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

Our 15 month old has never slept well, ever. He was colicky and had severe reflux (still does). I have read just about every possible sleep book out there, from Dr. Sears "Baby Sleep Book" to Dr. Weissbluth "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" to "The No Cry Sleep Solution". None of the non-CIO methods were working on our willful child, and my life (read marriage, health, work, etc) were beginning to show the effects.

After reading up on Jodi Mindell's qualifications on another website, I realized that this might work. Her book is not the all-or-nothing CIO book. She does it in such slow gentle ways, that you don't feel forced into cold-turkey anxiety. We're on night 5 of the first "phase", and things are going amazingly well. There is some crying involved, and it is really hard, but coming from the perspective of nursing and co-sleeping, I think this is the best book out there if the non-CIO methods don't work for you. She only has you tackle one section at a time (i.e. bedtime, nights and naps), rather than all at once. She also flat out tells you to check on your child as often as you'd like (not in 5, 10, 15 minute blocks), that if you can only wait 30 seconds - that's okay. I loved that. It's a no-pressure approach for the weak hearted.

Dr. Weissbluth's book was way too cold-turkey for me, and I never could have done that. By night 4, my son had gone to sleep after 3 minutes of crying and 10 minutes of sitting in his crib. The first two nights took 2 and 3 hours respectively, but the actually crying involved during those nights was surprisingly little (just took the little guy forever to realize that he needed to SIT DOWN and not hover on the edge of the railing).

Good luck on your sleep problems. There are more of us out there than you realize that have been there too!

I recommend this book to all my parents starting at 1mo. Since doing this routinely I have noticed many more sleeping babies and parents with much less intervention from me. I talk about sleep a lot, but now I dont have to as much! Teaching a baby sleep independence is a vital developmental task (most parents dont realize this), most new parents wait WAY too long, and somehow expect the baby to "do it when they are ready." Waiting until 12mo old is a guarantee of having to "cry it out", and that is OK if necessary, but starting younger will avoid this. I have scores and scores of happy parents from all walks of life who are thrilled with their 6mo old, and the baby is MUCH happier too. You are doing this for your baby, not so much for yourself, children need to sleep longer to function during the day. A 10 mo old who is getting up every 2-3 hours is barely able to function during the day (let alone the mom, especially behind the wheel). Get this book early and think about it and discuss with your partner, you wont be disappointed. BTW, it is much easier to read than the popular "Healthy Sleep Habits" book, which could use a good editor.

I had been struggling with my (now) 13-month-old daughter for months - trying to get her to sleep through the night. Up until last week, she was waking up no less than 20 times a night and would only go to sleep with a bottle. If she didn't have her bottle, she would scream and scream (and I would feel guilty).

I bought this book a few days ago. I followed the advice given and within 2 days she was falling asleep on her own - no screaming. It's great!

It was also interesting to read about the stages of sleep, positive and negative sleep associations, and to hear other parents' stories. The part of the book on guilt was helpful as well.

I would highly recommend this book to other parents of children with sleep problems.

I'm not sure why people are saying the author of this book is cruel when she is totally not. Although she is not using the "no-cry" solution, she is not suggesting you to use a "cry-until-both-you-&-your-baby-drop" solution, and she is definitely not pointing a gun at your head and tell you to stick with her solution. I really think the author is trying her best to tell you to try her suggestion but PUT IN ANY MODIFICATION THAT SUITS YOUR SITUATION & EMOTION. Almost after every advice, she tells you to modify it.

I didn't finish the book, but it's already working wonders for my baby. The main reason is, I believe, my husband and I both realize and believe when Jodi, the author, talked about sleep association. We think, even us adults will freak out if we fall asleep in the living room but woke up in the park, how can babies not??!! If they fall asleep on mommy's breast, of course they'll cry when they wake up without it.

Therefore, besides sticking to the bedtime routine, we also make sure that our baby is put down "sleepy-awake." She is seeing her mobile when she is put down, and she is definitely still going to see her mobile when she wakes up. The first night was tough, although not that bad according to other stories I've heard. Our baby was crying, and my husband and I took turn to check on her, let her know we were still there, and we did it every 2 minutes. We just couldn't take longer than 2 minutes. After about 5 to 10 minutes, she fell asleep, and she slept for 7 hours. The second night she fussed, not even cry, for roughly 5 minutes, and then slept for 8 hours; the 3rd night, she didn't even fuss, and she slept for 9 hours. Now she even sleeps better during the day.

Our baby is much happier and healthier, and so am I.

I highly recommend this book. Even if you end up not using Jodi's method, I think there's great info in this book. Another thing I want to say is, if you are co-sleeping, and you have no problem doing so, or doing whatever you need to do to let your baby sleep (rocking, nursing, etc), then there's really no need to change that. I also believe that when your baby is ready to give up his/her sleep association, (s)he will grow out of it. We need to do this because of our current situation. As long as everyone is happy and healthy in the family, it really doesn't matter.

This book has saved my life. My 4 month old daughter went from sleeping 6 hours straight at 2 months to waking up again throughout the night at 3 months. My husband and I were exhausted. She wouldn't go to sleep on her own and after rocking her and nursing her for what seemed like forever, she would then wake up every hour or two throughout the entire night until we would give up and put her in bed with us. She wouldn't nap either unless in the car or swing. When the motion stopped, she would immediately wake up. She was always tired and cranky! After reading this book we decided to implement the suggestions made by the author. I knew it would be hard at first, but it has been well worth it. The first night she cried for an hour and then woke up only 3 times that night. After the first night she has only cried for 3-5 minutes each night and then goes to sleep easily. She is finally sleeping 6-7 hours straight and is even falling asleep easily and on her own for her naps. We couldn't be happier! The author provides you with the steps to achieve success with your child and gives you alternate suggestions if you feel that you need to modify the steps. I'm sure that I will return to this book if and when I ever have sleep issues again. I definitely recommend this book. I have read two other books and this is by far the best!