I love this book for toddlers (one year plus). We co-slept with our daughter until that age, then moved her into her own crib. I'm not sure we could have done it without this book. This book is excellent for sleep problems with toddlers, absolutely amazing.

Our daughter refused to stay in her big girl bed until we established a system of sleep rules and rewards. The sleep rules we have chosen are: 1. stay in bed 2. be quiet 3. close your eyes 4. go to sleep. Our daughter gets a cookie every morning if she followed the sleep rules. Same deal (an additional small treat) if she stays in her bed until morning.

I would not use this book for infants unless you are prepared to let your baby cry it our for hours.

This book sometimes gets a bad rap for being too harsh in its methods. Not every parent agrees with the extinction method (also known as letting your baby "cry it out"). Letting your baby cry is hard, that's for sure, but IT WORKS. My sister got me this book when I was pregnant with my daughter, who was born in 2005. She is now 3 and a champion sleeper, thanks our adherence to the recommendations and methods in this book. My son, who is 8 months old, was a great sleeper from the day he was born, but developed the habit of getting up every 2 hours to nurse at night after his 6 month growth spurt. After two months of exhaustion (and one cranky, overtired baby), I finally got around to reading Dr. Weissbluth's chapter on Months Five to Twelve, especially the section on correcting sleep problems. Although I've read the whole book many times in the past 3 1/2 years, it was still helpful to review Dr. Weissbluth's ideas.
I realized that I was reinforcing my son's bad habit by getting up to feed him every time he made a sound at night. The first night of the extinction method, my son cried for TWO AND A HALF HOURS (from midnight to 2:30am). It was agonizing not to get up to comfort him. [This is the part where you need your spouse to be committed to this 100% because when you are ready to get up and go to your baby, you need your significant other to grab your hand and reassure you and remind you why you're doing this in the first place (or even to physically restrain you).]
The second night, my son slept for 10 hours straight (and so did I, without even getting up once to make sure he was okay, if that tells you how tired I was). IT WAS AMAZING.
It might take more than one night (Dr. Weissbluth says that the average is about 3 days/nights to reset the sleep schedule), but trust me, it really works. You have to steel yourself for a few difficult nights, but it's really worth it in the long run.
This book has been my bible whenever we encounter a sleep problem!

I could not have lived with out discovering this book with my first child and I am glad that I kept it around for my second child. OUR LIVES REVOLVE AROUND THIS BOOK!!! I get one for all my friends that get pregnant and they also love it.

Dr. Weissbluth saved my life! After 9 months of my son not sleeping, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Dr. Weissbluth's advice got him sleeping through the night almost immediately and pretty painlessly. I had tried everything else, and had read every sleep book, but nothing else worked. It's the combination of things that Dr. Weissbluth suggests that works. I highly recommend this book!

I felt compelled to write a review about this book...It literally changed the way that I think about sleep. My son was always a good sleeper, and we were very blessed that he started sleeping through the night (9 hours or more!) at just over 2 months of age. That lasted until about 3 months, when he started waking up again. Around that time, he also started fighting taking naps. I would nurse him until he fell asleep, sneak him into his crib, and tiptoe out of the room. If he woke up, all hell broke loose and we started the process over again...It was exhausting, and my poor baby was hardly getting any sleep during the day, unless he slept in my arms. We bought this book when he was 3.5 months old. After ONE night of following the plan exactly as he describes, the bebe is back to sleeping through the night, but now its between 11-12 hours STRAIGHT. He also takes three solid naps a day. I put him in his crib awake, he smiles, finds his thumb, and goes to sleep on his own. It is truly amazing and adorable. He wakes up from naps and bedtime happy and alert, and he actually tells me when he's ready to nap. I've learned how to read his cues, and we can plan the day around his nap needs. Whenever someone tells me that they are shocked at how much he sleeps, I just think to myself that that is how much babies NEED to sleep, it's just that most babies/kids are overly tired.
I highly recommend this book. It gives a lot of detail about why sleep is so important, and it gives information for how to handle the older child who starts waking up again. The first night was hard, we both cried, but after that, things changed for the better. IMMEDIATELY. My 5 month old can even sleep away from home, so it's not like we're attached to his crib. Sorry for the long review, but I hope it is helpful for someone else. And good luck!

