I hate Weissbluth's book.

[Judegirl]

Every couple of weeks I pick it up again, and every couple of weeks it bugs he **** out of me. When will I learn?

First of all, he spends most of the book trying to convince everyone of the importance of sleep. Well, duh. I don't need to know WHY I should get her to sleep (as evidenced, I think, by the fact that I already bought the d@mn book!) I need to know HOW to get her to sleep, a topic to which he devotes relatively little attention.

Secondly, the organization is awful. I never know whether I'm reading about sleep training for an older baby, sleep issues with a colicky baby, or sleep he-won't-call-it-training-but-it-really-is for a younger baby.

Thirdly, if I wanted to read a million stories about other babies who don't sleep, I would ask a million other parents. (And I have - LOL!) I didn't buy the book to be convinced that Weissbluth is a problem solver...I wanted to solve the problem!

Oh, but there's more...Method A and Method B?? He says it's okay to always hold the baby until she sleeps AND it's okay to always put her down after several minutes of soothing, whether she's awake or not, as long as you stick to one method or another. But he doesn't say what you're supposed to do if you put her down and she starts crying. If you can't revert to method B, what do you do? Put her down awake, pick her up, put her down, over and over again?

And stop rallying against parents who want to see their babies when they get home from work, for Pete's sake. Okay, we all wish we lived in a world where we got up with the roosters, tended to the farm with their little hands helping out all around us, and cuddled by the open fire at 6pm as a family. But for the millions of parents out there who need to be at work until 8pm, give them a break. Yes, it's harder. No, it's not ideal. But the solution can't be that they never see their children.

I hate this book. Am I the only one?

Grumpily,
Jude

[trumansmom]

No. I hate it, too. A lot.

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/29/01 and Eleanor 4/14/04

[sntm]

LOL, me too. I keep vacilating between trashing it or reselling it and so I end up just keeping it. I occasionally pull it out (like for reference for average sleep totals for different ages) but it just makes me mad to read it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 14 months and counting

[diekatze]

no wonder I could not nail down how to put my baby to sleep. I just read couple chapters and I just can't find the method(step by step). I thought since I skipped some chapters that's the reason why I couldn't.

I decided to read all the chapter from 1st page to the last.
I guess this won't help me much...

Well, still since I started to sleep train my DS, I should.

[lisams]

Nope, I didn't like it either. It had some useful information, but in general it was not a match to our parenting style.

Lisa

[lizajane]

one mom's trash is another mom's treasure! i loved the book! LOL.
i am sorry it didn't have anything to offer you. darn babies! all being so different!!!

the question about what to do if you put down baby and he starts to cry- i used weisbluth in conjunction with the baby whisperer (another book most hate, but i love!). she says to pick baby up until he stops crying, then put him back down. and repeat. over and over again. the first time you do it, it will take FOREVER. but the second time, you pick up way fewer times. the third time, fewer times. and finally, you won't need to pick him back up at all. i think this idea is both very annoying (it is tiring to pick and put down over and over and over again) AND very helpful. it worked pretty well for us off and on.

hope you find something that works for you!!

[tarahsolazy]

ITA! I couldn't find much real world advice except, let them CIO, or don't, and soothe them all the way to sleep. DUH, I know those are two options. But for those of us not ready to CIO (not our style)but who would like to improve things, he has no advice. Nice chapters about normal sleep habits, development of naps, etc, but that was all I found. Maybe I'll reread it again and see. We are contemplating on undertaking a whole Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution plan, which would take a lot of committment from DH and I both. We're not sure we're ready yet, but perhaps. You might like that book, Jude, it has practical advice, but makes no bones that change takes weeks or months.

[chlobo]

I especially detested the organization of the book. I could never tell what I was reading. I thought I was just tired. And I hate his CIO method - close the door and return in the morning. That's just ridiculous. And my child is *not* stupid b/c she was a poor sleeper earlier in her life.

[Jeanmick]

I have to agree with Liza on this one. I loved this book too. I didn't read it from end to end, but I did read portions of the book when it pertained to our situation. Needless to say, I skipped around often. While I didn't follow his methods "to-the-letter," I used what made sense to me and what I was willing to try within my comfort zone. The information in it really saved my DH's and my sanity throughout those "sleepless nights" period. Personally, I didn't find the organization all that difficult, but then again, I never used/read it in an organized way.

Sorry it's not working for you. Hope you find what will help you soon.

[Vajrastorm]

You mean to tell me the book was organized? :+

[Katia]

Grrr!!! I haven't looked at this book in 6 months but the anger is resurfacing x( I felt horrible after reading it and didn't get anything useful out of it. Like PP have said, it's poorly organized and I hated his writing style and tone. Like if you don't follow his program, your child will be a miserable failure. (I know...if I hadn't been so sleep-deprived myself, I would not have taken this so personally.)

Elizabeth Pantley's "No-Cry Sleep Solution" is a breath of fresh air. It does require quite a commitment in terms of planning, note-taking, etc., and I'll admit I haven't made it very far yet. (Everytime we start working on the sleep logs, we run into something like teething or colds and put the sleep project on the back burner. We're trying to start anew this week, in fact.)

But in reading the book, I felt like I was listening to the voice of a wise and comforting friend. I love it that she gives options for so many different scenarios -- co-sleeping, crib-sleeping, pacifiers, bottles, breastfeeding, etc. She obviously recognizes that there are many different ways of doing things, and there's not a one-size-fits-all solution for sleep.

[miki]

Me too, I loved it. Not because it worked. The only thing that really worked was that 2-hour rule. I loved it because when I was feeling the worst, it gave me hope that one day I would have a baby that slept well. And now I do but not because of the methods in the book.