Looking for recommendations of sleep books. I've heard of so many and don't know what's good or what'll work (I know everyone is different)... Baby Whisperer, 12 Hours by 12 Weeks, Ferber, etc... I need this baby to nap!!!
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I read everything I could get my hands on, but the best for me in terms of understanding and then setting my expectations was Weissbluth.
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I actually have come to prefer sleep blogs because when that sleep deprived and desperate I won't read a whole book. These two are invaluable:
http://www.troublesometots.com/
https://childsleepscience.wordpress.com/home/resource_articles/ -
@LindsayInNY: I liked Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child
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I was desperate about sleep and read like a million books. I read:
- Weissbluth
- Ferber
- Pantley (No cry sleep solution)
- Misc. non-sleep specific books like Bringing Up Bebe, Moms on Call, Baby Whisperer, Happiest Baby on the Block
- The troublesome tots websiteMy favorite of all those was hands down the Ferber book. We also ended up using his method with success. We tried the no cry methods first and they sadly failed for us. Weisbluth also has very good info, but I personally found his book to be poorly written and thus quite annoying to read.
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I'm not sure what the best is, but don't bother with 12 hours by 12 weeks. I didn't find her advice to be very realistic, or very helpful as someone who breastfed.
Her basic premise is don't start bad habits (like over use of swing) and to get feedings to the point that you're feeding large amounts (6 or 8oz) every 4 hours during the day. I just found that impossible by 12 weeks. By 8 months, yes. 3 months? HA. Here are the notes I took on the book, with some from Bringing Up Bebe thrown in:
Sleep Guidelines:
- Before 1 week - If baby cries between 12am - 5am, try to soothe without feeding
- Before 6-8 Weeks - don't worry about sleep training
- Before 6-8 Weeks - try to not create bad habits (i.e. baby only sleeps in swing, or always put in swing when upset)
- After 8 Weeks - do not rock baby to sleep in the evenings
- Wait 5-10 minutes after baby wakes up to make sure they won't fall back to sleep, but don't let them escalate too muchNight Feeding Guidelines:
- In order to night wean, babies must be getting 24 oz/day
- Reduce the amount fed for 1 feeding at a time (start with night feeding #2, then #1, then #3)
- Reduce feeding by 1/2 ounce (or 1-3 minutes BF-ing) for 3 days
- If baby reduces amount on their own, feed that same reduced amount for the next 2 days -
I too read a ton of books and blogs. I found the following most useful: Weissbluth's HSHHC (I also agree that is poorly written-it describes sleep by age, but sometimes there's stuff in a section that would've been helpful to you at a different time), The Sleepeasy Solution, troublesometots.com, weebedreaming.com, and the Babycenter sleep chart.
Naps were really really stressful for me in the early days...so although I read so much stuff, nothing I read really helped me, unfortunately. -
Just like @JoJoGirl: I prefer blogs to books because I could never get through a whole book in the throws of newborn no sleeping. I really like https://childsleepscience.wordpress.com - it's from the sleep consultants who used to do the Isis webinars. I bought or borrowed a few books but found the webinars and that site more helpful.
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Also a Troublesome Tots groupie!!!
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Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Happy Child book for sure. Mostly though for the educational component of normal sleep by developmental age so I could structure how we wanted to sleep learn/train around that and have normal expectations.
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@looch: I have two of his... Fussy Baby and Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Baby (or something like that). I've skimmed parts of the second but really need to read it more in depth...
@JoJoGirl: The second blog is new to me - thanks!
@catlady: I'll check out Ferber!
@ShootingStar: Some of those are helpful! Are they from the 12 Hours book or elsewhere?
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@LindsayInNY: I think they're pretty much all from the 12 hours book, except the first one about trying to soothe instead of feed from 12-5am.
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I liked The Sleepeasy Solution by Jennifer Waldburger because it was easy to read and implement at a time when I was sleep deprived and had no patience for philosophy or extra words at all!
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I'm another who loves Troublesome Tots, and there is a great facebook group there called Precious Little Sleep (I think she is re-branding to match the name of her upcoming book) that has been super helpful to me at times.
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@gilmoregirl: I'm totally a frequent flyer in that facebook group
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@Mamaof2: @LindsayInNY: I hated the way that Healthy Child book was written -- such a terrible writer! Agh!
Anyways, to your question, I really liked the book The Happy Sleeper: http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Sleeper-Science-Backed-Helping-Sleep-Newborn/dp/0399166025/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1439491753&sr=8-11&keywords=science+of+sleep
My go to website/blog/FB resource (other than HB of course!) is Wee Bee Dreaming. Great advice and great schedules/routines. http://www.weebeedreaming.com/my-blog/
Good luck mama! Sleep will come...eventually
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@JoJoGirl: I haven't been active lately but it has been so so helpful the few times I've needed help. I check in occasionally now and it seems like a really nice community. I recommend it to everyone.
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@Owlmama: Haven't heard of that one!
@gilmoregirl: I joined the FB group - thanks!
@NorCalWayfarer: That blog looks great!!
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@LindsayInNY: another blog you might like to check out is http://www.nurshable.com
It's definitely on the AP end of the spectrum but the author has a lovely style of writing and I always felt better after reading posts!
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@Kemma: Thank you! I just added it to my blog reader.
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