I read this book when my first son was 4 months old and found it an invaluable tool for training him to take good naps, sleep through the night, and follow a schedule suited to his needs. Now I'm re-reading it to help with my newborn and his sleep needs. I felt like the stress level in our home went down dramatically when we started implementing the ideas in this book. It is amazing!

I especially like how the author focuses on getting the child in rhythm with his natural sleep patterns. It makes a lot of sense. I felt a lot more comfortable letting my older son "cry it out" when I knew I was following his natural pattern for sleep. Now he sleeps great at night and takes 2-hour naps every day. My newborn is still napping throughout the day, but I feel like I have a much better grasp on when he's tired and when to lay him down. I wish I had owned this book when my first son was a newborn. It would have made life a lot less stressful and eliminated the constant "What's wrong with him?" question!

I read this book when my first son was 4 months old and found it an invaluable tool for training him to take good naps, sleep through the night, and follow a schedule suited to his needs. Now I'm re-reading it to help with my newborn and his sleep needs. I felt like the stress level in our home went down dramatically when we started implementing the ideas in this book. It is amazing!

I especially like how the author focuses on getting the child in rhythm with his natural sleep patterns. It makes a lot of sense. I felt a lot more comfortable letting my older son "cry it out" when I knew I was following his natural pattern for sleep. Now he sleeps great at night and takes 2-hour naps every day. My newborn is still napping throughout the day, but I feel like I have a much better grasp on when he's tired and when to lay him down. I wish I had owned this book when my first son was a newborn. It would have made life a lot less stressful and eliminated the constant "What's wrong with him?" question!

This is the best book that I could recommend for anyone looking to have a happy rested child. The concepts are precise and easy to follow. The book is divided into easy to read chapters and can be used as a great resource for many years. I can not recommend it enough or give it enough praise. This is a MUST have.

I have found this book to be extremely helpful. There are lots of stories to help relate the advice and there are little bits of advice off to the side of pages that help for quick reading/skimming. The absolute best advice was not keeping your infant awake for more than 2 hours at a time. This has worked wonders for us as well as realizing how important an early bed time is.
This book gives practical advice and has proven to be correct in many instances with my first born. I also loved the charts to show bedtimes and amount of sleep for different ages and stages.
I am not a fan of the "let cry" bedtime solution. I would probably use it if I had exhausted every other avenue. This book discusses "no cry," "maybe cry," and "let cry." It does not condemn any of these in particular. It gives important advice and lets you choose which is best for your family. The whole book has that tone for me, it gives scientific evidence and advice then helps you choose what is right for your family. I am using it now for my 2nd child and the habits we formed for our 3 year old previously are still in place.

I have found this book to be extremely helpful. There are lots of stories to help relate the advice and there are little bits of advice off to the side of pages that help for quick reading/skimming. The absolute best advice was not keeping your infant awake for more than 2 hours at a time. This has worked wonders for us as well as realizing how important an early bed time is.
This book gives practical advice and has proven to be correct in many instances with my first born. I also loved the charts to show bedtimes and amount of sleep for different ages and stages.
I am not a fan of the "let cry" bedtime solution. I would probably use it if I had exhausted every other avenue. This book discusses "no cry," "maybe cry," and "let cry." It does not condemn any of these in particular. It gives important advice and lets you choose which is best for your family. The whole book has that tone for me, it gives scientific evidence and advice then helps you choose what is right for your family. I am using it now for my 2nd child and the habits we formed for our 3 year old previously are still in place.

