Customer Reviews

Sleeping Through the Night, Revised Edition : How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

As far as I'm concerned, Jodi A. Mindell and this book are a godsend. I have been co-sleeping with my baby since he was born, just to get two or three hours of sleep at a time. I was told that a breast-fed baby would most likely not sleep through the night untill 12 months! I never though it would work, but the methods suggested in this book worked almost immediately. After a couple of tearfull bedtimes and naps, my 7 month old baby boy sleeps like a champ! I swear to God, if you can put up with the heart-wrenching first few times, you are in for a whole lifestyle change. After four days of using these methods, my baby has slept through the night in his own crib for the first time ever! He can put himself to sleep without my assistance in less than ten minutes, and takes the longest naps he ever has (an hour or more each)! I've told everyone of my friends about this book...I couldn't reccomend it with more enthusiasm. It has changed our lives forever. I have one happy, well-rested baby.

This book changed our lives. It is so amazing that I now give it to every one of my friends as a baby shower gift. Our 7 month old daughter was still breastfeeding every 2 hours day and night. I almost had a nervous breakdown I was so exhausted. Our pediatrician told us that there was no physical reason that she should be waking and eating that much. I found this book (I truly believe that God sent it to me) and finally knew that it was time to help our baby learn sleep habits. I could never bring myself to use all of the BabyWise book methods; they just seemed so harsh and cruel. However, this book lays it all out with the reasonings behind all of the suggestions, and lets you know that if you can't let your baby cry for 5 full minutes, it's OKAY to go check on her after only 2 minutes. The main thing is to just make sure you keep lengthening the time intervals. The very first night we tried the methods in this book, our daughter cried a total of 55 minutes (which was extremely heartbreaking). However, she SLEPT THE REST OF THE NIGHT and woke up HAPPY -- something she had never done! The next night I thought would be worse, but she only cried 30 minutes before putting herself to sleep. By the third night, it was less than 10 minutes. Her naps also increased and she became a much happier baby. She is now 2 and a half years old and still sleeps better than most of her friends. This book is a miracle and a must have for all parents!

This was the first book we read that actually offered practical guidelines (besides 'just let them cry it out')- and explained why the techniques worked. We started getting much more sleep within days - and now our daughter takes great naps, goes to bed at 7pm each night and (usually) sleeps through the night. A must read for any tired parent.

I can't give this book a 100% endorsement because I threw my first copy in the garbage in disgust. The problem is, the book failed with my first child. I feel compelled to make amends, however, as it is working well with my second child. (We seem to have a non-sleeping gene in our family.)

Baby #1 is strong willed. We tried Mindell's methods (indeed, I believe I memorized entire chapters), with the result that my first child became so upset he threw up every night for four nights in a row. The book actually deals with vomiting, basically suggesting you ignore it. But I decided that anything that made my kid throw up consistently was a bad thing. We ended up waiting until he was 18 months before he slept through the night.

Baby #2 came along with a more laid back temperment. But he also is a poor sleeper. With two kids under 3, we needed sleep more than ever. So, with Baby #2 almost a year old, we revisited this book. Guess what? It's working! Baby #2 cried horribly for a few nights. But he is indeed cutting down his night wakings and goes to bed with hardly a peep!

The moral is, caveat emptor: this book might not work for all kids/families. But it has good information. It's worth a shot. Good luck!

This is a great book that offers practical advice for parents who want to get their baby on a regular sleeping schedule. My baby had been sleeping in bed with my husband and me while I was on maternity leave. I loved it, but I never got a good night's sleep. When I returned to work 3 months later, I knew we had to get her to sleep in her own bed. Dr. Mindell is great because she approaches the crying aspect in very practical terms--your baby is crying because she is tired and she can't put herself to sleep. The first few nights were rough, but I kept telling myself that she had to learn to fall asleep on her own--she would never do that if we kept her in our bed. Within two weeks she was waking up once or twice a night. One month later she is sleeping through the night. I have a six year old niece who slept with her parents until she was a toddler, and to this day, she can't fall asleep on her own in her own bed. I did not want that for my child. Thanks to this book, that won't be an issue.

I was really skeptical about this method at first since I knew I just couldn't stomach the Ferber method (basically abandon the baby in the crib, let him cry himself to sleep) & it seemed way too harsh for me so this was an ok compromise I agreed to try.

Basically the theory seemed sound: A baby should learn to fall asleep on his own and not need rocking or eating to fall asleep. Everyone wakes up on their own in the middle of the night and when the baby does this, you want him to put himself back to sleep instead of screaming.

Quick background: We had a preemie born 2 months early and for the last 6 months we've been getting up 3-4 times a night to feed him. This was necessary at first but now that he is 17lbs, 25 inches long & has caught up physically, I suspected he really didn't need to eat every 2-3 hours. (The hope was to get him to sleep maybe 5-6 hours by using this book.) I have not slept more than 2 consective hours in 6 months due to this, because even when we would get 3 or so hours of him sleeping, I could never go right back to sleep that fast and by the time I did, he was screaming again. He is also still colicky during the day, meaning anytime he is awake and isn't eating he is screaming his head off. Also, this whole time he needed to be in the baby bjorn and me walking to fall asleep or be in the car or he would fall asleep while eating. He never just went to sleep on his own in his bed, we let him fall asleep wherever he could and then we sneak him into bed after he fell asleep.
Basically I was hoping to get 5-6 consecutive hours of sleep for him from this book, that was my goal. 6 hours was being very optimistic.

So... night # 1 we established a routine: Read a book, gave him a little bear to hold and put him in bed. He screamed and screamed and screamed non-stop while I bawled outside the bedroom door. We started with a 30 sec. interval and went gradually up to 7 min intervals & he fell asleep after 35 min, the longest 35 min of my life. He then got up for all of his usual intervals during the night. At this point I bitterly complained that this wasn't working, it was a lot of pain for nothing etc. but my husband convinced me to give it a week.

