The Natural Baby Sleep Solution: Use Your Child's Internal Sleep Rhythms for Better Nights and Naps

by Polly Moore

Kinder, Gentler, and It Really Works Based on the human rest and activity cycle that occurs every hour and a half, here’s a scientifically based program for parents to help babies get all the sleep they need, both through the night and during the day. The method is simple, foolproof, and yields long-lasting truly restful daytime naps (which also gives an infant a head start on cognitive development and emotional intelligence) and consistent nighttime sleep—as beneficial for parents as it is for the baby.For babies aged two weeks to one yearLessons in sleep independence and solutions to common problems, such as your baby waking up too early, getting a second wind before bedtime, confusing day and night, and moreIncludes a guided journal for recording your baby’s sleep signals and keeping track of naps and bedtimesA simple program for sleep that delivers foolproof results.  

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Reference, Childrens

173 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 22, 2016

Reviews

[Vi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers that this book is stuffed with fluff, which is highly frustrating, but the research appears sound and at the present moment, my husband and I are trying to stick to the N.A.P.S. with our almost 6-month-old. Crossing my fingers that we'll see better sleep on the other side!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may adjust my rating once I've tried this method. After all, I'm a couple of months away from even holding my baby. However, this book made a lot of sense to me and to my husband (who also read it). We plan to try this method. I'll try to remember to update this review in a few months.

Oh, this is also a nice short book, and the majority of the necessary info can be read in about an hour.

[Mjaballah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good friend of mine once told that there is nothing more important for parents when preparing for the arrival of babies than reading about and preparing for sleep training. Unfortunately, I have no children to test these on, hence this review is based on the logic of what has been written here.

At the heart of the book is the idea that wakefulness in toddlers, beyond the age of two weeks, is constrained by a ~90 minute window. The 90 minute cycle idea is a result of the NREM and REM cycles seen in sleep, and that they, in fact, extend beyond sleep. Hence, every time your infant wakes up, set up a timer for 90 minutes (or slightly less), to aid them back to sleep once the timer is up. The author titles this the NAPS system; Note downs the time of waking up, Add 90 minutes, Pursue all wakefulness activities, Sleep. This is pretty much the crux of the book.

Beyond this, the author segments sleep patterns across 0-2 weeks, 2 weeks till 3 months, 5 months, 8 months, and finally until 1 year old. From 12 months or so onwards, toddlers begin to overcome the pressure of this 90 minute cycle, where it looses hold on them. Within each of these age groups, the author recommends sleep hours per day, soothing activities, recommendations, strategies, feeding plans, … etc.

As this is the first book I read on infant sleep, and that I am only expecting a child at this time, I am unable to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the philosophy provided. However, I loved the simplified approach of the author, the review and summary pages provided at the end of each section, the prolonged Q & A chapter at the end, and the breakdown of the NAPS strategy across the identified age groups seem to be justified and indeed include meaningful differentiated strategies. The only possible concern is the Ferber method the author suggests we use; termed “controlled crying”, and “crying it out”. Dr. Ferber himself has adjusted his stance on this, as he has in the past with recommending co-sleeping. I am going to have to do more reading on this stage, or might simply opt for the alternative method the author suggests; ”fading”.

Again, as I have been warned that the first year of the first child is a very challenging time, and that baby sleep is a crucial item to keep under control, i drew up a mind-map. You can access it here!

[Evianrei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up hoping it would help me understand my own 5 month old son's sleep rhythms and give me some advice on helping him sleep better. Very helpful book! Some other reviews say it has a lot of 'fluff' or is really repetitive but personally I like that! I don't think there is much fluff, the book is an extremely short and easy flowing one, I read it in less than a day. As for the repetitive bit, it helped me solidify knowledge. Sort of like flash cards. For someone who is incredibly busy and tired, coming back to this book and having it repeat knowledge to me was nice, almost essential for me to remember it.

I started timing my son's 90 minute alertness / sleepy cycle while reading the book and it worked instantly. I was able to see the sleepy signals and set my son down for a nap. I plan on following the three day controlled crying method for getting my son to learn independent sleep. If he doesn't respond well I'll probably wait another month as the book suggests.

Currently my son sleeps 'through the night' with one waking period around 3-4 am to eat. The book mentions that I should attempt soothing my son in other ways before feeding him because he may not be hungry and he actually just needs some comfort. Or the alternative is that he is hungry but his body is telling him 'hey, wake up it is time for the 4 am feeding' which I need to wean out.

