The Compassionate Sleep Solution: Calming the Cry

by Eileen Henry

There are two major camps on getting babies to sleep through the night. These methods are hotly debated, and their oppositional ideas can leave parents feeling frustrated and confused. 1. Cry it out! - Deal breaker for many parents. 2. Do whatever it takes, all day and all night long - Deal breaker for those of us who need to function in the real world. There are other approaches that offer the much coveted “NO Cry” result. The "no cry" unicorn baby, sorry to report, is a mythological creature. The Compassionate Sleep Solution is a gentle, honest and realistic approach. Since crying can be a part of that reality, this method will teach you how to calm the cry. Your child can sleep AND feel safe and secure.

Genres: Parenting

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2016

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't believe that writing is Ms. Henry's strong suit; however, I do think the content was helpful. I am not sure I could recommend this based on the writing alone. It's more of a book to be skimmed.

[Emily Snipes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good content, poor writing. I used this book to help my 2 year old to sleep on her own. We have 4 mo old and I plan to use this advice when he is a bit older and I feel like he is more ready and able to sleep on his own. I did absolutely zero sleep training with my 2 year old and she was still in bed with us and the 4m old. Naps were a nightmare of her refusing them, waking the baby constantly, me losing my mind, etc. Now, after 1 week of implementing the changes, nap and bedtime is easy breezy and she talks fondly of sleeping in the crib and is proud of herself and looks forward to the routines.

The book is fine to be skimmed. I read it cover to cover and some chapters more than once. The writing is very casual and can be poorly structured. I’m bothered by the crass comments and some curse words that are just unnecessary. She references blog posts and charts in the book but there’s no index to share where to find the charts.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a lot of sleep books. The content wasn't necessarily bad, but I never thought I would read so many f bombs in a non-fiction book...

[Yanah · Rating 1 out of 5]

So badly structured, it makes me wonder about the “science” behind it. Only a few helpful thoughts.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eileen’s method worked for me and my 20 month old in less than three days. I appreciated how her approach focused on creating a cozy sleep environment and the parent playing the role of coach, to let the baby know they can do this, and then involved checking in based on how the baby is doing. I discovered Eileen Henry on the Unruffled podcast and recommend listening to the episode first to get a feel for the approach. I got the book to get the details on timing of check ins, etc. I only skimmed it based on the sections relevant to my kid.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how I feel about it. Some of it was great and funny and insightful. It was poorly edited, the sex chapter had way less nuance than it deserved, and overall the book lacks some coherency. She goes back and forth between sounding incredibly compassionate and being a little judgey and tough-love. I’m just not sure if this is the sleep book for us.