In Search of Sleep: Straight Talk About Babies, Toddlers and Night Walking

by Bonny Reichert

In Search of Sleep offers a unique and welcome approach to a timeless topic. Author Bonny Reichert decided after her first child was born that waking to comfort of a crying baby in the wee hours isn't a mistake - it's a choice. Here, she delves into the sleep issue with intelligence, sensitivity and humor. Based on a survey conducted by Today's Parent magazine, Reichert's work is peppered with advice and sympathetic words from the parents of night wakers. Reader's will find a review of popular sleep training techniques and the science of sleep cycles, an exploration of the myths that surround night waking, an examination of the effects that the generation gap, culture and expert advice can have on parents, and a treasure trove of coping strategies.

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably this book should really get four stars but I can't help giving it five because it is such a breath of fresh air after reading so many other books about infant sleep. Reichert gives the best analyses of the sleep debate that I have read in any book. Reichert is not (and does not claim to be) a parenting expert. She doesn't give a lot of advice or tips. Her goal in this book, I would say, is to empower parents to make their own choices about how to handle nighttime parenting.
To this end, she tries to avoid espousing any one parenting strategy. She is not quite successful in this respect-- the fact that her parenting style is heavily influenced by attachment parenting does come through in the book.
That being said, she explores the guilt that both attachment parenting experts and supporters of Ferber put on parents (and especially mothers). In addition, I think that her insight that advice about sleep issues is more heavily influenced by parenting ideas of the 1960s was very illuminating to me.
It is extremely satisfying to read her discussions of some of the contradictory and even silly advice that parenting experts give. If you have read a million sleep books and you totally exasperated, this is a good book to read.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the nonjudgmental attitude of this author. Although I did not find in this book a solution to my baby's sleep issues, I did come to understand him and his needs better.