My only qualm with the book is that it briefly mentions the issues I have with my sons's sleeping habits, and I was hoping it would be addressed more fully in the FAQ section but it wasn't. My son loves to nurse to sleep, and now he feels like he needs it to sleep. The book mentions this as being a negative thing around 5 months of age and to comfort him in other ways but he is so upset about it that other methods aren't working. I plan on applying the same basic advice they gave to parents whom children require being held and gradually feeding him less and less before bed and more and more when he is alert and awake.

I'll update my review of this book within a week to a month with the progress I've made using the N.A.P.S program. For now I found the information to be extremely helpful, I've highlighted several bits, and I will most likely pick it up again for refreshers when I need questions answered.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole lot of repetition to communicate a few basic ideas (that honestly make a great deal of sense). The lack of scientific backing beyond the 90 minute cycke for any of the techniques and needs is a little surprising, and that bit is relatively quickly stated and moved past.

But one glaring issue - not a SINGLE mention of the four month sleep regression! A thing that data shows legitimately happens, and it's just... not there.

Anyhow, interesting read, but surprisingly shallow. I guess this is why I don't like self help style things. Thank goodness our little one enjoys sleep so far!

[Aster · Rating 1 out of 5]

The claim that babies are biologically wired to stay up for 90 minute intervals sounds great as it would take much of the guess work out of when to help your baby to sleep, but it just did not work with my baby. 90 minutes was too early and she would fight going to sleep if I tried then, and 3 hours was too long and she would be clearly over tired if I tried to wait that long. It turned out that 2 hours seemed to be the sweet spot, which completely goes against the main premise of the book. It does have a point that trying to put them to sleep at the right time is super important, but that's not a terribly novel idea, and most of the rest of the information in this book can be found elsewhere, without the weird addition of a rule that might just end up making you and your baby even more frustrated with sleep time.

[Sandra]

This book will help you understand the intrinsic sleep pattern found in all newborns to 1-year-olds. Good news: it's way simpler than you might expect. You will probably get the gist of it in the first couple of pages. That said, the book does seem a bit repetitive, but don't give up on it yet. There are plenty of useful tips and tricks between its pages (self soothing techniques, teaching sleep independence, and more!).

[Simona · Rating 3 out of 5]

5* за 90-минутните цикли и 1* за останалата част от книгата, която може се събере в 10 страници, останалото е едно разпъване на локуми и преповтаряне на вече споменати неща.

[mairead! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to using this to help fine tune A's sleep, especially in terms of finding the right bedtime for her and helping with napping in the crib or play yard. I appreciate how simple NAPS is and how scientific. I don't even remember what it stands for? Because the concept is so natural and built around noting 90 minutes--the rest is really just how we are already noticing, soothing, and caring for her. Also the non-judgmental argument that right now we need to be organized around what the baby needs in terms of sleep, both for the baby and our own sakes. I think she's so right that increasingly we are all expected to return to normal pre-baby routines with the baby as an accessory and that's not best for the baby, or us! Slow down, pay attention, rest, and rearrange todos around the baby's pretty predictable 90-minute awake cycles and sleep needs. PS of course the night I read this, I missed the end of A's alert cycle and she was unhappily awake 90 minutes later than usual! #truestory

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fluff but the basic premise is spot on. Even if my LO isn't showing tired cues (i.e. Eye rubbing or yawning) I still put him down at 90 minutes and within a few minutes (sometimes longer if he's really fighting it) he's asleep.

[Sara-Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best kind of parenting book: Straightforward, informative, practical.

[GothChickVibing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: The Natural Baby Sleep Solution



Author: Polly Moore



Genre: Nonfiction, Parenting, Self-Help, Babies, Sleep.



Plot: Trying to get a fussy baby down to sleep when sleep is what everyone needs is super hard - harder than it should be. Everyone will give you lots of well-meaning but ultimately useless advice and the most frequent piece is to let baby cry it out. This option is not always feasible or acceptable to every parent.



So how do we get baby to sleep deeply and soundly every night? Polly Moore has a solution based on the body's natural sleep cycle. With space to journal about baby's sleep habits and a trouble-shooting guide, this is the only sleep manual you will need for ages two weeks to one year.



