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Average Customer Rating: 
(10 reviews)
Editorial Review: The foremost medical authority on children's health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, has collected in these pages the best advice on getting newborns, toddlers, and school-age children to sleep. Packed with practical tips, this guide offers invaluable information, answers questions from parents, and provides reassuring ad-vice for preventing SIDS, getting your baby to sleep through the night, and solving sleep-wake problems. Above all, the Academy weighs in on the controversies over the most popular child-sleep advice--by evaluating the pros and cons of these conflicting theories--enabling parents to make the best decisions for their families.
Here, in a compact and accessible package, is information to ensure that even the most bleary-eyed parents and their children get a good night's sleep.
Customer Reviews:
4 of 4 found this review helpful:
Over-simplifies, 2006-11-28
I think the medical communty over-reaches itself when it tries to address dynamics of human behavior and human relationships, both of which encompass the activity of parenting. This book assumes that the sleep habits which are most convenient for parents are also best for children. It also implies that difficult sleep patterns in children are something that parents should be able to control from very young, and that it is only a matter of hard work and competence. Neither of these assumptions are true, but either could leave a new parent feeling idiotic and overwhelmed. Not helpful.
Also, the book states that there is a higher rate of SIDS among infants who cosleep. This is completely unsupported. In fact, research demonstrates that when infants sleep "in proximity" to their mother's, they are at a *decreased* risk of SIDs. Nor has any study demonstrated any significant risk of suffocation to an infant who cosleeps with a breastfeeding mother, who is not influenced by drugs or alchohol, who is not a smoker, and who makes sensible modifications to her bedding.
Finally, the book makes very little reference to the psychological and attachment needs of young children, failing to detail the *emotional needs* of children and infants as they detail the "pros and cons" of various approaches to nighttime parenting.
The nighttime needs of children and infants are complex, unique, and multidimensional. This book is not.
5 of 7 found this review helpful:
Well rested new mom, 2004-06-12
Although this book got poor reviews based on its poor organization, the tips in it have worked wonderfully for my baby. I followed its recommendations for a 6 - 8 week old baby and after a few days, my daughter responded very well. She began sleeping all night (11 hours) when she was 10 weeks old and I believe it is because when she awakes during the night (as all babies do), she is able to soothe herself back to sleep. Follow this method for all naps and nighttime and you should see success! The crying is minimal compared to other methods, and my little girl never cried more than six minutes without my comforting her. Give it a try.
14 of 18 found this review helpful:
Just an outline of the options..., 2003-01-08
Because this book was edited by the AAP, I expected a detailed and methodical perscription for getting my baby to sleep. Instead, the book is really an expanded pamphlet that describes the different sleep options out there with a clear bias against co-sleeping. Frankly, I wasn't interested in co-sleeping with my baby either, but I found their "con" (from the "pro/con" section) to be laughable--that co-sleeping is dangerous because you could smother the baby accidentally. Lots of other books out there. Don't buy this one.
5 of 7 found this review helpful:
Pretty Basic, 2001-01-31
I bought this book on the advice of my pediatrician to help my newborn sleep through the night. While it was no miracle-worker, it did give me some basics such as a nightime routine to follow, and what I could actually expect my child to do at his age. I recommend it to someone who has no good "sleep" resource, but for seasoned moms, it is probably not any help.
17 of 33 found this review helpful:
Somewhat helpful, but mostly biased and rigid!, 2000-09-16
I as well did not find this book very helpful.I am not a mother, but my sister and her family live with us.My sister practices and has practiced co-sleeping with all 5 of her children and they are not whiny, sniveling brats as this book and others against co-sleeping suggest! They are happy, well adjusted children who are confident and secure.And also, to think that the AAP would scare poor first time parents into believing that they could accidentally suffocate their own children is appaling to me! There has never been any scientific proof thus far that this happens, unless the parent is drunk or otherwise impared.My sister has 5 living breathing human beings to attest that this rarely happens.I wish sleep books would give parents this option without presenting it in such a negative fashion.The parents have the right to do what they feel is best for their children without being made to feel guilty for doing it!
