but rather it provides the tools necessary to nighttime parent your child with love. You *can* start seeing results right away.

I know that my daughter will not be a baby forever, and she will not always need us to make her feel loved and secure. Right now, however, she does need us, and we wanted to offer her comfort and reassurance while still teaching her to sleep on her own. Our family is now rested, and my husband and I are proud that we were responsive to our daughter's needs. Buy this book; you are sure to find solutions that will apply to your baby's sleep problems. We will be purchasing Pantley's other books because we believe in her methods!

This review is for the Kindle Edition ONLY. I can't tell you how we like the book as we are stuck on the second chapter trying to piece together the figures and re-make the charts we need to fill in.

They totally screwed up the Kindle version. All spacing for diagrams and charts is off rendering them next to unreadable. In some books this wouldn't matter, but in this one they are a key part of the book. There are worksheets you are supposed to photocopy and fill out. I don't know if a Kindle will print out forms from a book or not; it's not in the user's manual and I'm not that computer savvy. Even if I did know how to, again, the spacing on these is all messed up so it wouldn't help anyway. So I have been sitting at my computer trying to guess what these things are supposed to look like so that I can recreate them on in my word processing program and it's been a lot more work than I wanted to sign on for. I think I will check my local library to see if they have a hard copy I can check out and photocopy, which makes me wonder, "Why did I bother buying it on my Kindle then?"

Again, do NOT get it in Kindle version! If you are going to buy it, get a paper copy.

I recommend trying cry-it-out before buying this book. You just may find that you solve your baby's sleep problem without spending any money or using precious time to read this book.

I have a 6-month-old son and a couple of weeks ago I was nearing my wit's end when it came to putting him down to sleep. In order to get him to sleep, my husband or I had to hold him while bouncing on an exercise ball. Once he fell asleep in our arms, we had to carefully lower him into the crib without waking him up. If he woke up, we had to pick him up and repeat the process of bouncing and getting him into the crib. We tried the cry-it-out method at 3 months and 4 months but it didn't work. He cried for upwards of 90 minutes and never fell asleep.

I bought this book the day he turned 6 months thinking I might be able to pick up a couple of tips I hadn't seen online. I did not read the book cover to cover - just flipped through and read things that caught my eye. It turns out that we were already doing many of the things suggested in the book: we had a bedtime routine, we played music, he had an early bedtime. It just didn't seem that we were making any progress at getting him to go to sleep on his own. Even if I had read the book cover-to-cover and implemented every suggestion, I don't think it would have helped us get away from the bouncing and holding him until he fell asleep. Fortunately for us, my son had his 6 month check up with the pediatrician just 2 days after I bought the book. We brought up the sleep issue with her and she said to get rid of the ball and just put him in the crib and let him cry (with us checking in frequently, of course). We implemented the new sleep process that day and he's been going to sleep on his own for about 10 days now. I'm so glad that we tried the cry-it-out method and solved the sleep problem in days, rather than trying suggestions from this book and dragging it out for months if not longer. And now that I think about it...we were already doing a no-cry method of getting him to sleep - it just involved us holding and bouncing him. What incentive did he have to start going to sleep on his own?

This book is a great solution to sleepless nights. I luckily found it when my baby girl was only 3 weeks old, so getting her into a routine was a bit easier, but I've stuck with it for the past month and she is only waking up 2 times a night and just to be fed and happily goes back to sleep in her crib! Its wonderful! I think every parent (new or otherwise) should at least try these techniques! I also used the techniques with "heartbeat" rhythm music when she first goes to sleep at night, but only when she isn't going to sleep as easy. Hope this helps all the exhausted parents out there!

the suggestions are nothing new, by the time you turn to this book you know about routines and bad sleep associations. She starts out with unfounded assumptions of what CIO does to babies, it's her personal opinion, nothing more. Having routines and working on breaking set sleep associations does not make a baby sleep well automatically, they are a start but not the finish for many babies that don't sleep well enough (not just the 4 she had). What I find most bizarre is how she doesn't see how irresponsible and harmful it was for her youngest baby to not get enough sleep for over a year, a year where so much development happens and therefore good sleep habits are critical. So instead of letting him CIO for 3 days so he can get the sleep he needed she let him wake up every hour for 1 year (and sleep in her bed until then, surely not the way to improve anyone's sleep). Sadly, this author exploits parent's desperation and guilt to sell her books and pad herself on the back for being the perfect mother with perfect children and a perfect husband (he's so perfect one of his e-mails is quoted, he must be another expert).

This book gave me some great suggestions and reinforced some things I was already doing. Personally, I find the cry it out method to be mean, so I was looking for another solution. If you feel the same way, get this book. It will help and has many suggestions depending on what's right for your family.

