has anyone used the book healthy sleep habits, happy child by Dr. Weissbluth?? how did you find it?

N. - posted on 02/03/2011

My little boy is jut 5 months and I have just started trying Dr. Weissbluth book. I am not sure if I am doing this right. He hates to nap -- so I have been putting him on the schedule mentioned in the book. Sooth him to sleep and then when he wakes up after only 15min I leave him to cry until an hour is up. Is this the right? I understand if he were to sleep for 30minutes and then wake I could go in? His night sleep is okay -- wakes up 1-2 times.

S - posted on 03/02/2010

i am a devotee of the baby whisperer. i highly recommend "the baby whisperer answers all your questions". i've used it with both my babies, and it is my parenting bible. i used this book in conjunction with the healthy sleep book (which is so poorly organized - i had to highlight the important parts, which really helped me find the information faster when i needed to find it). i highly recommend that any one considering cry-it-out to get your baby to sleep, read the babywhisperer first, for an alternate point of view. good luck!

Yun - posted on 03/01/2010

Oh, it's so tough because they are on track for awhile and then poof they regress or something that worked before doesn't anymore. Sounds like you're consistent and moving in the right direction.

I still can't figure out how to get her back to sleep at night without breastfeeding... this was my challenge with my first baby as well!

Monica - posted on 03/01/2010

Thanks Yun, what you say sounds familiar but I didn't know it's called "baby whispering" :-)) . I use the patting on the back as well, or just circular movements on her back while she's on her tummy slowly falling asleep (that's the way she sleeps and there's no way I can make her sleep on her back :-))
My baby used to be very good with going to sleep in the evening because we had a set routine (solids, bath, BF, sleep) but once I interrupted the routine she got overtired and tortured us for 3 days! I'm slowly trying to get her back to normal now...

Yun - posted on 03/01/2010

I started using babywhisperer when my daughter was around 12 weeks old. The problem I was having was that every time I put her in the crib, she'd wake up after 5 minutes of sleeping. I was really losing my mind because it was so discouraging to spend an hour rocking, then have her wake up right after putting her in the crib.

So I used the shush/pat technique to 'get her through' her body jolts, which was what was waking her up. Basically I would pat her chest, some people lay them on their side and pat their backs, and I would shush her really loudly. No eye contact. I'd do this for a good 40 minutes, if not more, for the first week, for every one of her naps. It was pretty grueling to lean over her crib for so long and it was probably the hardest thing I've had to do. After about a week, I was able to cut that down to maybe 15 minutes and then progressively less. For my daughter, I think she needed to know I was there. When she cried, I used the pick up/put down technique whereby you pick her up, I'd whisper 'sleepy time' as a cue, and put her back down right away and repeat this. It took awhile for her and I to figure out what worked and clearly there is no instant gratification in sleep training. I'd say it took me a solid month and a half of committing myself to napping her in her crib and being consistent with her wind down routine, for her to fall asleep with less help from me. It isn't perfect every time though and sometimes I can't get her to nap, but I think back to how bad it was just a few months ago and I'm happy with where we are. Feel free to send me a message if you want more info.

Monica - posted on 03/01/2010

What babywhisperer techniques have you used, Yun? I would really like to find out more about them :-)

Thanks a lot!

Yun - posted on 02/27/2010

We used Healthy Sleep Habits for our first son. We cried him out at around 5.5 months because he was basically always waking up every two hours at night. He knew how to fall asleep on his own for naps, so I figured he'd figure it out for his night sleep. It worked like a dream for us, although I still went in once or twice a night for a feed (until he was around 11 months old). The book is great in that it explains why sleep is so important for babies and it emphasizes that you should gear your life around your baby's sleep schedule, which we did. My son is 2 years old now and he sleeps 11-12 hours straight, naps 2-3 hours in the afternoon and I never have to go into his room to check on him at night or anything. It's wonderful.

BUT, having said that, the same techniques didn't seem to work with my now 5.5 month old daughter. I made sure to stay home and nap her regularly, keeping her awake times short etc, but to no avail, she refuses to sleep longer than 40 minutes at a time. Thankfully her night sleep is better than her older brother's. She also wouldn't fall asleep on her own and I was rocking her to sleep for upwards of an hour... so I used the babywhisperer techniques for her and now I'm able to put her down for naps with no crying most of the time or maybe 2-5 minutes of her settling herself.

I was convinced that Dr. W had all of the answers and I was big on sleep training because of him and his book, but I found it disappointing when I had baby #2 because babies are different and I guess different babies respond differently.

Sharee - posted on 02/27/2010

Might pay to have a read of this book too so that you can get a better understanding of the CIO theory because it can be very positive and beneficial to your baby, I think the name its self really does cast a negative idea of the theory. like Dr.Weissbluth says, a well rested family is a happy family!

