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I was really reluctant about any of these, but I finally bought The No-Cry Sleep Solution [after several moms' suggestions] on a desperate day. We always had a crappy-naps situation. I didn't have to do everything in the book, but a few of the techniques implemented really improved our nap situation almost immediately.

I read the sleep sense by Dana obleman. It was awesome. Also, I found an outline of a child's crying explanation. It helped me recognize her "I'm just playing and mad" cry and that I was in too quickly in the middle of the night. There are. Couple of times she will cry out, but roll over and stay asleep.

We liked no cry sleep solution when he was older! At that age unfortunately we just had to go with his flow, and it sucked.

I loved "healthy sleep habits, happy child". He even had summaries of each chapter at the end "for exhausted parents". Sounds good to me

I'll second or third Weissbluth as our go to book. I also read Babywise and while I don't follow their plan per se, I did find it helpful in starting to understand a schedule, merged feedings, etc. More than anything I find myself pulling up troublesometots.com when I want to read about different sleep issues. She has a very middle-ground approach to sleep that I find more helpful than the "you must do x, y, or z or your child will never sleep again" advice.

@night cheese: At seven weeks we were still just going with the flow but starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I read all the books you mentioned and we ended up following the Ferber "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" recommendations almost exactly as laid out in the book. I think we did that when our daughter was 5 months old.

When she was your daughter's age I really liked Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. She talks about a cycle of Eat, Activity, Sleep and that helped give our days some sort of structure, even though it was still a very loose structure.

@night cheese: I have ordered about 6-7 different books! (Desperate times call for desperate measures). Of the ones I've read, I refer to HSHHC and The Sleepeasy Solution the most. HSHHC is poorly organized in my opinion but regardless it is probably my go-to book. I am in no place to give advice, *but* I will say that if I could go back in time, I would try to start putting LO down "drowsy but awake" for small periods at a time (i.e. a minute or two) to get her used to it. I never did that early on and I think I am paying for it now, even though my LO is only 16 weeks. I should've started sooner! They say you can't spoil a newborn but I think you can try to start good habits...?

I think I had a similar problem with naps around that age and got overwhelmed with all the different approaches. What finally worked is to use the mantra "whatever helps him sleep longer". So not trying to force him to sleep in the crib for x amount of time or develop whatever habits. If I need to bring him downstairs to the Mamaroo halfway through the block of time, then so be it. I found that the key to a good day for us was getting his first nap in right after his first feeding after the "real" morning wakeup...if I could do whatever I could to stretch out that nap and make sure he started the day rested, then the day might fall into place.

And another vote here for Moms On Call! It's the only parenting book I refer to at this point.

Just to make you feel a little better, most sleep advice isn't cited with anything scientific, because there really is no research backing up how much a baby "should" be sleeping at any given age. Both of my kids have been horrible nappers as babies, and my 7 month old still wakes 2-4 times a night. My 2 year old STTN the first time at 9 months old. They also both sleep well under the 11-12 or so hours per night people expect. Try not to get hung up on the "shoulds," and just do what you can to encourage sleep as much as possible/ your baby needs it. I know how frustrating it is, but I promise- it will pass and eventually, even if the duration isn't 12 hours, the wakes will slow, and stop, and even if they're not 3 hours long, naps will happen. (For now, make sure your partner, or a helper, gives you a break sometimes! )