Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, 4th Edition

Very Happy

As a new mother of Twins, I found this book extremely helpful. I strongly disagree with reviewers who say his tone is condescending or judgmental, as I personally found him very tolerant of all parenting choices while still providing the facts that disprove them. I also don't see how people say he doesn't give options other than crying it out as he has offered a range of other options, though not in as much detail. My problem with this book is actually not the content as much as the organization and redundancy. A lot of the information is repeated throughout the book that you can easily find yourself wondering if you are relistening to a part that you have already finished. Funnily enough, this repetition is not utilized when most needed in age-specific chapters. Moreover, and this is not the author's problem but rather audible's format, you can't tell where to find the information you need because there's no chapter titles or subtitles, and the book chapters are further divided into two chapters in audio form. Tip for people who are in a hurry, listen to chapters 4, 7, and your baby's age specific chapter.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

It worked for my baby!

This is a comprehensive sleep book, I was reluctant to sleep train my baby, who at 6 months slept in my arms. I listened to the entire book, applied the techniques and now my baby sleeps 12 hours in his crib. We are still working on good naps.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Waste of time

This book will put you to sleep. There are some good concepts but the entire book is so redundant and goes in circles. Too much science and published research, just tell me how to get my baby to sleep better! Buy any other sleep training book.

Rescued me.. educated me..

This book has real scientific meaning. Beautifully explains the importance of baby sleep and how to get it and protect it. Babies sleep and all they need is a little love. What we as parents need is education and knowledge about how, when etc to get the baby to sleep. the book explains various stages in detail.... go ahead parents, educate yourselves and help your babies learn the art of restful sleeping.

A Lot of Information

This book has been empowering in some aspects but overwhelming in others. It contains A LOT of information, studies, experiences, and advice, which makes it useful for a lot of people. For the way my wife and I want to raise our kids it has some useful tips and some not-so-useful. The trick we've decided is starting very early to train your children to sleep. So, the best time to read it is right as you are getting ready for that little one to come. All in all, it is a good read and can help most people in at least a small way.

Great info, yet repetitive

Wish could have had this book in a summary. Great info and good ideas, but it’s way too long and repetitive. Felt like I had to listen until the end to make sure I wasn’t going to miss new information. Good principles to put into practices.

good information but repetitive

Did not work well as an audiobook due to very repeated points that would have been better skimmed, along with charts that don't translate well

It Works

I tried it before I even finished and this book worked like a charm. My family and I are well rested and happy. Highly recommended to all parents!

Kicking myself for not getting this book earlier

I used this book to help my 12 month old sleep. He was waking up 3-4x per night before and going to bed around 8-8:30. Now (2-3 weeks later) he sleeps 6-13 (YES 13!) hrs stretches without waking and his dark eye circles are gone. He also goes to bed at 6pm with less than 30 sec of light fuss after I set him down. This book helped so so much! Just wish it wasn’t so repetitive and was shorter.

Couldn't get past the neglectful advice

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

While this book did seem to contain some useful, scientifically proven information about good sleep habits for babies, it also contained tons of negative judgment towards working parents and attachment-style parenting. And worst of all, it contained such horrific, neglectful edorsements of leaving small babies as young as 4 weeks old to cry by themselves in dark rooms for long stretches (as long as necessary including HOURS UPON HOURS for babies just a few months old), that I had to stop reading. I'm blessed with (or probably more accurately--have created through attachment parenting) an easy-tempered 9 month baby who mostly sleeps well but has just lost her a way a little bit (medical issues, mom returning to work/new caregivers, travel), so I don't judge parents in more difficult circumstances who feel desperate enough to let their babies cry. I haven't walked in their shoes. But I do very negatively judge a DOCTOR who endorses such cruelties as a first resort and claims there's no harm to it.

By the way, parents beware when following such advice. My sister-in-law followed strict cry-it-out advice with her first baby, and her now 5 year old has the worst sleep problems I've seen. She absolutely hates sleeping and has a phobic dread of being left alone in a quiet room. By 3 years old they had to stop naps all together because she would literally tear apart her room when they left her in there and was a danger to herself and their home. She currently needs to be bribed to stay all night in her room and will only "sleep" with the lights on and music playing. This is despite being left alone in a dark quiet room as a small baby for 12 hour stretches, supposedly to "train" her to self-sooth. Of course she is chronically sleep deprived, but the psychological damage in her attitude towards sleep is done and probably can't be undone. It's something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life. Let's just say her parents have done it differently with their other 2, with much better success!

5 of 15 people found this review helpful