5.0 out of 5 based on 1 reviews. – Customer review on 26/02/2009

This book is not as much a "quick answer" to infant sleep, but more a toolbox and some practical information and scientifically researched information so that parents know how and why their babies sleep the way they do.

Dr William Sears and his family are advocates of "Attachment Parenting" and as such this bias is in all of his books. Sears does not advocate leaving a baby to cry and self-settle (ie. "controlled crying" or "Ferberization") instead he believes in the value of communicating with non-verbal children, that crying is the only way a very young person can communicate, and that it should be answered by responsiveness to a child's needs both at daytime and during the night. If you are not interested in this sort of approach then this book is not really for you.

This book does have practical advice about monitoring baby sleeping patterns and creating situations where a baby can more easily go to sleep at the times the child will naturally be feeling sleepy, so that they don't get overtired and more difficult to settle.

I personally found it much easier to plan for my child's needs when I understood the workings of his sleep cycle and how they differ from adult sleep cycles.

The book is really easy to read and the scientific bits are explained in a very down to earth way, but by its own admission, may be too lengthy for the desperately sleep deprived parent. For this reason the practical stuff is at the the start of the book and the more scientific information is in later parts of the book.

This book is not a quick fix, but I found it invaluable for understanding, accepting, and working with and around my child's sleep patterns.