Has good information but is like all the other sleep books for babies. Must have though :)

This book has many useful ideas for helping your child to sleep better. It is broken down into ideas for 0-4 months, and 4-months plus. It's an easy read. The author is adamantly opposed to letting your baby "cry it out." Her methods may take longer than the "cry it out" approach, but you can achieve success with them. The book includes logs so that you can really see what your baby is currently doing with his sleeping, and then you can log what happens after a period of time using the author's ideas. I've been working with her suggestions for about 3 weeks and my baby now has a much smoother bedtime routine and naps (with resistance) in his crib when he never would nap there before. So we're still working on it, but I'd say this book has definitely helped!

It worked best for my two boys and was my prefered method; crying it out just didn't work for us.

Great Book! Really helped me get and keep my twins on a sleep/nap schedule without being strict and stressfull. Her book is warm and loving and her tips and techniques are also warm and loving. I tell every new mom (that asks!) that this is the best sleep book (and I read many more before this one!)

I came to this book in desperation when my second child was 9 months old. He was not a good sleeper. He (and consequently I) had never slept for more than 4 hours at a time (and that was on a good night!). We tried the "cry it out" approach, but it didn't work - my son just cried longer each night and I felt very uncomfortable with it all. At that point I was feeling quite despondent, wondering what other options I had or whether it was a case of enduring what was rapidly breaking me.

The title of this book ("The No-Cry Sleep Solution") is misleading in that there is no one solution presented. It's more like a smorgasbord of suggestions and you determine the combination that works for you. I must say, when you are exhausted this doesn't feel like the answer that you have been waiting for. But I was very encouraged by Pantley's emphatic assurance that with trial and error, almost everyone finds something that works for them.

My son's sleep did improve, though it was a gradual improvement over a couple of months. There are no overnight solutions here. Nevertheless, I liked the book. It's written in a gentle and helpful style and some of the suggestions are definitely worthwhile.

This is the best "baby expert" book I have ever read. Not only does it NOT advocate that you IGNORE your baby and let her cry it out, but it offers a wealth of advice for ALL parents: infants, toddlers, crib sleepers, co-sleepers, breastfed, bottlefed, etc. It doesn't necessarily advocate a specific mode of sleeping (crib vs. co-), but gives you guidance based on what WORKS BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY. Every new parent should have this book.

This book has a lot of great ideas to help your baby into sleeping on their own, without the awful cry it out method.
Gentle and kind for our little loved ones. If you have a colicky baby find out the source of their pain before trying a sleep solution.
Stacey

I was given this book by a friend after months of exhausting sleep deprivation. I was pretty shocked by the introduction where she in a round about way tells you that letting your child cry it out will do psychological harm to them in the future. She takes a few quotes from some professionals to make you feel like you are a horrible parent if you let your child cry it out, and you will face future ramifications due to it. Are you kidding me here? How many parents do you know who let their children cry it out and they have wonderful, amazing children. This book should give you options to letting your child cry it out, not scare you into using the books tactics. I say shame on her for causing parents undo stress about decisions they make for their children, as if it isn't already hard enough. I would have read this book and used the tactics in it if I hadn't read the introduction that makes parents who let their children cry it out look evil. Furthermore, what are her credentials? She has 4 children? My sister has 6 and she let them all cry it out and you couldn't ask for better kids. So is she an expert too? I was just very disappointed in another book that attempts to convince parents that their way is the only way. Her son was sleeping with her until he was a year and a half. When she says have patience, she means it. That is just too long for an exhausted mother of a 6 month old.

I felt that this book was pretty helpful. What I got most out of it was that in order to get night time sleep results it's best to have a bed time routine established. Once we put our 4 month old little guy on a bed time routine he started going to bed between 7:30pm-8pm instead of 11:30pm-12:30am. Initially he continued to wake up every 3 hours, but after about a week he only woke up twice and after about two weeks he only woke up once. Now he's 5 1/2 months old and usually sleeps from 8pm to 5am, wakes up to eat and then goes back to sleep until 7am. It's made a huge difference in our quality of life! HOWEVER he's still a HORRIBLE napper. And that's why I can only give 4 out of 5 stars on the No Cry Sleep Solution. I didn't feel that her nap suggestions were helpful for us. He refuses to take naps and will only nap for 15 minutes in his crib by himself before he'll wake up crying. The only way I can get him to nap is to put him in a Kangaroo Sling and bounce on an exercise ball for the entire length of his 2 hour naps! So far I haven't read one sleep book that can help me with this problem!

I always new that it's not necessary to make your baby suffer in order to get him to sleep.
Amazing book, gentle aproach, lots of love to you little one. Simple yet effective.
I appreciate a lot this advice, but I think my baby is the one who thanks Elizabeth the most!

