Nighttime Parenting: How to Get Your Baby and Child to Sleep (Paperback)

~ William Sears (Author)
Key Phrases: sharing sleep, nighttime parenting, high need child, New York, New Zealand, Claude Debussy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Why do some families have fewer sleep problems than others? What works for most parents most of the time and why?

Parenting is a full-time, twenty-four-hour-a-day job. Nighttime Parenting was written to make that job easier and to help the whole family--mother, father, baby--sleep better. It helps parents understand why babies sleep differently than adults, offers solutions to nighttime problems, and even describes how certain styles of nighttime parenting can aid in child spacing and lower the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Renowned pediatrician Dr. William Sears helps you find a solution to your baby's sleepless nights and offers comprehensive, caring advice on issues such as:

* Where babies should sleep
* What foods help children sleep
* Tips for single parents
* Getting children to bed without a struggle

This newly-revised edition incorporates the latest research on SIDS and its prevention, and is truly a must-have volume for all parents.

"This book belongs on the shelf right next to The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. It will help all new parents raise happier and more secure children."--Mary White, founding mother, La Leche League (r) International

About the Author

William Sears, M.D., is a pediatrician in private practice in Pasadena, California, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California, and a writer and frequent speaker on parenting and child care.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Plume; Revised edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452281482
• ISBN-13: 978-0452281486
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,830 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alternative to "Crying it Out", March 28, 2001

By A Customer

This book is pro family bed and is mainly for the breastfeeding mother. Dr. Sears does not advocate "crying it out." If you are not breastfeeding, do not buy this book. Dr. Sears believes that babies do not have the same sleep cycle as adults; therefore, parents of babies who sleep through the night should consider it a luxury. I found this book to be helpful, only because a lactation consultant recommended co-sleeping. I refused to use the "crying out" method and this book makes me feel good about choosing the family bed. This arrangement has worked for the past 7 months. Regarding the other reviewers who say that co-sleeping is not practical for the working mother, this is not true for everyone. I know plenty of people who co-sleep and work full-time. They say this is their way of being close to their child while they are away from them during the day. He explains this in the book also. Dr. Sears comes across as very caring and loving. I trust a man who has reared 8 children! He also explains why babies wake during the night, how to eventually wean your toddler from your bed, and how to get your toddler to take naps, etc.

141 of 155 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Even family bedders can have sleep problems, December 14, 1999

By	C. van Dijk (Arlington, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: NIGHTTIME PARENTING (Paperback)

Another reviewer mentioned that this book might be best for parents of newborns, not older infants. I have to agree. I picked it up when we started having lots of night time problems with our daughter, who slept in our bed. It outlines various problems, and the answer to each problem is: let your kid sleep in bed with you. Well, what if you are doing that, and you still have problems, like a child who wakes up several times crying, or who moans all night in her sleep, or who kicks and pushes mom all night long? I like the idea of family bedding, but it is NOT the cure-all that this book would have you believe. My child does not wake up happy just because she is in our bed, in fact, she often still wakes up crying. But there do not seem to be any books out there that actually address sleep problems for family bedders. Ferber's book was revolting; Sears' was a disappointment, with no real answers to sleep problems.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new here, December 12, 2001

By	Diana E. Carroll "dbang-mom" (Acton, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have a large library of Sears books (The Baby Book, the
Birth Book, etc.) I practice co-sleeping and attachment
parenting. I bought this book because my 6 month old twins
were causing my family to be severely sleep deprived.
Unfortunately, if you are already familiar with the writing
of the Sears', you won't find anything particularly new
here. It isn't that I *disagree* wht the principles in the
book, just that I thought it should go further. The "same
old" advice in the other Sears' books wasn't working for
us -- our family was falling apart. I wanted an alternative
to Ferber (which I also bought). This book continued to
say what the Baby Book said: your kids will sleep well if
they sleep with you, nightime nursing is the simplest
way to keep your kid happy at night, etc. Maybe all this
works for singletons, but not twins. I'd love to find a
book that gives really *practical* advice that still supports
the Attachment Parenting philosophy I believe in!

(Here's an example of unhelpful advice: In response to a
question about "My kid is too squirmy and keeps me up",
Dr. Sears responds that this is a result of the kid having
started in a crib and later moving to co-sleeping, and
that if you give him time, he'll adjust. This was not
helpful to us, who co-slept from the start, and had
given the kids PLENTY of time, and they were still disrupting
our sleep.)

PS: The good news is that eventually, without any helpful
advice from any books, we managed to survive the sleep
situation, and at 2 years old, we have a much more livable
sleep situation while still practicing AP!