At 3 1/2 months, our son's sleep habits were a mess. He was a promising night sleeper, but erratic. Daytime naps were all but nonexistent, since we were told not to let him "cry it out" and every time we put him down to sleep he...well, cried. The result was a baby with what we assumed was a naturally fussy disposition. Then a friend recommended this book and we UNDERSTOOD. The reason our son fussed most of the time was because he wasn't getting enough sleep. Once we learned how to recognize signs of drowsiness, put our baby down for a nap, and soothe him to sleep, our little guy was so much happier. Yes, there was (still is) some crying involved in this process. And yes, some sources insist you're a horrible parent and your child will have abandonment issues if you let him "cry it out." But I look at it this way: either he cries for 5-10 minutes before falling asleep and then awakens refreshed or I avoid putting him down for fear he might scream, he gets cranky because he isn't getting the sleep he needs, and then he ends up crying much, much more than 5-10 minutes (and then he *really* won't go to sleep). I now feel very little angst listening to my son protest for a bit when I put him down to nap. A few observations:

*Skip "Part I: How Children Sleep" and go directly to "Part II: How Parents Can Help Their Children Establish Healthy Sleep Habits." So much of Part I is redundant, disorganized, and filled with statistics from scientific studies. The first 191 pages could be condensed into the following sentence: Babies and children need sleep, but don't always know how to get there; so it's up to you as a responsible parent to teach them good sleep habits. "Drowsy Signs" and "Soothing to Sleep" on pages 63-69 (paperback) are helpful, as is "Bedtime Routines" on page 75, but the rest of the first section is largely a waste of time.

*"Part II: How Parents Can Help Their Children Establish Healthy Sleep Habits" is absolutely invaluable in its breakdown of what's reasonable to expect from each age group, from newborn to adolescence. It also contains a lot of information from the first section, but much better organized.

*Weissbluth's language can at times be really alarmist and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. Example: "A missed nap is sleep lost forever." Talk about fatalistic. Get the gist, then don't take the wording personally.

*The earlier in your child's development you institute the sleep methods in this book, the easier it'll be to get your kid to respond. In other words, if you start letting your kid fall asleep unassisted at, say, 10 months (versus 4 months), you're in for more crying. That isn't to say you simply shouldn't try Weissbluth's methods if you have an older baby or child. Rather, just be aware that initially it's going to be harder for you than if you'd tried a similar approach earlier on.

*Weissbluth may endorse what's essentially the "cry it out" method, but he isn't against co-sleeping or using breast-feeding to soothe a baby to sleep. He's firm, but not cruel.

*Don't beat yourself up if your child doesn't conform completely to Weissbluth's ideal sleep schedule. Every child is different. And at the very least, this book will give you an idea of how sleep works at different ages. What you do with that information is up to you.

I am still waiting to get this product !!! The "due date" is many days behind me and I'm still anxiously waiting to receive this book !!!! And I'm really not happy about this! My child will learn alone how and when to sleep till I'll get this book!!! :(

Marc Weissbluth was my saving grace! He taught me that sleep is good and healthy for my baby and he taught me how to read my baby so he could fall asleep easier. Marc offers real stories from his patients, multiple techniques so you can decide what fits your lifestyle & your babies personality best and gives pros & cons to each technique as well. He also warns about ways that parents sabotage their efforts to give their child the gift of good healthy sleep and how to change.

My son loves to nap now. He loves night time now. He's one and takes 2 good naps and sleeps 14 hours at night. I can't say enough good things about this book. Please give it a try, it is so worth it for your child's health & future sleep habits & for your mental health, sanity & nights sleep.

This book saved my sanity, I was so lost before reading it.

This book absolutly saved our lives.We are grandparents raising our grandson and we were having such a hard time getting him to sleep through the night. I read the book and gained such wisdom. We all can get sleep deprived and it really does effect our daily lives. We were sleep deprived and so was our grandson. We learned simple techniques and put them into practice, and gained our lives back. We started putting him to bed around 7:30 and just like the book said...the more sleep children get the more they need. Our grandson began sleeping all night after the 2nd night! Being grandparents raising a baby is tough enough, but try doing it on very little sleep! You must read this book if your children are having trouble sleeping.