I have done a lot of research and looked at numerous reviews on the internet about CIO and seems to me that it is perfectly safe and any documents that say otherwise either do not have merit or contradict themselves. As long as it is carried out in a safe way and all your childs emotional needs are met it is completely safe :)



Oh and well done, you seem to be doing so well with twins!! I don't know how you do it! I find one keeps me on my toes :)

Sharee - posted on 02/27/2010

I don't think of my baby being inconvenient at all. I meet all her emotional needs and make sure of that but when bedtime comes and she is tired and fights sleep she needs to learn how to get herself to sleep and that is the whole point of crying it out. Sleep is soooo important for their brain develpment, restoration etc etc so to deny a baby of sleep or having it wake up numerous time through the night to be put back to sleep by someone else is really more damaging and creates poor quality sleep. I am giving my daughter the opportunity to learn how to sleep independently and without me walking in and disturbing her every 5 minutes. I believe that a baby that gets adequate sleep is a happy, developing baby with a skill that will help her beyond her infancy.

EVERY baby is different but I had a sister in law that would rock her baby to sleep everynight and this child depended soley on her mum to sleep. She would be up all night every night. Only now at 4 years of age has this little girl finally learnt the skill of putting herself to sleep, and just in time for kinder I might add. Since she has had two other babies and use CIO when appropriate and both children are excellent sleepers who happy, independent and thriving!

I DO NOT SEE MY BABY AS AN INCONVIENCE AT ALL AND I REALLY WANT TO STRESS THIS POINT. My life has certainly been tailored to revolve around her and not the other way around in any means.I see the difference in her from when she gets a good night rest and a good nap through the day. she has been sleeping 10 hours a night since she was 10 days old so she is a good sleeper and easy baby from day dot. I have just looked at introducing CIO beacause after 4 months of age babys sleep cycles change and become similar to our own as adults so it is important for them to learn to sleep ( this is when babies who have been sleeping through begin to wake in the night and this continues throughout their baby years if not addressed!)

All the books, doctors and maternal health nurses say, a baby should be getting 16 hours sleep a day and if by chance these life long skills help my baby to achieve sleep she needs to be happy, healthy and developmentally adequate, then I am happy to use it.

I would never let my baby scream to the point of concern, I comfort her if it does get to that point and I also have a baby monitor with a camera so I can see exactly what she is doing which also gives me piece of mind and I interviene when necessary.

After Indis sleep she is a happy, affectionate and pleasant baby.

I also think of it this way.... If your 1 year cried for lollies would you give them as much as they need so they would not cry? This is a protest cry not an emotional cry.

Elizabeth - posted on 02/26/2010

I haven't read or heard of this book but I have read the no cry sleep solution and The Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep tight book. I think that for most babies, no crying is not a reasonable goal. Babies cry-it's how they communicate. But just letting them cry it out seems harsh. I do let my twins cry but I am there patting them intermittently and shh shh-ing them until they sleep and if they get really upset I pick them up to calm them and then put them back down. I have one baby whose nose gets so swollen when she cries that she can't breathe out of it so I avoid allowing her to cry very for too long with out helping to soothe her but the other one was just "mad" and would cry until she barfed but once she realized I meant business when I put her in the crib she has been much better although she still fusses at times. I've tried dream feeds too but have had limited success. Some nights they sleep all night and then some nights like last night I am awaken by one or the other every hour all night. Whether they cried at bedtime or not doesn't seem to make any difference. You don't have to just let them cry it out without being there for them. And most people say that even if CIO works, a change in venue will necessitate starting all over again. I couldn't stomach that. I need to make sure they are ok. I didn't have babies expecting they would be convenient or that they would sleep all night by the time they were 6 months old!

Sharee - posted on 02/26/2010

Dream Feed is when you go to your baby at 10:30 and while they are sleeping you carefully pick them up and give them a feed and then put them back in their cot and they sleep through the whole process. After the Dream feed I don't have to give her another feed until 7am the following morning and we dont have any night waking at all. I learnt about dream feeds in "save our sleep" book. they are really good. Indi only woke once last night about an hour after she went to sleep because during that time she had rolled on her belly (first time she has done that while asleep) and was trying to roll back I think to get comfortable. I let her go for about 10 mins and she just fell back asleep on her own and I didnt her boo until this morning. this morning she had a 1hr 15min nap and she just went down for her next nap. so fingers crossed the napping situation is fixed and the bed time battle is getting shorter. hopefully no crying at all soon at bedtime...
Thanks Noreen, I'll look that one up too!