Likes/Dislikes: I have never liked the cry-it-out method of sleep training and rejected it after a very long day with my firstborn when she was a toddler. Since then, I have opted to work with my children and find a solution that is more natural. This book fits that goal beautifully and I highly recommend it.



Rating: PG-12 and up for reading level.



Date Reviewed: January 15th, 2020



I received a copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

[Lisa Janoschka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a professional nanny. When I discovered this book over 10 years ago it changed my life. It has worked like clockwork on all of the babies I have cared for in the last 12 years or so. I’ve bought over 25 copies of the new version (The Natural Baby Sleep Solution) and the original spiral-bound version (The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Solution”), and given them to all of my Nanny families, and all of my friends who have had babies. Everyone has ended up thanking me profusely.

I’ve seen people complain that there’s too much fluff in the book. She explains all the super important stuff in the beginning, and the rest of the book is more details that can be very helpful. This book follows several babies during their first year and notes their sleep times, so people can see how different babies end up on different schedules, but it all follows the 90 minute wake window.

I have read SO many baby books, and so many baby sleep books, and this is by far the most simple and most helpful of all of them. It cuts through all of the noise. Other people selling sleep books are also trying to sell phone apps and devices and subscriptions, but this small simple book is just trying to help tired parents help their tired babies be well rested so everyone can be happy.

[Amanda Tero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having never read a baby sleep book before, this contained a lot of useful information. The general idea is easy to get without reading the whole book (you can operate from knowing the 90-minute wake cycle and NAPS plan), but I felt like the more I read the more I understood.

Now, is the test of trying it out. I will say, after just four or five days of observing daytime 90-minute cycles, my baby has put himself to sleep two mornings in a row for naps (at almost 4 months).

The best info I got from this book is reminding myself that babies need so much more sleep than I expect, not to gaslight myself with “surely he isn’t tired,” and offer him more opportunities to sleep.

I’m not sure I agree with her opinions on middle of the night feedings, especially when my baby sleeps about 6 hours before waking; it just doesn’t settle well with my intuition.

But overall there is good info in this book and I wish I’d read it sooner.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This booked saved us when our daughter was born.
I did not do much sleep prep at first so around the 10 week mark I was like, right i need to make a proper routine, I wasn't sold on Tizzie Hall so i did my own research and read some great reviews about this book. So, i bought it and so happy i did. YES, at the start there is a lot of fluff, and repetitiveness which probably turns people off. Honestly, ignore it and skip to the actual Plan/Routines pages .. according to the age you need. From that point on its great. the Method worked perfectly for us and when the routine started changing, there was always an answer in the book. I really do recommend this book for a gentle, easy and safe way to help your baby sleep (and you in turn lol) but to also gain an understanding of the Natural sleep patters of babies.

[Anna Karschnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

DNF
In a desperate state of newborn sleep deprivation, I sought a few books to help me with sleep. This book was recommended by my sister-in-law. The idea that your baby has a natural 90min cycle for awake and sleep windows was the most helpful for us, but ultimately, it was the Huckleberry app that really saves us and helped us build a routine. Though, the Huckleberry app follows a very similar method talked about in this book, that is, that there are awake periods and sleep periods and following those is the best way to get sleep in the early months of having a baby. After starting to see results (and some sleep), I would agree!

The part I didn't like about this book (well, basically all the sleep books I read) is that there so many rules and ideas that it kinda produced more anxiety in me, especially when it didn't seem like our baby was following said ideas/rules/methods.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think there is something to following a baby’s 90-minute wake times - I hadn’t heard of this before, but since reading this book, I have been timing these cycles in my little guy and watching for signs of sleepiness, and I have found naps going better.

My biggest problem with this book is that there is not a single citation. For example, she writes, “A 2006 Institute of Medicine report stated that sleep deprivation in adults is linked to an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke” (p. 16). But she doesn’t reference the exact source/link. So that bothered me throughout the entire book.

Otherwise, I found it to be an easy read with helpful information.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose my kid is one of the 18% that don’t operate on a 90-minute interval. I read about this book in a blog, desperately searching for ways to get my son to take longer naps. I’d already tried several other methods and decided to give the method mentioned in a blog a whirl - that blog led me to believe babies operate on a 3-hour cycle from fall asleep to fall asleep again. So I tried it, and kiddo fell asleep rather quickly, but didn’t nap any longer than he did before. So I got the book, read it, thought it was pretty sound science, tried it for nearly 2 weeks - nope. Constantly screaming baby, constantly exhausted mommy.

