Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy

by Kim West

Book Overview

Getting a young child to go to sleep and stay asleep is one of the most challenging aspects of parenting. Yet many parents resign themselves to enduring years of exhaustion. Now there is a sensible,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593153562
• ISBN13: 9781593153564
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: CDS Books
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

this is NOT the "cry it out" method... and it works!

At 4 months my son started waking every couple of hours. I read a review of this book in magazine and, after one night of getting up every HALF HOUR, I bought it. I never used the "shuffle" part of it- my presence in the room was too distracting for him. But, there are so many variations included in the book so it can be adapted to your situation. The limit of 15 minutes of crying/fussing was helpful, and the "OK" to go and get him if he is really wailing regardless of the time frame reassured me that I wasn't "ferberizing". The sample schedules given for feedings, naps, snacks, meals, and bedtime were very helpful. Those, combined with the "sleep window" clues, have allowed my son to get the rest he needs. It isn't regimenting your child, it is clueing the parent in to your childs natural sleep schedule that each age group inherently follows (the book is age specific to 5 yrs old.) My son now giggles when we walk into his room for naptime... he loves his crib! And, at bedtime, we lay him down at 8pm and he doesn't make a peep until 7:30 am. I couldn't have done it without The Sleep Lady! I have bought this book for a couple of new moms and recommend it to everyone.

From a mom who tried everything

I really think my son might be the worst sleeper in the world. From day one he's been an intense, super-alert little guy and never liked to sleep. I think I have read literally every book on child/baby sleep and this one is my favorite. Here's why: I originally decided to go with the No Cry Sleep Solution method since it seemed to be the most gentle. Unfortunately it and the other "no cry" methods were not a fit for my baby's personality. After more than a year of using these methods he was sleeping worse than ever. Then one day I stumbled upon Kim West's Good Night, Sleep Tight in a state of utter exhaustion and desperation -- my son was 18 months old and still not sleeping through the night. Even though it wasn't a "no cry" method, it was much more gentle than the harsh Ferber or Babywise methods, so I decided to give it a shot. And it worked. West's method appealed to me because it was firm enough to be effective with my spirited son, yet she understands the importance of making changes gradually. (I never once left him to cry in his room alone). Following her recommendations did involve some crying, and the first three days were tough, but it didn't seem traumatic for my son since I was right there with him the whole time. It seemed more like he was frustrated at the routine change than anything else. Also, unlike most other sleep books, she is respectful of parents' needs to make their own decisions and occasionally go against her recommendations. Most of the other authors tell you flatly what you need to do and offer no alternatives. West makes recommendations, but also includes suggestions for how to work it if you're just not comfortable implementing her recommendation. I had to modify her ideas a bit to make the process go more slowly for my intense, hyper-alert child, but I found this to be a great balance between being gentle and being effective. And, I'm thrilled to report, that after following her method for about two months my son started going to bed happily (his crib is now one of his favorite places) and has slept through the night ever since. It's like a whole new life! He's happy, I'm happy, and I'm no longer cranky from exhaustion all the time.

This is a great sleep training book!!!

I highly recommend this book to any parent who is either having trouble with their baby/toddler/preschoolers sleep habits or just wants to make sure their infant does not develop bad sleeping habits. I was first introduced to Kim West through an article that appeared in a parenting magazine about her methods of sleep training. We used the article to "undo" some bad habits that our 17 month old had gotten into. He woke many, many times a night and was usually not happy to sleep unless he was being held. Co-sleeping did not help. By using this method, he was falling asleep on his own and sleeping through the night within 2 weeks. There were only tears the first night. After that, it was all about settling down on his own and getting to sleep. When baby #2 came along, she seemed to be a better sleeper. Then teething started and that desire to be held at night kicked in again. She would sometimes co-sleep, but it wasn't working well enough for us to all be well rested. By this time I heard that Kim West wrote a book and decided to buy it. We started the method when our daughter was 8 months old and it has worked wonders. Although she still wakes up for feedings in the night (she is very small and needs those meals!) she is sleeping much better, falling asleep on her own and not needing to be rocked or bounced to sleep. For those of you not familiar with the method, I would describe it as follows: it is a cross between Ferber's "crying it out" and Elizabeth Pantley's "no cry sleep solution. For us, crying it out was not an option. Abandoning our kids while they cried in agony was not going to happen. Pantley's method, on the other hand, seemed exhausting as you have to work very hard to make sure your child does not cry at all. Very hard to do when you are already exhausted and sleep deprived. Kim West has found a happy medium in what she calls the "sleep shuffle". Basically, the baby/child is allowed to cry, but in your presence. You are right there next to them reassuring with verbal and physical means. You know your baby/child is in no harm and they know you are there for comfort. Day by day you slowly work your way further away from the crib/bed until you are out the door. West also provides practical information on how much sleep a child should get and how to overcome many different obstacles. Her method is described for each age group between birth and 5 years old. This is a great book and a very effective method! Our house owes Kim West thanks for getting us our sleep back!

A plan you can actually use.

We were commited co-sleepers. But at 4 months we ended up with a baby that woke every 2 hours to nurse. We moved her to her own bed without any trouble and she still woke to nurse every 2 hours. After an international vacation to visit Grandma and Grandpa we ended up with a 6 month old, back in our bed, waking up every HOUR to nurse. As Kim says, Co-sleeping is not magic! I was returning to work and had only three weeks to figure out some way to get some sleep. This book gave me a method that, although involves crying, didn't feel like I was abandoning my baby. I felt very guilty at first, thinking I was sacrificing my baby's well-being for my own. But realized that she wasn't sleeping either. I kept telling myself that if this plan worked it actually meant better sleep for EVERYONE, not just me. At an attachment parenting website it said, "A well-rested mother doesn't mind nursing a few times a night." But the whole point was I was not well-rested BECAUSE I was nursing at night! Before I started this book we stopped night-time nursing thinking our baby would then sleep. We wanted to give our baby one last chance to sort this out. It wasn't as hard as we thought but she didn't sleep better. Now we were rocking her every 2 hours. So we used Kim's plan. We stopped paci use the first night and our baby was mad! I could see that she wasn't hurt or upset. She was mad! She cried for about 45 minutes. She woke up 4 times that night and each time got less and less. I tried to use a paci the next day just for naps and she wouldn't take it. So bye bye paci! Each night got easier. We never moved outside the room because she started sleeping so much better, so fast. Most nights she sleeps 8 or 9 hours uninterrupted. Often she goes the full 10 or 11 without waking. This was enough for us so we haven't pushed it. This book is well-organized and gives you clear plans for handling your baby's sleep issues. This is a much more humane system than Ferber or other's that just leave your baby to cry alone. While I admire Dr. Sears and other attachment parenting advocates, few of them give you methods that actually get your ba by to sleep longer without your constant intervention. I tried nursing, rocking, and patting. I could get my baby to sleep with all of those methods but NEVER to sleep longer than 2 or 3 hours. As soon as she realized she wasn't going to get out of bed in the middle of the night, the wake-ups decreased dramatically. And to address those who say this only works for mellow babies. My baby is NOT a mellow baby. She is not what Dr. Sears would called "high-need" but she is definitely high-energy! UPDATE: After about eight weeks of great sleep, my baby got her first teeth, her first major cold, learned to crawl and to stand up all in the same month. Needless to say, this disrupted her sleep. We ended up rocking her to sleep again. After a month of poor sleep, we did the whole sleep lady shuffle and it worked from the first night! I was

Sleeping tight in 4 days

I have never written a review of a book before but I honestly feel so greatfull to Kim West for helping me tackle my 4 month olds sleep problems. After 4 months of rocking/bouncing my swaddled little baby to sleep only to have him wake up through the night 3-4 times and require more bouncing/rocking I knew I needed a better plan. I picked Ms West's book from the many available in my local bookstore because she incluced age specific interventions and seemed to advocate a more gentle approach. My problem was that I couldn't put Owen down to sleep without him already being asleep in my arms. And often when I did have him asleep he'd wake the moment I set him down. I couldn't stand the crying and I just figured that he was not able to put himself to sleep. I thought it would get better as he got closer to 4 months but in fact it got worse. He woke more often at night and took longer to get back asleep feeding or no feeding. Ms West gave me the confidence I needed to bite the bullet and place him down fed, changed, and sleepy and let him struggle to sooth himself. Yes, struggle. It took 1 1/2 hours at 2am on the first night. If I hadn't had her book to support me I would have given up after 5 minutes. But that would have also been giving up on Owen. I took her advice and saw myself as his sleep coach, supporting him and aiding him, but not doing it for him. He needed to learn that skill himself. Boy was it hard. But Ms West says that if you stay in the room and support your child with soft pats and shhhh shhhh sounds it is more gentle than just leaving them to cry it out on their own. I know I would never have lasted letting him cry if I had not been there to witness him making progress in self soothing. After the first night it has only gotten better. The next night he settled himself down at 7pm and it only took about 10min. His one feed at night was quick and he fell asleep on his own even after a diaper change without a single wimper. Last night he again fell asleep with minimal fussing and slept from 7pm to 5am. What a change. If you have an infant with sleep problems do not wait to get this book. The sooner the better for you and your baby.