This book absolutly saved our lives.We are grandparents raising our grandson and we were having such a hard time getting him to sleep through the night. I read the book and gained such wisdom. We all can get sleep deprived and it really does effect our daily lives. We were sleep deprived and so was our grandson. We learned simple techniques and put them into practice, and gained our lives back. We started putting him to bed around 7:30 and just like the book said...the more sleep children get the more they need. Our grandson began sleeping all night after the 2nd night! Being grandparents raising a baby is tough enough, but try doing it on very little sleep! You must read this book if your children are having trouble sleeping.

My wife and I were given this book just before my first child was born. We followed its advice, and have had a wonderful experience with all three of our children sleeping happily and being delightful when awake. I have since given it as a gift at least twenty times, often to friends who were having terrible behavioral problems with their non-napping, non-sleeping infants and toddlers, and most everyone who has read it has been eternally grateful. Whenever I see parents struggling with willful, unhappy children having tantrums, I long to give them this book.

This book is a miracle. Especially if you read it and follow it to the letter. It has worked for me twice. You cannot backslide, you have to commit to what the book tells you to do. I thought it was a fluke with my first daughter, but when it worked like a charm with my second daughter I have to tell the truth about it.

My daughters are now 1 and 2 and they both sleep from 7:30 until 8 am. No breaking and no waking, no crying when being put to bed...nothing. It hurt me to break away from them, but I realized that good sleep habits are learned and I love them enough to teach them to sleep well.

This book is a miracle. Especially if you read it and follow it to the letter. It has worked for me twice. You cannot backslide, you have to commit to what the book tells you to do. I thought it was a fluke with my first daughter, but when it worked like a charm with my second daughter I have to tell the truth about it.

My daughters are now 1 and 2 and they both sleep from 7:30 until 8 am. No breaking and no waking, no crying when being put to bed...nothing. It hurt me to break away from them, but I realized that good sleep habits are learned and I love them enough to teach them to sleep well.

Our baby did not sleep! She only slept when she was being held or walked around. When we got this book, we changed everything according to what was written and she began sleeping 14 hours at night in the matter of a week! It changed our lives!!

This book is terribly confusing. The author switches between ages without warning. I makes it hard to understand if the information given is for an older infant or a newborn. This book just needs a better structure.

Thank goodness we got this book. I never ever thought the sleepless nights would end. But, they did. It was a little confusing for us because we had to tackle three problems at once. We had to transition to crib, get the baby to fall asleep on her own, and stay asleep. Read it! It makes sense and it works.

We have three children 8,4 and 3. We read this book when someone recommended it for our first child's sleeping problems. Since our oldest was 3 months old ALL of our children have had succesful sleeping patterns. They all go to sleep awake and always have, they all have the "natural" wake times (ie. around 3:00 am) and because of this book they soothe themselves back to sleep. How awesome is that! Do your babies wake up from there naps screaming crying? That is a sign that they are NOT well rested. My 4 and 3 year olds still take naps EVERY day 2-3 hours and still go to sleep 8:30 pm every night. Children have to have success in everything they do so they will continue to do it. This gives the success to the child and takes the fear out of a lot of sleeping problems. Read this great book with an open mind. When the Dr. says 3 days to form a new habit, it is unbelieveable that is exactly what happens. I have friends that state "my kids just do not need that much sleep" or "you just have kids that sleep more than mine", it is a learned HABIT just like a LACK OF SLEEP is a learned HABIT. Great book, cannot say enough.

This book may contain good information about babies and their sleep habits, but I wouldn't know because I couldn't follow a word of it. Maybe it's just my lack of sleep and "baby brain", but I found the book disorganized and hard to follow. It is also riddled with alarming warning messages with little explanation. I wish the author had a better editor or a co-author because there might be some good information here.

I found this book very informative and helpful. This book gave me the courage to let my daughter cry herself to sleep. She's a wonderful napper and night sleeper now, with hardly any crying.

This is such a great book. I went from getting 3 hours at a time to al,most 9 hours! And that was after just reading the first 3 chapters. I even learned things about mine and my husbands sleep habits. Even if your child doesn't cry and you don't have any problems, read this book to prevent them in the long run.

Really made baby & us happier! We're a bit flexible from time to time for special outings, etc., but the schedule is pretty consistent.

