August 2003
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Reviewed by Lynne Lamberg |
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New parents endlessly debate tactics for getting babies to sleep through the night. The two most widely advocated methods can be summed up as "'cry it out' or 'live with it,'" asserts Elizabeth Pantley, a mother of four and parenting advisor. Either way, parents can't settle down until the baby does. Pantley offers here a solution that worked for her and others. She offers testimonials throughout the book from 60 mothers she recruited to try her approach--and photos of their sleeping babies, too. Pantley endorses breast-feeding the baby to the edge of sleep, and then putting the drowsy baby down to fall asleep on her own. That's important to distinguish from breast-feeding the baby until she falls asleep. In that situation, Pantley says, the baby learns to associate sucking with falling asleep, and can't fall asleep any other way. The "drowsy but awake" strategy is one sleep specialists have long advocated; see, for example, A CLINICAL GUIDE TO PEDIATRIC SLEEP. Whether the baby sleeps in his own room, his parents' room, or parents' bed doesn't matter, Pantley says. What is important is that parents establish a routine using time-honored tactics such as a warm bath, lullabies, and comfort objects. They also should aim to strengthen the baby's awareness of differences between day and night, using cues such as light, noise, and activity. When pediatricians talk about a baby's "sleeping though the night," they usually mean the baby has slept for five consecutive hours, typically from midnight to 5 a.m. About 3 in 4 babies does this by 9 months of age. Because that's still too little sleep for most adults, Pantley offers suggestions for getting the baby on that schedule, and then stretching it out. She advises parents to keep detailed nap and sleep logs for a few days, to heighten their awareness of their baby's pattern and habits. Babies awaken frequently, she points out, and aren't always hungry. Most parents quickly learn to distinguish snorts and gurgles from cries of hunger. Catching a short sleeper before he's fully awake, and breast-feeding, rocking, or offering a pacifier, she asserts, may enable him (and mom and dad) to go back to sleep for a bit longer. In sum, this book offers straightforward commonsense advice on good sleep hygiene, the same counsel a physician might offer. The book's biggest strength is not the information per se, but rather its reassurance that parents can successfully manage their baby's sleep. |
© 2003
WebSciences and Lynne Lamberg |
THE
NO-CRY SLEEP SOLUTION: