Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child – Marc Weissbluth

A life-saving baby sleep book. I bought it when my six-month-old baby had gone a month with no nap longer than 30 minutes. The very next day she took a 2 ¼ hour nap and a 1 hour nap, and while she was awake she was a totally different baby – alert, more interested in the world, more capable. Marc Weissbluth argues for paying close attention to your child’s drowsy cues, and putting them down when they are tired. When you do this, you put your child down with no (or almost no) crying, though there may be some crying from over-tiredness as you make the transition to a good sleep schedule. With my baby, it turns out I had not been noticing her drowsy cues and had been keeping her awake past when she was ready to sleep. When this happens, the body produces adrenaline, and the adrenaline interrupts her sleep. So the answer was to put her down much sooner (like 1 ¼ hours after waking up in the morning). This book helps me understand not only my baby’s sleep, but also my own. I’m trying to go to sleep when I’m drowsy, rather than pushing through to my second (adrenaline-fueled) wind.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Marc Weissbluth
1999
Available from Amazon