My boys are now 12 and 15 so I read this book some time ago, however it was one of the best things I have ever done for them. This book gives great insight on the value of sleep and how childrens' sleep cycles work. My kids know the importance of sleep (even though they don't realize it!)and we have never had any of the nighttime/bedtime problems that one often hears about. It is hard to hear your child cry? Of course! But in the long run, a child who can go to sleep alone is much better off. I look at it this way, my kids used to cry when they had to use a car seat but I made them anyway and put up with the crying because, in the long run, it was what was best.

I bought this book on recommendation from my daughter's pediatrician. I found it very confusing with no real "action plan" drawn up besides letting my baby cry it out. This book is written from a very arrogant perspective. He reminds me of the doctor that told me there was no benefit of nursing past six months. After spending almost 17 dollars on this book...I think the only thing it will be useful for is starting a fire this winter. A terrible, close-minded book with no healthy solutions for our family!

I bought this book on recommendation from my daughter's pediatrician. I found it very confusing with no real "action plan" drawn up besides letting my baby cry it out. This book is written from a very arrogant perspective. He reminds me of the doctor that told me there was no benefit of nursing past six months. After spending almost 17 dollars on this book...I think the only thing it will be useful for is starting a fire this winter. A terrible, close-minded book with no healthy solutions for our family!

I purchased this book with two others and after reviewing not less than four total, I would say Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child would be the best of the lot and if you can only afford one book about this topic, get this one. That said, this book should only be read by people with excellent mental filtering abilities. I ignored much of the dialogue regarding the ADHD implications, etc. Many I have spoken with, including my husband felt the book contradicted itself "never wake a sleeping baby" "wake baby if..." I understood where others felt the author contradicted himself but I think the real issue is the Dr. Wiessbluth isn't very good at describing moderation, presenting both sides of the coin, and then trusting our parental instincts.

All of that sounds sort of negative. Here is what I learned. 1. My baby wasn't getting enough sleep. 2. She wasn't going to sleep early enough and wasn't on a regular or consistent sleep routine. 3. Her sleep environment was too "busy" and needed "quieting". 4. I wasn't allowing her the opportunity to develop self quieting skills nor allowing her to learn how to get to sleep. 5. I wasn't guarding her nap time sacredly enough. And finally, (6) car seat sleep isn't restful sleep.

After reading this book we made changes around the aforementioned are VERY happy with the outcomes. Our baby naps two times per day for about 1.5 - 2 hours with approximately 2.5-3 hours between nap times. She goes to bed about 2.5-3 hours from the time she gets up from her last nap and stays asleep, in her crib for 10-12 hours each night. It isn't always this way (teething, colds, etc.), but it sure is a lot better than waking up every 4 hours to a crying or wide awake and playing infant. She does wake up occassionally very early in the morning but plays by herself in her crib and falls back to sleep on her own without any "help" from us.

Again, prepare yourself for what seems like contradicting information or suggestions, they aren't at all truly contradicting, just trying to infuse moderation, common sense, or freedom to experiment in order to achieve maximum healthy sleep results.

Good luck and happy sleeping.

This is our first baby, so I don't know if we are lucky or if adequate sleep has made him perfect! He is either smiling and laughing, exploring or sitting in quiet contemplation. But, this book is confusing because it was poorly edited. My advice is to stick with it and revisit it frequently until the basic points make an impression. The biggest problem with this book and philosophy is that once you buy into it, it is unbearable to see over tired children in public. Seeing tired babies out with their parents at 8 and 9pm at a weekly outdoor concert in my town was a total buzz kill.

I recommend this book if you are looking for study results on the value of sleep. This book reads more like a textbook than other "getting your baby to sleep" books. I feel better educated on making decisions for my child on sleep matters. I did not necessarily apply techniques as much as I incorporated philosophies. People are always giving advice on what to do and not to do. This book helps you understand the importance of sleep and makes suggestions on how to improve the quality of your child's sleep.

This is good info to know about babies even if you are unable to do everything the doctor wants.