Hope it works for others. I, however, had to move on to less appealing methods, which worked in less than a week. Kiddo is a bouncy happy boy.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a ton of good stuff about baby sleep. My baby definitely followed the 1 1/2 hour alertness cycle and I had no idea. I had a chronically overtired baby and no routine and it was so miserable! What was supposed to be the best time of my life was NOT. I started the NAPS program. (I call it a program but it’s baby’s natural state of being, I’m just finally listening to my baby) Knowing exactly when my baby would need to be put down for a nap added so much stability and routine to my life. My 9 week old and I have a totally different relationship. I feel like since I understand his sleep needs I’m better able to be a good mommy. Grateful I read this book.

[Rachael Callahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was piecing together a sleep plan for my son from various Instagram influencers and parenting websites. These resources had conflicting information, complicated rules, and limited credibility.

Another mom recommended this book, written by a neuroscientist specializing in sleep, and it has quickly proven to be the guide I needed.

I agree with other reviewers that there was a lot of fluff in the book. However, the 90 minute wake cycle is eerily spot on. The N.A.P.S. plan is easy to follow. And while other programs are focused on training independent sleep ASAP, I was relieved to learn that it is not yet developmentally appropriate for my young baby.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea that we have 90 min wake windows is really interesting (although she’s a neuroscientist and says this has been researched but it doesn’t come up easily when googled). When I get it right it works really well, but at the same time it’s hard to keep a little baby interested in being awake for 90 minutes without crying. I also don’t like the author’s attitude — she has some comments about parents overstimulating their kids and there was something about make sure you’re not secretly happy your kid is waking in the night. Lady, I am not trying to keep my kid awake! Tired parents don’t need to be blamed for this kids not sleeping.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repetitive! As many others have stated in their reviews, this is a very simple concept that is overly drawn out. So for execution, I’d give this book a 3, but the program she maps out is spot on. The gist of the book is that babies under the age of one follow very regular sleep habits and most are typically ready to go down for a nap/sleep 90 minutes after waking up. Letting your child sleep better and more often during the day also helps them sleep better and longer at night. So right! My little dude is definitely ready to sleep after about 90 minutes and goes down for naps really easily.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be helpful mainly because it helped me see my daughter’s sleeping cues, which I didn’t understand the same as her hunger cues. However, try as I might, she doesn’t seem to follow a 90 minute schedule. No matter what, she doesn’t nap well during the day but she sleeps great at night. Instead of trying to change that, I’ve just paid better attention to her so I can help her get to sleep when she tells me she needs it.

[Erika Rigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good starting point to sleep shape baby

Good starting point to help you recognize baby’s sleep cues. I’m just now implementing this with my 3 month old. Hopefully this will help guide her better napping and longer sleep at night. Although life will not always allow you to follow a strict 90 minute schedule, it helps you keep in mind the 90 minute rule as a general guide to pinpoint why fussiness might occur. It helps take some of the guess work out of a generally fussy baby.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The synthesis of this book is to get baby to sleep every 90 minutes during daytime, period. But the 90 minute awake window varies very much depending on the age of the child and time of the day.

Many topics are covered through a Q&A format and insights are lost. For a much more coherent framework on training baby to sleep and how sleep intertwines with eating just buy Taking Cara Babies' newborn's class. I've had drastic success with that (and paid a lot more).

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book stressed one concept repeatedly, the 90 minute rule. While this concept is helpful for naps it provided minimal suggestions on how to bridge those 90 min wake up in the middle of the night. How to fade out the wake ups in the middle of the night to get consecutive hours of sleep.

[Yelena Won · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!!

I highly recommend this book, it was very helpful to understand sleeping cycles the baby goes through along with everything you need to know about sleep patterns from baby’s birth to a year.

[Cathy Q de V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. The 90 minute alert cycle is spot on for my 6 month old and it really helps me have an idea for his routine. We still have a couple of sleep/scheduling issues to work through and I'm still conflicted about sleep training but this has taken the guess work out of my day and given me a good step in the right direction.

[Nati · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for all new parents. Had never heard of the 90 minute cycle of alertness and i'm so glad to have found this book. Have been testing the plan laid out in this book for a week now and it's been working great!

[Mika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fluff. There was some good information about sleep cycles. I have yet to find a baby sleep book that I find amazing.