Sleep Solutions: Quiet nights for you and your child from birth to five years

Please ignore the stories of how horrific this book is. I used it with two kids, and all of them are in their early tweens and have the best sleep habits you could ever dream of. They love going to bed when it is time. All of them, when they got to about 10 years old, told me when they were tired and would say it was time for them to sleep. It was hard with the first one to let him "cry it out." I had to give my husband the timer on my iPhone while I sat there outside the door, freaked out at the sounds of cries. It was only a matter of 90-120 seconds before the baby fell asleep. I had a nanny who could not get him to go down for a nap. I came home to figure out what was going on. She was trying to sing and rock him to sleep. I tried to explain to just put him down, kiss him on the head and close the door. She just could not do it. So I showed her. We waited outside the door he fussed for a minute and fell asleep. We went in about 5 minutes later and he was out. She was shocked that a 9-month-old was so easy. I love that she has sleep schedules from newborns on up. She gives what the baby's weight needs to be before they can, healthily sleep through the night. It let me gauge when my babies were ready so they could get a good night's sleep without a feeding. Her daily schedule got my kids into nap routines that I could count on. It truly empowers the tired momma to have a plan. I loved her book and have purchased it for all the new moms I know in my life. It also helps get babies on a regular feeding schedule and makes it much easier to understand what they need. You just look at the schedule. I had mine on the fridge.

The previous reviewer who gave this a 1-star rating clearly didn't read the book; she probably picked up, flipped through it, and gasped at the advice to put a colicky baby on her tummy to settle or putting a 4-6mo baby on their stomach after they've learned to roll (many babies prefer to sleep on their tummies, and after they've learned to roll, there's really no stopping them). If this book causes panic in the reader for these reasons, those parents need to go talk to their doctor and get a reality check. That said, my baby boy is 4-months, still sleeps swaddled, and was, up until this book and his 4-month appointment, eating only liquids. I read the book and considered Waddilove's advice. Some, I rejected outright, including laying my baby on his stomach; I felt he was too little for that, and, as he sleeps swaddled, there's no reason for him to be sleeping that way. On the other hand, several pieces of advice in this book I spoke with my doctor about before executing, including feeding my son solids at 4months, letting him cry under controlled, timed circumstances, letting him sleep in his own room and crib, and not getting up to check on him right away when he fusses at night. My husband and I had, in a form of sheer desperation, been letting the baby sleep between us for the first few months; he works all day, and when I'm sleep deprived, I tend to spiral into depression, so it was easier for us to roll over and feed the baby and get him back to sleep than it was to attempt to get up every hour or few hours in order to feed the baby in his own bed -- killing our own abilities to sleep. We started with the controlled crying method on the 1st of the year (today, the day of this writing, is the 5th of January), with naps, to see how he would react. The first night, it took him 25 minutes to fall asleep. We checked on him at 1min, then again after 2 more minutes, and then again after 3...and so on. The second night, it took him 3 minutes to fall asleep. And after that...no tears at all. His naps are scheduled and he sleeps like a dream, even if we're running around in the car. I am currently enjoying the aftereffects of my second full night of sleep in four months. Without this book, the baby would still be in our bed, waking up every hour. If you take no other advice except this, listen up: If you are EVER afraid of someone else's direction or input on how to get your baby to sleep through the night, talk to your doctor about the abilities of your child BEFORE implementing something new. Common sense is the best friend of new parents, and we all get desperate when we are so tired that we're just about willing to do anything to get the baby to sleep. So...after this glowing review, why am I giving it 4 stars? Well, the author is British, and I actually had to get an interpretation of several words from a British friend of mine. It would have been helpful to have the publishers include a small index of common vernacular for the Queen's English. Here's the quick glance for you fellow Americans: Dummy, Soother, Comforter - Pacifier Pram, Buggy - Stroller Cot - Crib Top and Tail - Wash the face and hindquarters of the baby Wind the baby - Burp him I hope this helps someone :) Good luck with your babies.... Trust me when I say that I didn't believe it when I was told, but it DOES get better. Just be persistent.

This book is incredibly dangerous and packed with the kind of 1940s advice that caused a horrible SIDS epidemic for our, our parents' and our grandparents' generations. The kind of advice in this book is absolutely inexcusable. This isn't my opinion or philosophy; it's science. We know how to reduce SIDS rates but Rachel throws all SIDS prevention advice out the window and creates a recipe for killing babies in their sleep. Her advice includes: -NOT allowing babies to sleep on their backs (this DOUBLES the risk of SIDS). She even has a photo of a baby sleeping on its stomach on the cover of the book! -Putting blankets in a baby's crib for comfort, including some within reach of the baby's head so he can suck on the fabric (unhygienic and a huge SIDS risk) -Not allowing babies to sleep in their parents' room even as infants, which is known to increase the risk of SIDS -Ignoring the cries of hungry, hurt, cold, and sick babies; she advocates "crying it out" even for newborns -Avoiding breastfeeding, which is known to reduce SIDS risk (she constantly advocates "topping it up" with formula and giving formula so a baby will sleep). Aside from SIDS, she gives appallingly cruel advice like... -Putting your baby's crib in the BATHROOM (what??) -If your baby gets so upset that he vomits, you're supposed to change him and clean up without interacting with him -Don't hold your baby. She says several times that babies don't need to be held. -Don't rock your baby to sleep, ever. -If your baby is hungry, he just needs to tough it out until his next scheduled feeding. Anyone who prioritizes parents' sleep over infants' safety, and would endanger a child's life to teach him not to wake up his parents, doesn't deserve to be a parent-- and sure as heck shouldn't be giving advice to others. This book is an abomination. Do not buy it unless you like the idea of your baby dying in his sleep having experienced no human affection.

I could live with everything but lesson five and 11....tops if off..So, first Rachel tricks mothers into reducing their milk supply via not attending to their babies’ cries; then she reduces their supply further by advocating top-ups with formula. Even if a mother were to use expressed breast milk for the top-up, she puts her newborn at serious risk of nipple confusion. It's hard enough to keep breasts feeding.. But information like this causes misunderstandings that may not be repaired. Then no breastmilk but rather GMO formula.....which more than 35 percent of formula-fed babies in the United States consume GMO soy formula. Babies on soy formula appear to grow with many problems associated with the gastrointestinal tract. These formulas contain very high concentrations of genistein, from 32 to 45 milligrams, which is higher than the amount found to affect menstrual cycles in women. GMO Soy formulas also contain other soy isoflavones that likely affect genistein’s actions in the intestine. Bottom line.. Your body makes milk for. One reason.. To feed your baby.. Just a thought .. It's done for a reason. Lesson 8.... Rachel is suggesting that clearly established nutritional guidelines don’t apply to “most babies”. Most babies’ digestive and immune systems are not able to cope with anything other than breastmilk or at a pinch – formula – before six months. This also causes obesity later in life because the baby's digestive system gets disfuctional. If they are given other foods earlier than this they may not be able to digest them fully and, if they are breastfed, they will take less milk causing supply issues. Baby suddenly waking in the night? Sounds like a perfectly normal growth spurt ... As in a signal for more milk, not an invitation for mom to crack out the baby rice. If your four-month-old really is hungry she will get more nourishment from extra breastfeeds than she would from solids. After all your body actually adjust to the growing demands of your growing baby.. Formula does not.