As a happy but sometimes sleep-deprived breastfeeding mother of a typical 7 month old, I have read a wide variety of books on parenting and sleep.

Books that promote strict feeding/sleeping routines, such as BabyWise & Baby Whisperer, provide potentially damaging advice to the mother hoping to successfully breastfeed. The assertion that you must follow some kind of eat-activity-sleep schedule is insensitive to the needs of our babies and can be detrimental to the nursing relationship.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have turned to the No Cry Sleep Solution looking for some instruction on sleep training that preserved the breastfeeding relationship, but was again disappointed with her complicated and sensational advice which amounted to not much more than teaching my baby to fall asleep without nursing.

I guess I want the best of both worlds - I want to nurse my baby to sleep, which I believe is a perfectly natural and enjoyable way to soothe and reconnect with my baby, but then I want to be able to put him down afterwards and allow him to take a good nap or sleep well at night. If he wakes up hungry and wants to nurse a couple of times at night, I consider that perfectly normal (as does Weissbluth!) and am more than happy to oblige, but what I want to avoid is him waking every 2 hours at night wanting to nurse back to sleep!

Weissbluth offers a refreshingly simple, if not necessarily "easy," solution. While he describes multiple different sleep strategies for infants, classified according to their age, the advice I find most helpful is the research-based information about baby's biological rhythms and sleep needs that dictate when they are most apt to take a nap or go to sleep at night, and how much sleep they should get overall.

Moreover, his advice that you can and should soothe your child to sleep by nursing if you desire, but then you should put them down whether they are still awake, asleep, or somewhere in-between, and allow them to fall asleep on their own once put down, is just what this tired nursing mama needed to hear. Yes, there MAY be some crying if your baby is over-tired or if your baby has never been given the opportunity to fall asleep on his own, and this is extremely heart-wrenching for any mother to endure, but this is not the GOAL of this plan, simply a by-product of ALLOWING your baby to learn to fall asleep on his own.

If you truly believe that as a parent your job is to prevent your child from ever crying or otherwise experience any type of frustration in life, then this book is probably not for you. However, if you realize that any sleep-training program may cause some frustration in your child during the learning phase, and if you would like to get some fact-based information on infant/child sleep along with many useful tools to help your little one get the sleep they need, then I would highly recommend this book!

I believe that teaching our children how to sleep well, and making sacrifices in our own lives in order to allow this, is as important as making sure our babies get the best nutrition, and plenty of love! This book is an excellent resource for parents who feel the same way.

I bought this book while I was pregnant because I knew too many parents of babies over 9 months who were still getting up several times a night. I was afraid of the same fate and wanted to have some information on sleep. After reading a lot of reviews I got the impression that the people who dislike this book are fans of "attachment parenting" and no-cry methods. I decided to buy the book for its information on sleep, not for any parenting philosophies.
My daughter is now 9 weeks old (and according to the book is at the 6 week stage based on being 3 weeks early) and sleeps for 6-7 hours at night. I have used the information in the book to ensure that we get her sleeping when she needs it, and in 9 weeks she has never cried about going to sleep. I have found that the information in the book very valuable. Several things that I would never have know without reading this include the fact that babies cannot tolerate more than 2 hours of being awake, recognizing signs of tiredness which are not obvious, and that the overtired state will seem like a baby is not tired at all. The author gives many different options and suggestion for sleep problems, soothing etc, so I never felt like he was pushing a parenting philosophy. The book reassured me that my family is not doomed to constant night waking for the next few years.
Now the major thing that I really disliked about the book was that it is completely and utterly disorganized. It is very difficult to find information that you want, and there are many times when there is a heading, but the following paragraph has nothing to do with the heading. It is hard to search for information, so I had to resort to folding pages and highlighting (I hate to mark up my books). This was pretty annoying, but overall I felt that the information in it was worth hunting through the book. I still refer to it once in a while, especially since I have not yet read much about the age groups past 4 months.

