Customer Reviews

American Academy of Pediatrics Guide to Your Child's Sleep: Birth Through Adolescence

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

 

 

I read this book desperate for ideas on how to deal with night wakings, and I did not find it helpful. The information is very general and is presented in a disorganized fashion. I had to look in 5 different sections to answer my question, and each only contained short blurbs on the subject. Almost every page of this book has a box with a tip or answered question, and although the advice seems sound, the format is distracting and difficult to follow. I much preferred Ferber's "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". His answers were more concrete and arranged in a readable fashion. He provided detailed charts to help you manage things like how long to let a baby cry, how to water down bottles for night feedings, or change the sleep cycle of an early riser. I also preferred Weissbluth's "Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child", which offered a lot of moral support on why it's best for your child to correct sleep problems early. He also spends a lot of time talking about daytime naps in detail. And both authors say it's fine to nurse a baby to sleep (as long as there are no other sleep problems), which for some reason the AAP is totally against. I would not recommedn this book.

I cannot honestly say whether or not this book would have helped us because I couldn't get myself to read it. It is not organized in a reader-friendly way and it is difficult to get help quick. When you're sleep-deprived, the last thing you need is to slog through a difficult book. I recommend instead "Sleep: how to teach your child to sleep like a baby" from Child magazine.

Because this book was edited by the AAP, I expected a detailed and methodical perscription for getting my baby to sleep. Instead, the book is really an expanded pamphlet that describes the different sleep options out there with a clear bias against co-sleeping. Frankly, I wasn't interested in co-sleeping with my baby either, but I found their "con" (from the "pro/con" section) to be laughable--that co-sleeping is dangerous because you could smother the baby accidentally. Lots of other books out there. Don't buy this one.

I think the medical communty over-reaches itself when it tries to address dynamics of human behavior and human relationships, both of which encompass the activity of parenting. This book assumes that the sleep habits which are most convenient for parents are also best for children. It also implies that difficult sleep patterns in children are something that parents should be able to control from very young, and that it is only a matter of hard work and competence. Neither of these assumptions are true, but either could leave a new parent feeling idiotic and overwhelmed. Not helpful.

Also, the book states that there is a higher rate of SIDS among infants who cosleep. This is completely unsupported. In fact, research demonstrates that when infants sleep "in proximity" to their mother's, they are at a *decreased* risk of SIDs. Nor has any study demonstrated any significant risk of suffocation to an infant who cosleeps with a breastfeeding mother, who is not influenced by drugs or alchohol, who is not a smoker, and who makes sensible modifications to her bedding.

Finally, the book makes very little reference to the psychological and attachment needs of young children, failing to detail the *emotional needs* of children and infants as they detail the "pros and cons" of various approaches to nighttime parenting.

The nighttime needs of children and infants are complex, unique, and multidimensional. This book is not.

Although this book got poor reviews based on its poor organization, the tips in it have worked wonderfully for my baby. I followed its recommendations for a 6 - 8 week old baby and after a few days, my daughter responded very well. She began sleeping all night (11 hours) when she was 10 weeks old and I believe it is because when she awakes during the night (as all babies do), she is able to soothe herself back to sleep. Follow this method for all naps and nighttime and you should see success! The crying is minimal compared to other methods, and my little girl never cried more than six minutes without my comforting her. Give it a try.

I bought this book on the advice of my pediatrician to help my newborn sleep through the night. While it was no miracle-worker, it did give me some basics such as a nightime routine to follow, and what I could actually expect my child to do at his age. I recommend it to someone who has no good "sleep" resource, but for seasoned moms, it is probably not any help.

I really enjoyed the practical and informative information in this book better than some the other books I have read on sleep.
I would recommend reading this book.

i really liked the friendly pragmatic approach of this book. feeling desperate for ideas, i'm glad to have some concrete guidance and suggestions about helping my baby sleep.

I read this book desperate for ideas on how to deal with night wakings, and I did not find it helpful. The information is very general and is presented in a disorganized fashion. I had to look in 5 different sections to answer my question, and each only contained short blurbs on the subject. Almost every page of this book has a box with a tip or answered question, and although the advice seems sound, the format is distracting and difficult to follow. I much preferred Ferber's "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". His answers were more concrete and arranged in a readable fashion. He provided detailed charts to help you manage things like how long to let a baby cry, how to water down bottles for night feedings, or change the sleep cycle of an early riser. I also preferred Weissbluth's "Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child", which offered a lot of moral support on why it's best for your child to correct sleep problems early. He also spends a lot of time talking about daytime naps in detail. And both authors say it's fine to nurse a baby to sleep (as long as there are no other sleep problems), which for some reason the AAP is totally against. I would not recommend this book.

I as well did not find this book very helpful.I am not a mother, but my sister and her family live with us.My sister practices and has practiced co-sleeping with all 5 of her children and they are not whiny, sniveling brats as this book and others against co-sleeping suggest! They are happy, well adjusted children who are confident and secure.

And also, to think that the AAP would scare poor first time parents into believing that they could accidentally suffocate their own children is appaling to me! There has never been any scientific proof thus far that this happens, unless the parent is drunk or otherwise impared.My sister has 5 living breathing human beings to attest that this rarely happens.I wish sleep books would give parents this option without presenting it in such a negative fashion.The parents have the right to do what they feel is best for their children without being made to feel guilty for doing it!