Customer Reviews

Sleep: The Secret of Problem-Free Nights (Positive Parenting Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this text Beatrice Hollyer and Lucy Smith outline a very simple, easy to follow approach to help your child sleep through the night. A parent, though well intentioned, can easily promote habits that prevent a child from sleeping. This book tells you what to avoid doing, and what you should do to assist your child in finding their natural sleep patterns. Compared to other sleep books which do not focus on the ability to naturally promote sleep from the earliest days, this book helps you as a parent to recognize cues from your child that he or she is ready to sleep for longer periods. The cues come from the child and as a parent you look for evidence of their first 'core night' - a block of sleep when the child sleeps longer than in the past. The focus of the book is on sleep, but its advice spills into many aspects of infant care including feeding. For example, the author's illustrate how important it is to recognize an infant's hunger cry and to stop night feeds when they are no longer required. On a personal note, my husband and I purchased this book while I was pregnant and read it long before my due date. Our baby slept through the night for the first time when he was 28 days old. Following the book's recommendations was difficult at first and I strayed from their advice exactly five times over the next month - each time realizing that the author's were correct. It is important that both parents be using the same approach to ensure the child is not receiving mixed signals at this time - which was difficult for me only initially. By the end of two months every night was a good night. Our son is an excellent sleeper and he is happy and content during the day. We could have done several things to thwart what he was naturally ready to do, but happily we had read this book and helped him instead. This is a great approach to helping your baby sleep that (most importantly to me) does not require crying. Both my husband and I cannot recommend this book enough. I am buying it for my sister and her new baby because I refuse to let my copy out of the house!

I was under the mistaken impression that this book could help me with the sleep issues faced by my 12-month-old. WRONG.

This is a book for expectant parents or parents of infants under six months of age. All the advice applies to young infants and is of no use whatsoever once the child has passed that stage.

If you need sleep advice for an older baby or toddler, I recommend Elizabeth Pantley's "No-Cry Sleep Solution."

That said, I do think the advice in this book is both practical and humane. The rules are simple and everything is communicated in a clear and practical way. And the method in this book does not involve leaving a baby to cry it out alone, even plainly acknowledges how traumatic this practice is for both babies and parents.

I have even recommended this book to friends who are trying to conceive. I think that armed with the information in the book, they will be in a much better position to create a healthy and positive sleep cycle for themselves and their future children.

After our 5 month old kept waking up every 2 hours- I lost it. I ordered the book and after 3 nights he was sleeping 12+ hours at night. Of course I was still up every two hours to see if he was alive. We used it for my daughter at one month and it WORKED. Now we have a 1 and 5 year old with awesome sleeping habits and lots of Mommy Daddy time after 8:30pm- :)

I was a tired parent with a four month old baby,who'd only slept a maximum of 4 hours at a time, and I was convinced he needed feeding at night until I read this book.
I recommend reading earlier than I did as it has saved my sanity!
It's a lovely book as it reassures you, while pointing out common errors that prevent your baby sleeping.
Despite not really believing at first that a book could help-after following the advice,my baby improved within about a week.
Definitely recommended.

I like this book because it's simple to read, and most of all - it makes sense! It's purpose is to make parents take their cues from the children by watching out for the "Core Night" This is when baby sleeps for a block of time longer than he ever has before at night. My son was two months old when he had his first "Core Night" which confirmed what the authurs said. However, it doesn't clearly address the issue of what to do when baby wakes and seems to REALLY want to be fed during his "Core Night.