Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
by Marc Weissbluth
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Book Summary Information
Author: Marc WeissbluthBrand: Random House
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-04-12
ISBN: 0449004023
Number of pages: 346
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780449004029
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Book Review: Not the Method I used, but got really good iedas
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm not a parent that pro the "cold turkey" method which Dr. Weissbluth actually preferred and that a good amount of his book described and demonstrated. However, I wasn't able to successfully help my daughter sleep through the night without crying until I read Dr. Weiisbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". According to Dr. Weissbluth, if the parents help develop the good sleeping habits for the baby at earlier age (as early as newborn), there's no need to sleep train the baby at all, weather it's cold turkey, controlled crying or some other methods used in the society; which I totally agree.
I used to rock, hold and nurse my daughter to sleep before she's 4 months old, in which the bad habit of sleeping was developed. As a result, she was waking up 2 - 4 times every night and wouldn't able to fall back to sleep either by us rocking or me nursing. In addition to that, she normally would scream to be picked up after 45 min - 1hr after she first fall asleep, and when we put her down again, she could wake up and scream again until we picked her up. And this can repeats for 2 hours or so after she initially fall asleep before she's finally able stay asleep for a longer period of time (usually 2 - 3 hours before she wakes up again). Then she would wake up again at 2am then at 4am, sometimes even again at 6am. As you can imagine, this is exhausting and frustrating. I wouldn't have anytime to do anything in the evening as I would need to standby to pick her up and rock her back to sleep when she wakes up and scream to be held. So after she turns 4 months old, I decided I need to help correct the "problem". But I didn't want to leave my daughter unattended for the entire night without checking her, so I bought Dr. Ferber's "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" and tried to implement his "controlled crying". I followed his method strictly for 5 nights and no success. She still cries and waking up couple times a night (I wouldn't say there were no improvement at all, but not significant enough to solve all the problems). So after that, I stopped and I went back to the old way of rocking/nursing her to sleep and back to sleep at night until she's about 5.5 months old when things not getting better but worse. Then I finally bought this book and learned all about baby sleeps and how every baby is different that I really need to observe first to determine the best solution for my baby. Some good concepts that this book outline:
1. Observe your child to determine if he/she is colicky, common fussiness or extreme fussiness, different approaches should be applied to different kind of babies. 2. Put him/her down to sleep when you first see the signs of tiredness, and he listed a list of tire signs to watch for (which I found really useful) 3. Most children under 6 months do not stay awake for longer than 2-3 hours at a time without needing a nap. 4. DO NOT just put your child down to nap when you feel like it - watch for the signs and setup schedule and stick with it 5. Most children need to go to sleep at night earlier than you'd think (6pm - 8pm).
Some other benefits of reading this book:
1) It is sub-divided into chapters by baby's age (e.g. 0 - 4 months, 5 - 12 months and etc.) and go into detail of what to expect and how to handle babies' sleeping problem at different age. I found this to be very handy as some other sleeping books are too general on teaching baby to sleep without considering the age of the baby and various things baby go through at different stages.
2) Dr. Weissbluth include a list of other sleep training methods and compare and commented on those versus his method (e.g. he commented the "controlled crying" method could work as well as his as long as the baby is not extreme fussy or colicky). It's helpful guide to help parents decide which method to use
After all the good ideas I learned from this book, and observed my child for a couple week, I decided to combine Dr. Weissbluth's concept and Dr. Ferber's method and I give my daughter a week to test our the result before turn to the cold turkey method. And on exactly the 7th day, my baby fall asleep in 2 seconds without making a sound. And she sleeps from 11- 12 hrs at night with one waking of feeding at 4am since then. It's been 3 weeks now and she's sleeping great. So I didn't end up needing to use the "cold turkey" method. Things I learned from my mistake is that
1) Be ready to make adjustment according to your child of whichever method you decided to use, it may not work by strictly following the book.
2) make sure you observe you child long enough (at least two weeks) and chart his sleeping patterns and sleep issues before trying out any method. Also observe to determine the child's temperament. You may not need to go through the "harsh" cry-it-out training if your baby is easy not colicky
3) Setup a bedtime routine. It can be anything, but make sure they're calming and soothing to your child that you can wind him/her down successfully (e.g. reading a book is a common bedtime routine, and it works well for many babies, but it didn't work for my daughter, it'll jus stimulate her more as she would be so interested/curious of the book I'm reading and grab the book and play with it herself). You'll need to experiment and find the best routine that work for you and your baby.
4) Be consistent with your routine once it proves to be working. Do not change them, even just the order
5) Be flexible of the bedtime. If the baby doesn't nap well at day time, shift bedtime earlier to avoid overtiredness. Overtired baby is more difficult to fall asleep
6) Once you start the training, stick with it at least for a week. Chart the time taken every night to obsever for improvement. Try your best not to give up half way, coz it may ruin everything and make things worse
One last remark I want to make is that I have read some other reviews that mentioned their babies either throw up or cried from 9pm to 3am in the morning and thus claimed the method not working. I oppose to that. The strong example is that my daughter cried 2 hours the first night, and still couldn't fall asleep. So I picked her up, give her a bottle, put her back down awake, and she fall asleep in 10 seconds without crying. So even though the book said not to pick baby up the whole time, use your own judgment or just common sense. Imagine yourself crying and screaming for 2 solid hours, if not hungry, you will at least be dehydrated. If you child cannot fall asleep after long hours of crying, pause for a bit and decide if you need to adjust the method accordingly (adjust the method doesn't mean the method doesn't work). Could your child be too cold/hot or wet to fall asleep? Your goal is trying to teach your child how to fall asleep on his/her own, not to abuse your child. And my bottom line is this is a great book and it's worth to buy and read, though I didn't end up using his perferred method.
Summary of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
One of the country's leading researchers updates his revolutionary approach to solving--and preventing--your children's sleep problemsHere Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a distinguished pediatrician and father of four, offers his groundbreaking program to ensure the best sleep for your child. In Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, he explains with authority and reassurance his step-by-step regime for instituting beneficial habits within the framework of your child's natural sleep cycles. This valuable sourcebook contains brand new research that...
- Pinpoints the way daytime sleep differs from night sleep and why both are important to your child
- Helps you cope with and stop the crybaby syndrome, nightmares, bedwetting, and more
- Analyzes ways to get your baby to fall asleep according to his internal clock--naturally
- Reveals the common mistakes parents make to get their children to sleep--including the inclination to rock and feed
- Explores the different sleep cycle needs for different temperaments--from quiet babies to hyperactive toddlers
- Emphasizes the significance of a nap schedule
Rest is vital to your child's health growth and development. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child outlines proven strategies that ensure good, healthy sleep for every age. Advises parents dealing with teenagers and their unique sleep problems
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