The way in which parents settle their babies is a primary channel for creating security and safety - the foundations for trust. Healthy development requires that deep trust be established in the course of the first months and years of development. Thank you Elizabeth Pantley for giving parents the tools they need to be able to help infants experience the love that parents hold in their hearts.

Sarah Chana Radcliffe,
Author, Raise Your Kids without Raising Your Voice

I recommend this book to everyone that I know. I am strongly opposed to cry-it-out methods but was going crazy with a baby that would not nap during the day. At all. Reading this book not only taught me that I was letting my baby get overtired (and therefore too wired to sleep)but, more importantly, it felt like sitting and holding the hand of a (very wise) best friend. She affirmed my beliefs about how I wanted to raise my baby. I knew after reading this that I was making the right choices and my conviction had never been stronger. Using Elizabeth's suggestions completely turned his sleeping around. Now, at two and a half, he's still a wonderful sleeper!

This book is all about co-sleeping with your baby. As a working mom I was looking for books with tips that would result in me getting more sleep, not less. Unless you are an advocate of always having your child in your bed, this book is not for you. Try the Baby Whisperer book - that one worked for us and now we have a six month old sleeping the night, in his OWN bed.

There are just 3 methods to baby sleep:
1) cry it out (which is cruel, but easy for a parent) for me it did'nt work
2)co-sleeping (which is unhealty, but easy for a baby) which is what I do at 3, 4 or 5 am my baby wakes (and I know it is because she is not comfortable because she never wakes at the same time)but you have to sacrifice your space in bed, and
3)Tracy Hogg's Method wich is the best, but I am not willing to keep myself awake in order to get my 15 month old baby to sleep at that time, I know i can do it, but I've been 15 months trying to make her sleep!!!! so it is easier for me to take her to bed with me,
So you can choose and make it simple, a better method for you if you don't care your baby is exhausted because of crying and don't mind his cry, so let your baby cry it out, Co-sleep which is ok for me and this book and many others, and Tracy Hogg which for me is the best but I don't have the strength to try it at that time. I personally recommend Tracy's books she ruled!
Hope you can get your baby sleep in a happy way mine does!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that does not feel comfortable allowing their child to cry-it-out and deseperately needs sleep! I personally struggled with the idea that I teach my child to need me and then just pull all sense of comfort away from her and tell her to "figure it out on your own!" I believe that Elizabeth Pantely has so many different styles in her book and ideas you can model it to your own needs and desires and still stay true to the book ideas. While it may appear to take a bit longer than other methods, remember that those styles have to be redone again and again,,,with Elizabeth's book she teaches you to teach your child ways to sooth without having to start over after sickness, etc...thank you Elizabeth!!

If you are looking for a gentle, loving way to help your child sleep without screaming, this is the book for you!! After reading numerous sleep books and becoming a self-proclaimed sleep expert :-) this was the one book that TRULY helped us get our son sleeping well without crying. Pantley's non-judgemental tone, and gentle suggestions finally allowed us to help our son sleep well without having to let him scream (which never worked anyway and ultimately made us feel terrible). If you read this book, just make sure you give the suggestions a couple weeks to work. Just like anything else with parenting, it doesn't happen overnight. Just as you wouldn't expect your child to be potty trained in a day, you shouldn't expect to teach them to self-soothe or to sleep on their own in a day. This book got us back to the basics and helped us get back on track with common sense solutions. We also loved the no-cry sleep solution for toddlers and older children.

This book is so helpful. I have now used the NO Cry Sleep Solution with two children. It worked wonders. My second child was sleeping 10 hours at night by 9 months. I think this book is wonderful for people who aren't comfortable with their children "crying it out" but may not want their children sleeping with them. I work with children with special needs and recommend this book to families often, I especially like that there is a section that addresses children with special needs. What a joy when parents can get rest because we are able to be so much more patient with our children.

This book is amazing. The approach made sense to me, so I tried it. I am only on the 2nd phase, but I have seen drastic improvements. My 6 month old was waking up about 5 times a night. She now only wakes about 2 times in 12 hours! I totally recommend this book to all parents. Letting your baby cry it out is taking a big risk in breaking the trust between you and your baby.

My daughter is now almost 6 but did NOT sleep the first year and I couldn't let her cry it out and people gave me such a hard time - even strangers - and since she was my first I felt like I was doing everything wrong and if I was a better mom she would be sleeping. I thought that as a mom that was your job and if it wasn't happening it had to be my fault. I did have some wonderful people that assured me if I was doing what I thought was right and trying my best that it would all work out - but for whatever reason the critic's voices were the loudest (aren't they always???).