I both loved and hated this book. I loved it because it's full of practical tips, many directed at specific problems your child may be having with sleep. I hated it because it combines useful pieces of information with a healthy dose of the "follow this book or you will damage your child" school of thought. Because the good parts of the book are so useful, it's harder to recognize the hyperbole for what it is. I recommend this book, but read it with a critical frame of mind.

I cannot say enough good things about the author of this book who enabled my daughter to sleep -- and thanks to her now phenomenal sleep, she has developed beautifully and is so, so happy!!!! Dr. Weissbluth is a genius and a God-send. Definitely buy this book. And a sleep consultation with him will change your child and your life!!!!!! 312-642-0521. I am so grateful to this author -- and I hope all families put this brilliant pediatrician's solutions into practice so that you can all thrive.

We started reading this when our daughter was 6 months. It has been very helpful. Now I know what to expect out of her sleeping schedule. I know how much she needs to sleep for her age, when to put her down for naps, and I have confidence when I have to leave her upset about being put down that I'm doing what's best for her. I now know how very important sleep is for a baby and feel better about the sacrifice it takes on my part. It's so much easier now that I'm not constantly questioning whether she's really tired or not. I can read the signs and the clock and I'm confident!

Note: It's pretty redundant when you read it cover to cover - I think you could easily skip around to the chapters you feel apply to your child.

We started reading this when our daughter was 6 months. It has been very helpful. Now I know what to expect out of her sleeping schedule. I know how much she needs to sleep for her age, when to put her down for naps, and I have confidence when I have to leave her upset about being put down that I'm doing what's best for her. I now know how very important sleep is for a baby and feel better about the sacrifice it takes on my part. It's so much easier now that I'm not constantly questioning whether she's really tired or not. I can read the signs and the clock and I'm confident!

Note: It's pretty redundant when you read it cover to cover - I think you could easily skip around to the chapters you feel apply to your child.

Great book for any parent. It helped me get my 8 week old on a schedule in just one week. A must buy!

It horrifies me to think that a new parent would take this Dr.'s advice! Much of what he advocates borders on neglect. I had to study this book as part of a degree program and threw it away as soon as I was finished. I hope that no child has to undergo his methods.

Weisbluth is a little "wordy." However, if you cut through that, the advice is sound and firm...and it works. It just makes sense that as parents we must know what's best for our child. It's up to us to set the schedules and make the decisions. Following old adages like, "he'll let you know what he's tired" is foolish. You wouldn't let your child decide that he didn't need to eat. It's just as dangerous to have inadequate sleep as it is to have improper nourishment. We all should remember that we're the parents, and they're just children. They need us.

These kind of books invariably attract passionate reviews from both ends of the spectrum. Attatchment parenters and readers of Sears and Pantley (I have both authors, more than one book from each in my bookshelf) or those who read Gina Ford (I have hers too) and let them 'cry it out' (oh the shame). Generally crying it out or controlled crying are only resorted to if you start reading any of the books, no matter whose side you're on, too late to learn how to instill good sleep habits to start with.

Many of us are attachment parenters who have found that their child needs a little more routine and a lot of help with their sleep than having a strict attachment parenting style can offer. Sometimes hard decisions need to be made for the wellbeing of the whole household not just the child. Yes, parenting is an all-day and all-night job, however if both baby and you are exhausted and cranky then maybe you need some help.

I found that Dr W (I am typing this with baby no 3 napping in my arms) 'appears' to support co-sleeping but on reading the book feel he perhaps doesn't; but this doesn't bother me as I got a lot out of the book anyway. I have 3 children who have been 'guided' by this book, the oldest being 3.5 years the youngest being 3 months (and she still sleeps with me, yes in my bed, at night) and they all sleep (bar one feed from my youngest) from 6/6:30pm to 6:30/7am sometimes even 7:30 if all the stars are in alignment ;).

So take the reviews with a grain of salt, and read the book for what it is - a guide, not an instruction manual on the 'correct' style of parenting. You'll get a lot out of it.