Night #2 the book said would probably be worse than night #1 and to expect him to cry longer. The first thing we noticed was that he didn't cry immediately after we left the room he waited about 2 min. And he was asleep after 25 min! AND HE SLEPT FOR 7 CONSECUTIVE HOURS!Of course, I thought he was dead of SIDS the whole night and was up every hour listening for breathing & finally slept in his room starting around 4AM.

Night #3: He started crying 5 min after we left the room & then only cried for a total of 2 min before he was asleep and then slept for 9 hours straight!!!! 9 HOURS! O.M.G. (I was still conditioned to wake up every 2-3 hours, so I got no sleep still, but the potential is there- there is hope!) I just cannot believe that this is the same child who woke us up screaming to be fed (or so I thought) several times a night just 3 days ago!!! Why oh why didn't I start this earlier, I could have has so much more sleep and a baby who was getting enough sleep too!

This worked SO well for us, even though the 1st night was pure hell, I feel like it was worth it & I've given my child the skills to fall asleep on his own - this is a BIG deal especially if we have another child because I wouldn't be able to cope with 2 like this, both needing rocking, eating etc. to fall asleep. An added benefit is that he is much less crabby (colicky) during the day and also doesn't immediately melt down if he loses sight of me for even 2 seconds anymore. (Don't even ask how many times I had to bring the bouncy seat into the bathroom with me in sheer desperation!)

Everyone is MUCH happier in our house, the baby isn't nearly as cranky during the day and neither am I- I can't recommend this book strongly enough, even though the first few nights are definitely difficult.

We were at our breaking point! We dreaded bedtime and were struggling with several wakeups a night. We didn't think anything could help us. On top of it all, as working parents, our careers and our relationship were suffering. At 4:30am, I logged onto Amazon.com and ordered many different books on how to get your child to sleep. I was desperate! This book was our saviour! To my amazement, most of her sleep problems were our fault. We had never let her fall asleep on her own and we were putting her to bed way to late. Dr. Mindell gave us the tools we needed to make it work. Although the first few nights were very tough, we noticed improvement in just a week. After two weeks, she started sleeping through the night. She even takes naps during the day! The greatest advice from Dr. Mindell was to be your childs' timekeeper. Once you follow the advice, I think most parents will see improvement. I highly recommend this book if your child is over 6 months and is not sleeping well. You will be amazed just how happy your child and yourself will be after sleeping through the night!

I waited to review this book because I really wanted to give it a try. It has been more than 3 months, and I followed Dr. Mindell's plan faithfully. While my extremely strong-willed 9 month old has gotten better about sleeping, she has not magically learned to soothe herself back to sleep at 3 or 4 am.

After setting the plan in motion, she naps during the day like a champ, has a set bedtime, bedtime routine and goes to sleep like a charm (though I must admit that occasionally she cries for up to 15 mins. before falling asleep) Unfortunately, I cannot report that her learning to fall asleep on her own at naptime and bedtime has resulted in her sleeping through the night.

My daughter sleeps through the night about 3x a week on average (meaning she goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes at 7am) The rest of the time she wakes between 2 and 4 am screaming - sometimes incolsolably. I've never been able to figure out why, and it is often very difficult to get her back to sleep. At our wits end, we have let her cry it out (which is very difficult). She has cried it out in the wee hours for more than an hour for 2 weeks straight - never seeming to relent in the length of time it takes her to stop crying. Obviously, she does fall asleep eventually (probably from exhaustion). We are exhausted too!

Unfortunately, Dr. Mindell's book does not address what to do when your child has an iron will and is still waking in the middle of the night despite following the plan. (She seems too young for it to be night terrors). If you have a particularly strong-willed child, this book may not provide enough information to cure the sleep problem. All that being said, this book is well written, extremely informative, and logical. I found it very helpful in theory, but the plan did not transform my baby into a "sleep through the nighter." My baby must have fallen into the 20% that does not learn to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night despite using Dr. Mindell's method.

This book is an updated version of Dr. Mindell's 1997 book of the same title. Reading this book and using its methods saved my sanity more than once. Dr. Mindell is an expert on pediatric sleep. Her advice works because it is specific and because it is combined with messages of support that a parent needs to hear when dealing with a baby's sleep problems. You not only learn how to help your baby sleep, but also gain confidence that teaching your baby to sleep is for the baby's benefit, not just for your own convenience.

Dr. Mindell's approach is compassionate to parents and babies both. Never is a parent instructed to just leave a baby to cry until he is broken of the habit. Instead, Dr. Mindell encourages parents to take measures to reassure crying babies as they learn to fall asleep. This contrasts with other sleep experts who admonish parents against speaking to or touching their baby once he's put down in the crib.

In this book, you'll learn how focusing on improving your baby's bedtime habits can translate to better sleep overall -- at bedtime, naptime and through the night. It offers advice for babies of all ages as well as toddlers and young children.

The book can be read in a day or two, so it won't be long before you can start putting Dr. Mindell's techniques to work with your child.

If you need a break from restless nights -- and some relief from feeling guilty for wanting to get some sleep -- this book is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to getting there.

I was at my wit's end, desperate to find a solution to my 7 month-old's sleep habits. We were still waking up 2, 3 times a night. After one distinctly hellish night, I peeled my eyes open, dragged myself to the computer and I bought this book. I read it cover to cover, took solace in it during our son's few crying bouts, and now, two weeks later, our little boy is sleeping through the night: 9PM - 6AM. YAAAAAAAY! The book is a fast, easy read, with reasonable, actionable, humane suggestions. Thank goodness! Every new parent should have it.