Sleep: Secrets to Getting Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night

by Tracy Hogg

'I can't get my five-week-old to sleep in her cot'. 'My six-week-old resists his naps'. 'My baby is three months old and is still waking up throughout the night'. Sleep is the number one issue that plagues parents from the moment they bring their baby home from hospital. Even the lucky ones, whose babies are naturally good sleepers, wonder when their baby will sleep through the night. Tracy Hogg's incredible sensitivity and ability to read infants' cries, coos and assorted baby noises quickly earned her the admiration and gratitude of high-profile couples, including a host of celebrities. With reassuring, down-to-earth advice, her practical sleep programme will help you overcome your baby's sleep problems and works with infants from as young as a day old. This title is a lifesaver for any busy parent.

Genres: Parenting

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2011

About the author

Tracy Hogg obtained her nursing degree in England, specializing in maternity and neonatal care. Her uncanny ability to understand and calm babies led to her nickname "The Baby Whisperer." In 1997, she founded Baby Technique, through which she consults with parents individually, organizes and teaches group classes, and provides nanny training and referrals. She is the mother of two daughters.
Tracy Hogg died of melanoma in November 2004.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful ideas, but the writing could have been better. Occasionally more diligent editing could have helped. The advice wasn't always very clear and I often had questions about how it would work in practice. The style was also annoyingly condescending. The term "accidental parenting" is particularly obnoxious. But then again, I'm a sceptical reader of parenting books at best, so it might just be me.

[kavreb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to it a bit late, my child wasn't anymore in the main age range for this book. But there was a part for older children that originally made me pick the book up, but ultimately I found it a bit confusing and the advice seemed to be mainly to continue doing what you had done earlier. I skimmed most of the rest of the book (not quite willing to dedicate myself to a full read) and didn't come away feeling like there were specific enough directions I could grab onto. In the end I learned to put my child you sleep in my own way because I couldn't quite follow the recommendations. But that might just be my fault though and the book might work for somebody else.

There's been some complaints about the language use and I'm of two minds about it - on the one hand some of the approach does feel a bit condescending, but on the other hand I think it's easy to get angry at the author when one is incapable of following their advice; I know I felt the wish to criticise the author and just be done with the book, but that's the easy way out (and it didn't feel quite genuine either). In the end there were some thoughts that stuck with me (e.g. minimising communication when putting back to sleep and the idea of unconsciously teaching bad habits to the child). For that I'm thankful.

[Marz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Books makes it look so easy and is so generic. This doesn’t really give you enough details to actually use it and if you have a baby with any issue this won’t work for you. Unless you have a baby who sleeps well this just doesn’t work.

[Noémy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful but a little stress-inducing too. I went into this book because i've been very interested into parenting books and the likes, since i've become a mom, and even if my son doesn't really have troubles sleeping, i'm always looking into different ways on how to just do things the best way I can for my baby. But though I thought that Tracy Hogg's advice were handy and helpful it was also very limited. I'm just a very anxious type of person so if my son's profile didn't fit the pattern described in this book, it would kind of worry ME even more which I really don't need since I'm doing a fine job at it by myself ;)I did finish it as it was a very quick read, but without any intentions of following everything to the letters. Some tips I borrowed and others I just simply skipped.
I would say that this book will be very beneficial for parents who thrive on schedules and routines but for the others who are just the opposite or in-between like myself, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.

[Grisel Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative read but I do agree with some of the other reviews about the author playing blame on parents and also inducing some stress. most of what I've gleaned from this and other sleep training tips and method is that they all emphasis having a routine. what type of routine seems to be based on what works best but promotes sleep time. although my baby is only 5 weeks old and too young to sleep train, I've noticed she does respond to having a darkened area, especially at night, with sleeping. she also sometimes soothes herself a bit when she stirs. she has cat naps in her crib but sleeps in a bassinet on my room for now. I do try to place get in the crib at night and she'll last a bit before I take care of her. just trying to get her used to it little by little but nothing too extreme. I'll keep what I've read in mind and see how it goes when the time comes that she can be in her crib all night.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I through this book across the room many times. Because I had tried crying-it-out, I was offended over and over again by reoccurring phrases telling me that my baby doesn't trust me any more. He trusts me! He trusts me in MANY aspects of life, maybe, MAYBE, he doesn't trust me to not come running when he wakes up crying, and I regret that, OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE I'M READING A SLEEP-HELP BOOK!

It's stupid to insult your readers.

And, worst of all, this book doesn't actually help... at all. It says things like, "If your baby is doing this, it's because of this, this, and this." And I say, "Yes. Thank you. I know that. TELL ME WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT!!!"

Needless to say, I hate this book, and my son still wakes up all night. Thanks for nothing, stupid book!

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, well worth the Kindle price, but also anger-inducing in that it seems to blame parents for all babies' sleeping problems. I can almost picture the author rolling her eyes at her clients. "You DON'T have your baby on a 4-hour feeding schedule?" Kind of condescending but also has helpful tips. I would pick some recs and ignore others, such as having a baby fall asleep ON A PILLOW on the floor and then transferring both to a crib. Pick up/put down method very helpful! I did s modified version that was somewhat successful in getting my 8-month old to nap in the crib again after every time he got in, he screamed!

[Anna Redman · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with most parenting books you have to judge what works for you, your partner, your child and all the many variables. This book comes across quite no-nonsense, you want to be fairly confident I your parenting to be able to take away the information without crumbling under the ideas of trust, comfort and weak will-power. Whilst the EASY routine was something appealing there are other tips that were not. I think it is important to note this book was published a while ago and new parents should take this into account when reading.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gave a lot of useful, practical information that may appear to be common sense, but in the heat of the "crying" moment we parents forget. Tracy Hogg came across as a kind soul who loved and respected people of all ages. I really appreciated that she did not take a hard line on breastfeeding and admitted that it is more important for families to do what is necessary for them.

[Christen Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good quick read that gives me some tools to consider with my 9-mo old. She has never been a great sleeper and I think this book will help. I have not yet tried her techniques, but they seem logical and I would feel comfortable with helping my little one to sleep in such a gentle and reassuring way.

[Lindsey Harkness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-changing!!! Short, sweet and straight to the point. Her methods aren't easy but they're effective and don't involve traumatizing your baby by having him "cry it out" on his own. My 5 mo old has never napped in his crib, and 2 days after picking up this book he's napping in it as I type!

[Lindsay Malouf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only took about an hour to read and I felt it gave me the tools to get Lily sleeping through the night again!

[Krystol Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great quick, to the point book on sleep. Using the tools instantly transformed our 10 week old from a terrible sleeper to a great one. Best $3.99 I ever spent!

[Vicky Ashwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read. Lots of useful tips and great to keep as reference. I'm still pregnant and so don't know exactly how useful it will be but it seemed to make a lot of sense.