Customer Reviews

The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program: Follow Your Child's Natural Sleep Rhythms for Better Nights and Naps

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I can't believe how lucky I am that my mother found this book while browsing the shelves at a local bookstore. I had just become a mother for the first time and my baby was NOT happy. She was always fussing, screaming, and crying. I had no idea what I was doing. She was tired, I was tired, but I didn't know how to help her sleep except to try to put her down when she appeared ready. Then, when my daughter was about 2 months old, my mom gave me this book. I read it and decided that although it sounded crazy, Ms. Moore is a sleep expert, I am obviously not, so why not give it a shot. I figured it couldn't get much worse at that point.

THE DAY I started using the N.A.P.S. plan my baby started to sleep better. As time progressed, things got better and better. Now, 7 months later, my baby rarely cries and putting her down for a nap or for bed is generally a pleasant experience.

The plan is simple. When your baby wakes up, start the clock. After about 80 minutes, start winding baby down for a nap. At the 90 minute mark, get her to bed! Don't worry if naps are short, just start the clock over as soon as baby gets up. Ninety minutes later, back to sleep!

My baby can now go for longer stretches between naps but is still most definitely on the 90 minute cycle. So, I have just added another 90 minutes between napping periods. She gets up at 7:30 and goes for a nap at 10:30 and so on.

Be aware this is not a book about sleep training. Look elsewhere for that if you need to. However, I've found that in using the plan in this book, we didn't really need to sleep train our daughter. At 7 months she sleeps close to 12 hours at night and we are able to lay her down awake, give her a kiss, and leave the room. No crying, screaming, or fussing.

I just wish I could give the book 10 stars!!

I must recommend this book for any new mother. I have a 3-year-old
and a 4-month-old baby. I wish I had know about sleep cycles with my first child.

This book emphasizes the alertness/drowsiness cycles that
babies experience in the first year. For mothers of babies who fuss a
lot, this book is your answer to getting them to sleep more and
scream less. You need to recognize your baby's sleepiness signals at the end of 90 minutes and help him to sleep then. Babies are usually unpredictable and cannot follow rigid schedules. This 90-minute concept is so simple that I'm amazed no one else has written about this.

This book is also the answer to any mother's question:
"When will my baby sleep through the night?" It has a wonderful
overview of babies' sleep patterns throughout the first year and teaches
what is normal for babies at different stages due to their neurological
changes.

There are other invaluable things: the book explains fussiness at dinnertime; it describes how crankiness is usually due to your baby not sleeping enough; it provides good advice on teaching your baby how to sleep on their own (at the right age).

I loved reading this book because it confirmed my opinions on babies and sleeping, and I learned valuable advice about the 90-minute cycle too!

The information in this book has been somewhat helpful in trying to unravel our baby's sleep problems, but don't expect a miracle. At least we haven't seen one. We have religiously employed the 90-minute sleep program's principles for the last seven months, but still have daily struggles with daytime sleep. I can only conclude that either this cycle holds loosely for some babies, or there is more to predicatable baby sleep than just following ultradian rhythms. The scientific and clinical information is interesting, but can lead to immense frustration when your child won't "cooperate" with the science that supposedly drives his behavior. That said, this book is worth having on hand and comes closer to helping than anything else I've read (and I've read most of the baby sleep books on the market, trust me!).

This fantastic book is the answer to baby sleep! My baby, now 5 months old, has never been a good sleeper or napper. He was super active in the womb, and hasn't really stopped moving since he was born. He was unable to sleep unless swaddled because he would wake himself up by rubbing his face with his hands or by startling at any noise no matter how small. Of course, being an active child, the time soon came when he was rolling over and it was no longer safe to swaddle him. He sometimes wouldn't sleep for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, and the more tired he was the worse his squirming got-- a vicious cycle. I was desperate. I bought and read "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" by Dr. Weissbluth, "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr. Ferber, "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley, as well as reading the sleep sections of "What to Expect the First Year" and the AAP's "Baby's First Year." None of these books helped me help my baby get sleep.

Weissbluth's approach boils down to "wait until 5-6 months and then let them scream" and I found the book very scattered and hard to follow. Ferber is the controlled crying advocate, gentler than Weissbluth, but still usually involves crying. His book is great if you want a good knowledge of sleep, but doesn't tell you how to get your baby to nap or sleep at night. Pantley's book is great in theory, but none of her tips worked for my baby. As I was reading reviews for these books, I came across one that recommended this book by Polly Moore, PhD. I looked at it and her website and decided to buy it and try it. And after one month of using the N.A.P.S plan, I can tell you that it WORKS! My baby is now consistently napping during the day, going to sleep easily at night, sleeping long stretches at night, (two 6 hour stretches; before he was waking up every 1-2 hours and it took a long time to get him to sleep again each time) and is FINALLY getting the recommended number of hours of sleep. He is so much happier, and so am I. And as far as the dreaded cry-it-out, Polly Moore has the most reasonable approach, recommending that parents use their instincts to do what is right for their baby, which may mean letting them cry or not, since no two babies are alike. This book was such a lifesaver for me. I was sick with worry before this and now I can finally relax and start really enjoying my baby, knowing that one of his most important needs-- sleep-- is finally being met.

Before reading this book my six month old took short naps and woke up frequently throughout the night. I thought she was just naturally fussy and a light sleeper. Now her naps are at least an hour long, and she sleeps six hours straight at night without waking up. My husband can't believe the difference in her disposition when he comes home from work. The book is short and to the point and gives sleep advice for children of all ages. The author offers advice as a professional and a mother. I have read three other sleep books and this was by far the best.

I have never written a review on Amazon before, but I have to share my enthusiasm for this book.

I found this book after reading an article in a newspaper when my son was 5 months old and just like the others it started working miracles the first day. I became an obsessed clock watcher and my son became a happier and I am sure, healthier baby from that point on.

I liked that she didn't force the "cry/no cry" argument, just presented them for you to make your own choice. You will probably find that either method will be successful in a fraction of the time because they are so well rested.

He is now 13 months old and no longer tied to the multiples of 90 so much (just as she said in the book), but when it is naptime, all I do is say "time for nap-nap" and I swear on the Bible, he gets up and with a huge smile on his face heads to his room to help me get it ready and picks out his books. 10 minutes later he is asleep without a wimper. The same occurs each night.

Just like the examples in the book, we had to move bed times around as he grew older, but now he sleeps 10-11 hrs/night with 2 naps a day around 1-1.5/hrs each and is always happy and in a great mood.

I cannot believe this book isn't known far and wide as the holy grail of infant/toddler sleep.

I am currently mother to a 14 month old boy but read this book when he was 4 months old. It works!!!!

When I was desperately searching for information about my 4 month old's 45 minute naps, I finally found this book. My son was taking 3 45 minute naps a day and was chronically tired. I was trying to schedule naps and feedings because at the time, I had relatives watching him. Finally, I read this book, and he went from 3 naps to 4. It wasn't ideal, but at least he was getting a little more sleep. I had to watch the clock constantly, but oh my gosh, it worked! 90 minutes is really the magic number!

There is so much more in this book that is helpful, and some of what she says corresponds with some ideas in Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child, but this book is much easier to read, especially when you're tired and just want something/anything to try.

I also found out, I can't remember from where, that it is not uncommon for a 4 month old to have what's called a "sleep regression." After having a 4 month old, I totally believe that some can go through that. After reading this book, my son took his 4 naps a day, and by the time he was 6 months old, he went to 3 naps a day.

What I find utterly fascinating is that the 90 minute intervals still apply to his cycles although not as strictly as they used to. Still, I can expect that after being awake 3 hours, he's going to go through a tired phase. And his one afternoon nap now usually occurs about 4 1/2 hours after he wakes up in the morning.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. I've read probably a dozen books on getting babies and toddlers to sleep well, and this book helped my son turn the corner from not sleeping well to being a great sleeper. Not only that, this book helped me understand so much more about baby sleep patterns (and adult ones, too!).

Like most first time mothers, you quickly learn that your child's sleeping habits (or lack there-of) take over your days and nights. At five weeks old, I couldn't understand why I couldn't get my daughter to nap, I was losing my mind! I came across this book, had it shipped - EXPEDITED, and poored through it in one sitting (while my daughter was sleeping in my arms!). It's a very easy, fast read, makes complete sense, and works immediately!!! The first day I tried it, I couldn't believe my daughter was asleep in 10 minutes!!! She followed the 90 minute schedule like clock work! I also found after just a few weeks of using this technique my daughter soon learned how to soothe herself to sleep! If you follow this book there won't be any need to "cry it out". I recommend it to all new mothers!
Side note: for those who said their babies don't follow a 90 minute schedule, how old is your baby? They only follow 90 minutes for the first 3 months; as they get older the wakeful periods start to stretch out longer.

My baby is 8 months old. She has hardly napped well, and putting her down to bed has been awful. I just got this book, and it is an easy read (basically you can read the whole thing in the time you are trying to rock a colicky baby to sleep, yeah, it was one of those nights when I got this). After learning about the 90 minute cycles though everything clicked and started to make sense, and explain why our baby was a good sleeper and now bedtime was just a mess. I would try to put her to bed in the crib any way possible, but normally she would wake up and thrash all over. Crying it out didn't work well either and she would get more upset and worse and worse. Staying in the room with her to get her to fall asleep didn't work either. However, now baby wakes up, and I figure out the time for 90 minutes from when she gets up. She goes down for a nap with little fussing and I carry her in a sling for now. 3 hours later, and it's another nap. This is great for me because now there is a sort of predictability to my day. I understand why I was having trouble getting baby to bed and why she always seemed to have a second wind when it was bedtime. After I have had more time to adjust to more naps and the timing of this program in a few days, and baby is better rested, I will tackle the ferber method to get her to go to sleep on her own.

I'm recommending this book to all of my friends. It makes sense and explains why sometimes it is hard to put a baby to bed (you miss the narrow window of time in the baby's attention cycle, which I realize now was a common occurrence for my baby).

This book was simple, effective, and easy to use. I know longer have a cranky baby in the afternoons with meltdowns. He went from waking up 6 times a night to waking up only once (what the pediatrician recommended for his age and development). I didn't have to "sleep train" or cry it out. All I have to do is watch the clock and his little eyes close like a charm right at the 90 minute mark. I have been following this program for about a week and a half and have had marvelous results. My baby is 13 weeks old and 13 lbs. I look forward to using the advice for when he is older and stays up for two 90 minute intervals.

This is the only sleep book you'll need. I read others. This one makes the most sense.