My sleep book library

Those of you who know me well know that I am not an avid reader, but when I find a topic that interests me I really delve into it, learning all I can. I own all these books on sleep thanks to our little Bianca Rose. She didn't sleep through the night until she was two. Even now she continues to have problems. I wanted to nip this in the bud with Wyatt before he developed any problems, and I have to say he is sleeping very well. He sleeps from 10 at night to 5 or 6, eats and then goes back to bed until 7:30. He is four months old. I have read about kids sleeping like this in these books, but I was doubtful that any of my kids could do that. I learned a LOT. It isn't always about the child's temperament, instead it is how YOU respond and work with them so they are able to fall asleep without your help. I also used to believe that even 6 months was too young to expect a child to change his sleep habits, now I know you can start shaping them even at birth. So here goes, this is what I took from each of these books and implemented. You will see that some were more useful to me than others.


Ferber, everyone knows him as the "cry it out" Dr. If you read this book you will see it is more than plopping your kid in a crib and leaving him to cry by himself all night in a dark room. I learned a ton from this book about sleep cycles, schedules, and the importance of negative sleep associations like: nursing, rocking, ect. If your kid goes to sleep using one of these methods, wakes up at night and cannot go back to sleep without you repeating the action then he has a sleep problem. This association needs to be broken. He has you do a routine to get the child ready for bed, then put them in bed when they are awake, leave, go back in to comfort after an allotted time, then leave again, ect. until they fall asleep. That way they are falling asleep on their own and when they wake up in the same spot they fell asleep in, they won't be surprised, and will be able to more easily fall back asleep without your help. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Great nap tips too.


Weisbluth truly is the cry it out Dr. He does believe in a method called "extinction" which is leaving your child without any checks to fall asleep on their own. He is also very adamant about schedules and the need for sleep. Which I agree with. He says that sleep is as important if not more than food. This book however is hard to read and seems to contradict itself in many areas leaving the reader confused as to how to implement a successful plan. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. Would not recommend it.









This is the most gentle book I read. However none of the methods I tried in it were working. I am an impatient person especially when it comes to losing sleep. So if you are more patient than I and don't like to let your baby cry at all, this book might work for you. Many of her ideas and tips are for co-sleepers, which I don't practice and don't ever plan to. It was an interesting read but not practical advice for me. I give it a 3 out of 5 stars.










The main thing this book taught me was that babies need to be on a consistent schedule for eating, also one more important concept is that of how the schedule should be: mainly eat, play, sleep. With Bianca we always fed her in order for her to fall asleep, which led to many problems. Hence the need for the food not to come right before the sleep, sometimes it can depending on the schedule, but it should not be the rule. This book also says that babies should be put down to sleep, but does not give any guidelines, expectations, ect. why or how this will work. I give this book also 3 out of 5 stars.





Kim West is awesome. I really felt like I got to know her in this book and I trusted her information. This is the book that was the turning point in my life. I came across it randomly at the Burlington coat factory when I was having problems with Bianca's sleep. I had never heard of it before, which is a shame. I highly recommend this book. It really works! I would say it is in between the cry it out method and the doing anything for your baby to sleep method. Kim tells you how to cue your baby's brain for bed and then to stay with them comforting them until they fall asleep. Then after a few days, you can ease your way out of their presence allowing them to use their self soothing techniques that they learned while you were present. You are still letting the baby cry but you are there (which in my experience makes the crying a lot less). I am now able to put Wyatt down and leave him to fall asleep on his own, but I wasn't able to start that way. I was there watching him, seeing how he soothed himself, knowing that he wasn't in any danger, ect. Another strong point in this book is that it has advice based by age, up to age 5! One last thing that I learned that Kim says a lot is "consistency is key". I realized that I had implemented many programs with Bianca and not followed through on them which leads to even worse habits from the child and confusion. So she even says herself, "even if you don't do my program, pick one that you like and stick to it, whatever it is." I think this was key for me. I made a strong resolve to not give up, even though I felt like it at first. I learned a lot about parenting from this book I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars and this would be the first book I recommend to new parents.