This book offers some good facts about baby sleeping, but as a new parent with limited time, I wish I could have a firm plan that I can try it out. I found this book difficult to follow and confusing for the most part. I wish I had enough time to sit down and read it all and then digest it for another month, and then make out a plan for my baby. In this book, there is no plan or whatsoever, just basic facts and endless warnings. This is not a step by step program to me, this is a pediatrician's notebook on baby sleep. If you do some research or have to take part in a test on baby sleep, this is the right book.

I am a pediatrician who just had my first child. I did not know about this book until friends suggested it when my child was about 3months old and wouldn't nap well in his crib. I found the book to be extremely helpful and useful. It totally changed our lives, and we have an extremely good sleeper now. Our child loves his crib and was sleeping through the night with good daytime naps by 4 months. We have since given this book as gifts to all our friends having babies, and everyone says the book it is great. It is a must have for new parents. Very easy to read as well.

As my daughter passed the three-month mark, her fall-asleep-nursing, nap-in-the-carrier/stroller/lap sleep habits fell apart. She was just so interested in the world that she began to resist sleep, especially during the day. On the recommendation of a friend, I consulted this book. The most helpful thing about Dr. Weissbluth's book is that it explains the biology of children's developing sleep needs and abilities. He is very clear about what the sleep goal -- timing, duration, etc. -- should be for each stage of development, but not too dogmatic or judgmental about what method we the parents use to get to the goal. With the information I learned, I was able to figure out a training method that worked for us. (It involved some crying, but never for extended periods of time.)

The content is so useful that I decided to return the library copy I had been using and buy my own. The presentation, however, sometimes annoys me. The organization is perplexing at times. Dr. Weissbluth occasionally lapses into a tone of, "Gee willikers, I sure know more about this than almost anyone else." The many real-life stories that are included are intended, I'm sure, to illustrate how varied families' experiences are, but since they all follow the same plot, which goes, "We were exhausted and miserable, we followed the good doctor's advice, now everything is hunky-dory," it starts to sound like a cult.

My recommendation, then, is to read it for the information, which is tremendously valuable, but don't rely on it to make you feel reassured and comforted!

I'm a dedicated follower of this book's principles. I'm also a fan of Dr. Weissbluth's style and approach, which seem sensible and moderate to me. His methods and advice worked very well for our family and we continue to consult the book as different situations arise (a baby's sleep keeps changing as he/she gets older!).

I have a fussy two month old and a friend recommended this book so I bought it. I found that the techniques and information is the same as anything you can find online for free. The only reason I would purchase this is if I didn't have regular internet access. Otherwise don't waste your money.

This book has one basic message that is found all over the internet and in other books. Yet most of the book is a bunch of stories written by other parents and their experiences with their kids. Personally, I dont care what other parents are doing. Its not a one size fits all approach. I am also sick of these authors acting as if they invented this concept of nap time. Argh. It sort of demeans us as parents as if we are ignorant to our babys needs. He also employs the cry it out method.
Go with your intuition.

What critics fail to understand (or fail to read in the book), is that Dr. Weissbluth reveres the bond between children and parents, and teaches you to be in tune with your baby's needs, not to ignore them. If you follow his techniques from the beginning, you may never have any crying at all. Crying is what happens when parents miss their babies' sleep cues and let them become overtired.

We follow Dr. Weissbluth's advice about naps and bedtimes religiously, and our daughter is the happiest, most well rested baby around. She co-slept with us for 11 months (something Dr. Weissbluth addresses and supports), but she moved to her crib when it began interfering with her ability to fall, and stay, asleep. There was a lot of crying, from her and us, but after 4 nights, she was sleeping a solid 12 hours in her crib, with at most a few minutes of fussing (not crying).

There is a lot to learn, but Dr. Weissbluth explains everything very well, and answers many common questions. For people who think this book just advocates dumping your child in the crib and closing the door: It took us 3-4 months to learn to pick up on our daughter's sleep cues. Now, we are so in tune with her sleep needs, we can predict what time she will need to sleep, and for how long, by observing her for 30 seconds. Thanks to this book, we have become more effective parents, and our daughter has learned how to get the sleep she needs to get the most enjoyment out of every day. How is that lazy or cruel parenting?