When I read it would not last forever and being able to look back on that time knowing you did what you felt was right was more important. Now being able to look back - on a good night's sleep - I am glad that I did what felt right and she does sleep through the night now and we don't have any issues - at the moment - that is always subject to change!!! But I remember people telling me how I was hurting her more than helping her and I wasn't doing her any favors and I needed to train her and how horrible I felt. I'm so glad that this book made sense of it all for me.

This book does an excellent job of taking into account that all babies are different. My first child just got angry when we tried the cio method. My second was an easy sleeper from day one and my third seems to fall somewhere in between.
The more experience I gain as a parent the more I realize there is no one right way. This book provides the benefit of choice. It allows you to tailor a program that will work to help your child sleep better. Just like Dr. Spock, this author knows that you are the true expert when it comes to your baby.

It is not simple, just as parenting is not simple. It allows for variations in schedules and failures in sticking to routine.
It is effective.

I wish they gave a copy of this valuable book at the clinic with every birth!

I really wanted this book to work! I had looked at others but didn't want to have to get to the point of letting our baby cry. I tried the methods from the book for 10 days, going to him and not letting him cry, soothing him back to sleep, putting him down with my arms around him still and letting him fall alseep and then releasing him, not nursing to sleep. Let me tell you, after ten days I was way more exhausted and our 4 month old son was sleeping WAY worse than before I started these methods. For us, these methods just taught him that all he had to do was cry and I would come in to save him. Before I could at least put him down to sleep some of the time, after these methods he would cringe every time he felt me start putting him down and wake himself up. It was so miserable that by the end I couldn't stop crying. At his worst, he was waking up in 23 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour and on a very good night 2 hours. I finally bought "Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child" which I had been debating about getting prior to this purchase. I poured over it one afternoon and started Dr. Weisbluth's methods that night. For us, the only solution was to cry it out. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated and our baby now sleeps from 6:00 pm to 7:15 am. He wakes up twice to nurse and goes right back to sleep without any fuss. He goes down easy at night too. That after one not so rough night of not responding everytime he cried. Let me tell you, as miserable as it seems to let them cry, it was the best and only option for us. One night of hardship has made a world of difference! Save your sanity and get "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" which will explain sleep habits and help you understand what your baby needs proven by factual research. He gives three methods, not just cry it out so you can make up your own mind. Good luck to you all!

This is the best book on sleep I have ever read. She is very very thorough in her explanations on sleep and the methods of helping your baby get to sleep, and she knows what works through her own experiences and the experiences of her own clients. This is a great book for helping learn the skills to help our children sleep and to have positive experiences going to sleep (w/ bedtime routines and so forth). She explains why crying it out is not a desirable method of helping your child sleep. And again, she knows what she's talking about! She knows the sleep is important, but she also realizes each child is different. And that is so comforting! I have tried her methods and they work. I don't believe any method is full-proof or perfect or that anything works every time for every child, but I've had overall good experience w/ the methods in this book. And I believe if you follow the suggestions, you can see great success in your child's sleep habits (and be on your way to a good night's rest yourself!)

I've been co-sleeping with my four month old since she was born. I've had some beautiful moments sharing sleep with my baby. I recently started back at work though, and as my baby has gotten older and more active, she has been waking up more at night and it has become much more difficult to get enough sleep to function at both my job and at home as a mom.

This book is wonderful and has made this transition much more smooth for my family. The plan Pantley suggests is somewhat labor-intensive, but on the fourth night, my baby is sleeping on her own in her cradle. She also fell asleep on her own tonight for the first time. And no tears. Seriously. My baby hasn't cried once in these four nights. And I'm able to sit and write this review rather than feel tied down with my baby in my arms stuck in front of the tv. I finally get to have some alone time in the evenings again.

You don't have to let your baby cry it out in a crib on her own while you cry down the hall. You really don't. It won't make your baby or you stronger. People will try to tell you that is the only method that works, but they are wrong. Pantley's method will work if you commit to it and keep a log and create a plan and follow it. You really have to commit to it and follow your plan. That's really the key with any plan, but if you want to learn a method to gently help your baby learn to sleep on her own without causing a great deal of trauma for her and you, this book will provide that for you.

Our four-month-old started waking 3, 4, and more times at night until we reached a high of 8. Each time I had to nurse him back to sleep. I did not want to have him cry-it-out if at all possible, and this book showed how to gently break the cycle. After about a week of using the techniques, we were back down to 2 night wakings. The process includes babies sleeping in a crib in a separate room, like our son. I would give 5-stars, but it did NOT help us with naptime sleeping solutions; unfortunately then we did have to have him cry-it-out.