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BABY & TODDLER SLEEP PROGRAM:
HOW TO GET YOUR CHILD TO SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT
John Pearce, M.D., with Jane
Bidder
Tucson, AZ: Fisher Books, 1999
Paperback, 136 pages, $9.95
ISBN: 1-55561-175-3
Reviewed by Lynne Lamberg
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If you're a harried first-time parent, you'll find concise helpful answers to common questions about children's sleep in this book. The author, a British child psychiatrist, is a great believer in routines. He urges parents to adopt a series of pre-bedtime activities before their child is six months old, and to perform these activities in the same sequence at the same time every night. These might include a bath, a story, a lullaby, a special goodnight phrase, and finally, turning off the light and leaving the room. Repetition, he says, calms and reassures young children.
New parents often fret over what to do when a baby who's been fed, diapered, and is not in any obvious pain continues to cry. "If your baby stops crying as soon as you pick him up," Pearce says, "probably nothing is wrong. If you're not sure, try to put him down. If he cries, pick him up again to see what happens. If he stops again, you can be pretty sure it's not too serious."
In this situation, he contends, it's okay to let children over six months of age cry a little alone in bed. Indeed, he argues, it helps a child learn to manage his emotions and become self-reliant. "If you can help your child get himself to sleep," he says, "you'll be preparing him for a life of independence." The same applies to children who awaken in the night. Not all crying requires parental intervention, he says. If allowed to figure out how to return to sleep on their own, Pearce asserts, children master this skill quickly.
Pearce includes a parent's behavior checklist that will make parents think hard about their own attitudes toward sleep, and the models they provide their children. He focuses particularly on parents' interaction with each other: whether they hold consistent views, whether they argue about their differences, and whether a child prefers one parent or the other to put her to sleep. He also offers strategies for achieving compromises.
The book additionally explores such topics as night terrors, sleepwalking, bedwetting, vacations (and sleeping in a strange bed), baby-sitters, and naps. It includes numerous illustrative vignettes. This is a short book, but it covers a lot of ground in a conversational and reassuring manner.
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