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45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good Basic Info, But No Practical Help, May 25, 2003
First I'll say that I am a great respecter of Dr. Fleiss and his work - I've found him incredibly helpful in my career as a mommy. But this book was a big disappointment. I have 2 children [a toddler and a preschooler] who are very poor sleepers. I bought this book hoping for some help in getting them to sleep better. It was useless to me, unfortunately. This book contains a great explanation of how babies and children [and even grown ups] sleep. It is very supportive of the 'family bed' or 'co-sleeping' and very 'attachment parenting' oriented. This would be a wonderful book for an expecting or brand new mother who doesn't know what to expect concerning how her baby will sleep. But if you already have a child who has a sleep problem, you will find very little of practical use here. Dr. Fleiss promises to tell you how to get your child to sleep in a healthy way, but what he offers are very simplistic, common sense ideas that any half way intelligent parent would probably be using anyway. [ie: don't give your kid caffeine; dont feed your kid a whole bunch of junk food; don't let your kid watch TV right before bed; have your child sleep in a hygenic, insect free room; make sure your kid gets exercise; dress your child in comfortable clothes - or no clothes - for bedtime; don't give your kid drugs or alchohol to make them sleep!! etc]. For those of us already doing all these common sense things, there is nothing else suggested. Dr. Fleiss assumes that any parent who does these things will have a child who sleeps blissfully all night [or as much as is age appropriate]. This simply isn't true in many cases. He also includes some more strange things - for example, he tries to build a case that circumcision causing nightwaking. First of all, there is no research that actually supports this. Second of all, my daughter and my intact son are both horrible sleepers. [And I know lots of circumcised boys who sleep great]. Third, if you are reading this book, you have probably *already* made the decision on whether to circ or not - and if you have, there's not anything you can do to undo it. So this really isn't helpful at all. He also maintains that non-flammable polyester causes cancer and so does television. [I haven't seen any research to back these claims...while he may be right, I'm uncomfortable that this is stated as 'fact' and not 'theory'.] He also seems to go 'off the deep end' a bit in some of his other suggestions. One thing I found particularly odd was the section on co-sleeping where he suggests just explaining sex to your children [because they can handle it at any age, no matter how young] and the kids will probably just leave the room when they see mom and dad start getting 'affectionate'. Hello? Not in my house anyway.... I think I'll allow my babies and preschoolers to hold on to their innocence a bit longer, thanks. Overall, I did not find this book useful. You might have better luck with _The No Cry Sleep Solution_ by Elizabeth Pantley if you have a frequent night waker of your own. She offers concrete ideas and solutions that are completely lacking here.
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by Peter Rosegg
by Henci Goer
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