Chantale - posted on 02/26/2010

My son is five months old (yesterday) I've been doing it for 2 weeks now, and he is doing awsome!! Naps do get better!! You have to work at them (if my little one is sick, it screws it up a little bit- kinda a baby like his father lol advil helps). If he naps under 45min i let him CIO for another 30min- and i only had to do it once, and he fell asleep within 15min and hasent done it since. He usually only naps for an hour, sometimes more. He goes down with ZERO crying now, but it does take a couple weeks (ive still gone out to friends, and use the playpen with the same bathtime routine, so he gets used to it- thats probably why it has taken a bit longer, but worth it) At night my son tried the same thing, after an hour he woke up and i let him cry (for me it took 30 min), and again another hour later (15min) but i did not go to him cause he needs to sleep. He only has done that twice AFTER i used Method A (Method B, DID NOT work at all for him). I only wake up at 3-5am for one feed in the night.

Stacy - posted on 02/26/2010

Dream feeds? I don't know what that is. If he wakes on his own during the night, if i can get there quickly, before he fully awakens, i give the pacifier. If he awakens, then I give him a 4-6 oz bottle, and rock him back to sleep.

Noreen - posted on 02/26/2010

I like the "NO Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantly. She also has a naptime book too!

Sharee - posted on 02/26/2010

Thanks stacey, starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Definently worth a read Kelly! I'm using both that book and Save Our sleep. both books really compliment one another. 4th night into it and she only took 15 mintues to get to sleep so was asleep by 7:15ish :) normally we would be still battling! this morning she had a 2 hour solid nap at 9am rather than 45 mins so seems to be working well. Will stick to it and hopefully she will go down with very minimal or no crying at all! Ill check out BabyWise too cos it pays to learn as much as possible. Did you use dream feeds Stacey?

Rebecca - posted on 02/25/2010

I haven't read that book but I have read Becoming BabyWise. If the book you have read doesn't help I highly recommend this one. My son sleeps about 10 hours at night, he goes down with no issue and takes about four 45 minute naps during the day. I didn't follow the book exactly but the scheduling is key.

Kelly - posted on 02/25/2010

man! I wish my little man would sleep 12 hours a night! I havent read it or even heard about it! Sorry :(

Stacy - posted on 02/25/2010

I LOVE IT - and swear by it to all my mommy friends. I used it the first time 7 years ago for my daughter - it was a life saver. It took 2 days to 'train' her. I am using it now for my son - although for him, the extinction method doesn't seem to work. So I lay him down partially awake, and I go back in to put the pacifier back in if he fusses - but do not pick him up unless it is an all out scream.

Now he naps for 1 hr around 9am, 2 hrs around noon, 20 minutes around 4pm and goes to bed at 7pm.

Sharee - posted on 02/25/2010

sorry for the hundred questions just a huge relief to have someone to talk to about it and have some reasurrance :)

Sharee - posted on 02/25/2010

thanks chantale, I've also been using the extinction method the past 2 nights (tonight was the third) and its good to hear a positive story because it is really difficult for me! my daughter will go to sleep within 3 mins of me putting her down with no fuss at all during her day naps but she was only sleeping 40-50 mins max during these naps and Im seeing improvements since ive started using method A during the day. Did you son eventually start having big solid naps through the day? My daughter sleeps 12 hours at night and I give her a dreamfeed at 10:30 but getting her to sleep is like war! the first night she cried for over an hour, the second night she fell asleep in half and hour and woke up an hour later and cried for another half hour. tonight took 40 mins but I feel like it isnt getting any easier or quicker :( do you think in a week or so it might start working? does your little one cry much at all when put down for bed now? how long have you been using this program? how old is your son?

Chantale - posted on 02/24/2010

I've used it (still using it), and i have found it very good. I did the extinction method, and in 3 days he went down for naps without ANY crying (although after his shots i had to start all over again, but they make him feel really sick!). I even went to a friend's house, and he went in a playpen cried for maybe 30 sec, and asleep till i woke him up at 2am to leave. The first day i found the hardest!!! Here is how it has gone for me:

Day 1: 50min crying, napped 1 hour 15min

15 min crying, napped 1 hour 30 min

2 min crying, 1 hour

(about 2 hours approx before he was tired for each nap)

Bedtime routine (bath, pajamas, feed, burp, and put down awake) 5 min fussing slept till 445am (for a feed, im not cutting them out yet).

The next two days maybe 2 min crying, a bit of fussing, and went to sleep for 45min-1hour 30min. After that he smetimes fusses a bit, but goes down as soon as i leave the room or a min after. i just started the program bout 2 weeks ago,and a week in had to get his shots. He still wakes up once for a feed.