What do you think?
Rate this book
Helping Your Baby to Sleep: Why Gentle Techniques Work Best
Excellent condition.
- GenresParenting
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 27, 2011
9 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 23, 2018
I felt this book was alot about the theories behind attachment and why they work. It uses examples from around the world and pass histories to justify their findings. I felt like the small novel could be summed up in the following: "If your baby cries, pick them up", "Carry them if they cry when put down" etc. Eventually babies will grow independence and wont need you.
July 25, 2012
This book is useless. It provides nothing in the way of techniques to help the baby to sleep and is essentially 177 pages of negativity and smug criticism. The authors are of the opinion that all babies have disrupted sleep most of the time and that if a baby isn't sleeping it's just a phase the parents should roll with.
The authors do nothing but criticise the cry it out method for the first 5 chapters using personal accounts from mothers who've used it and various bits of research to back up their stance that cry it out is traumatic. They even go so far as to argue that it could cause dissociation. I found myself getting frustrated and annoyed by the tone of the book and the fact that the authors just can't seem to move past their own hate. It's fair enough to dislike the method but to devote 5 of the books 7 chapters to trashing it is overkill.
Finally we arrive at chapter 6 "Gentle practical advice for helping your baby sleep" which I'd hoped would provide some actual advice on how to help the baby to sleep but I was again disappointed. The authors give their opinion on some of the popular ideas floating around like introducing solids, not making eye contact and sleep training etc in which they are pretty critical of people who both use and recommend these techniques. Then they suggest that parents have a bit of a think about what the problem might be without actually providing any suggestions. They say in a one page section that there are many gentle ways to help your baby to sleep but don't actually say what they are!
Then comes the final chapter in which they tell the reader to relax and get some support.
I suggest the authors should probably have started a blog and left the book writing to someone who actually has something to contribute.
The authors do nothing but criticise the cry it out method for the first 5 chapters using personal accounts from mothers who've used it and various bits of research to back up their stance that cry it out is traumatic. They even go so far as to argue that it could cause dissociation. I found myself getting frustrated and annoyed by the tone of the book and the fact that the authors just can't seem to move past their own hate. It's fair enough to dislike the method but to devote 5 of the books 7 chapters to trashing it is overkill.
Finally we arrive at chapter 6 "Gentle practical advice for helping your baby sleep" which I'd hoped would provide some actual advice on how to help the baby to sleep but I was again disappointed. The authors give their opinion on some of the popular ideas floating around like introducing solids, not making eye contact and sleep training etc in which they are pretty critical of people who both use and recommend these techniques. Then they suggest that parents have a bit of a think about what the problem might be without actually providing any suggestions. They say in a one page section that there are many gentle ways to help your baby to sleep but don't actually say what they are!
Then comes the final chapter in which they tell the reader to relax and get some support.
I suggest the authors should probably have started a blog and left the book writing to someone who actually has something to contribute.
March 3, 2017
I was hoping to get lots of tips & support. Instead the book seems to be an extremely detailed argument against controlled crying. As I already agreed with this notion, I found it extremely frustrating that every page was filled with the same argument said in different words.
There was. Dry little in techniques that work, and what there was got lost within the constant arguing against controlled crying.
If you want to convince someone controlled crying maybe isn't the best way, then this book could work. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend.
There was. Dry little in techniques that work, and what there was got lost within the constant arguing against controlled crying.
If you want to convince someone controlled crying maybe isn't the best way, then this book could work. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend.
January 23, 2013
Brilliant book - loved it!!! Provided lots of evidence as to why the popular cry it out methods don't work - especially in the long term. Lots of good advice and suggestions - I recommend this book to everyone.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews