Healthy sleep habits, happy child
January 10, 2008 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
I’m reading “Healthy Sleep Habits
Compared to the other books on sleep solutions that I read, this one actually discusses the science behind sleep (and why/how sleep problems occur). The book doesn’t just provide solutions too, but also a program to prevention and intervention of sleep problems in children from infancy to adolescence.
I won’t spoil it for you, but I’ll tell you how effective it was with my firstborn. At nine months, my daughter was waking up every hour at night and couldn’t go back to sleep. That had such a toll on my health that I lost 10 pounds by the end of her 10 months-age. When I read this book, I wasn’t shocked to know that my baby fit the “sleep-deprived” description so well. And she wasn’t even 1 year old yet. We applied the age-appropriate principles in the book, and within two weeks she was sleeping soundly, throughout the night, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. She was also napping better than ever.
I’m reading the book again for the sake of my second baby, and this time I want to do things right from the start.
The book is written by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a pediatrician who was a founder of the original Sleep Disorders Center at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Weissbluth still practices pediatrics at the hospital. Now that counts for something, doesn’t it.
Here are some excerpts from the book that I think you’ll find insightful.
START EARLY, when you come home from the hospital, to put your child to sleep within one to two hours of wakefulness.
ON NAPPING. When you maintain a healthy nap schedule and your child sleeps well during the day, jealous friends will accuse you of being overprotective. They’ll say, “It’s not real life” or “Bring her along so she’ll learn to play with other children” or “You’re really spoiling her.” Suggestion: change friends, or keep your baby’s long naps a family secret.
JUNK SLEEP. Junk food is not healthy for our bodies. Neither is “junk sleep”. You try not to let your child become overly hungry, so don’t let your child become overly tired. You don’t breastfeed your baby on the run while doing errands. Same for naps. A parent coming home late from work would not starve his baby by withholding food until he arrived and could feed the child. Same for the bedtime hour; don’t “sleep starve” your baby’s brain by keeping her up too late.
BE PATIENT. It takes time for your child to develop strength, coordination, balance and confidences to “learn” to sleep. It takes time for your baby to develop night sleep consolidation, regular and long naps, and self-soothing skills to “learn” to sleep well.
Have you read the book? Let me know if it worked for you or not! Or maybe you have other books on sleep you want to recommend too.
Tags: sleep, solutions, problems, deprived, healthy sleep habits, happy child, health, junk sleep, marc weissbluth, children’s memorial hospital, sleep disorders
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is an excellent resource for new and experienced parents! I received it as a shower gift and began reading it before the birth of our daughter. I followed Dr. Weissbluth’s suggestions from day 1 and we have a wonderful sleeper! I now give it to everyone I know that is expecting. My husband is a family physicians and frequently recommends it in his practice, as well. We couldn’t live without it!
Same here Jill! I am a total believer in this book’s wisdom. It wasn’t always easy to follow but the results stuck.
i love this website, it gives off so much good information. If you want to learn about this all you have to do is read and you will learn alot from this website.
Okay, I love this book and the advice had my daughter sleeping exactly as Weissbluth said for 2 solid years. She developed what I believed were excellent sleeping habits. She took a long afternoon nap and went to bed after a predictable routine at 7:00 every night. Last week she just stopped, cries before bed, can’t sleep through the night, won’t take a nap and can’t fall asleep without a parent. I am exhausted and ready to give up on this book. Has anyone else gone through this with an almost 3 year old? She is in a twin bed now and keeps getting out of it. His advice about putting her back is not working and once she’s asleep on her own, she wakes up and can’t fall asleep without one of us. I am pulling my hair out from lack of sleep.
hi Tina, you and I are in the same boat. We transferred our daughter a few months shy of 3yo to a single bed and the same thing happened. I also now have a newborn so I read the book to refresh. My hubby tried a different approach – he would spend extra time with her at bedtime – bathe, reading, quiet play, warm milk and then a goodnight prayer. then he tells her she will sleep in her bed and daddy will sleep in mommy-daddy bed. but he can hear her from our room, so if she needs anything, just call and he’ll come. it’s been a month now and its working. she asked us to keep her door open so we do that, and maybe that makes her feel less alone. now the napping is something I stll have struggles with. she clearly needs it but refuses to bec. she wants to play. I do the same routine as bedtime and if she doesn’t still fall asleep, we just put her to bed early. often she wakes up early morning and goes to our room to sleep with us. for now we just let her, coz we’re all too sleepy by then. but we don’t give up with the bedtime and nap routines… and then as my hubby says – someday they’ll want to be on their own and not want us around, so let’s just enjoy this while we can.
… maybe yours is adjusting to the single bed? maybe there’s something else going on with her too that just manifests as bedtime problem?
I seriously go straight into REM every night. Not a bad ‘condition’ to have, if I may say so myself.
Keep up the good work guys. Lots of solid info on this site.
when you said that your daughter slept through the night from 7pm to 7am…what does that means? What if my 6-month old wakes ups twice in the middle of the night but able to put himself back to sleep. Does that consider as sleeping through the night?
The book is great although I wish it gave info about diaper changes when your child wakes up in the middle of the night. To change or Not To Change if they typically sleep through the night.
I have used this book for 6 years (3 boys in) and love it. It has solved every one of the sleep issues I have had, as long as I stick with what Dr. W suggests. I recommend this to everyone and although my friends call me the “sleep nazi”, I have wonderfully-behaved and happy kids who aren’t often overtired.
To Keri–I changed my firsts’ diaper in the middle of the night and with the next two i slathered on diaper creme and it made life much easier. You baby will be just fine w/out a diaper change in the middle of the night.
This is one my perpetual shower gifts. Four months in, my son was a terrible little harpie. Three days of following Dr. Weissbluth’s book, my son was on a fabulous schedule, and has turned out to become a happy well adjusted super sleeper. He is three. People ask me my secret and I tell them the book. People tell me how WONDERFUL my son is and how much they enjoy him, and I say, “we make sure he gets the proper amount of sleep.”
My father-in-law says that we spoil our son. I tell him that we do indeed spoil him with nutritious food, proper clothing, developmental play, books, love, discipline, and the sleep necessary to make him a happy and intelligent little boy. I ask him if he has a problem with that?
I also tell him that we are not so selfish as to make our child eat dinner at 9 pm, and that I spoil my son by making sure his fundamental needs are met. I also tell him that my goal is to raise a healthy well adjusted child who is not filled with resentment and anger at his parents. All with a smile on my face.
FIL NEVER has the nerve to question my position on raising my child again. He has had too much to reflect on after that. (I am married to the first of a long line of resentful children, who ate too late, were awakened at 9 so daddy could play with them, and then got mad when they couldn’t sleep, etc…)
Our friends know that we will be the first to leave at a kids party. We may leave at 7:30, but it is with our son in PJs. They are ok with it. They also know that if it doesn’t fit in with the sleep schedule with the occasional minor adjustment, then we won’t go. We tell them why. Its ok with them.