I am participating in a book review campaign with One2One Network. I received this book from Harper Collins for the purposes of reviewing it. I have not received compensation. My participation in the campaign enters me into a drawing for a gift card. All opinions stated are my own
(family pictures by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
Baby Boy has been such a joy in our lives. He’s happy almost ALL of the time, and we all adore him. He’s also a “tad” bit spoiled… okay, he’s had us all wrapped around his fingers since the day he was born!
(birth story by Kim Orlandini)
The day a baby is born all there is is possibilities. Your grateful not to be pregnant anymore, happy that everything went perfectly and you have this new sweet baby to take home with you.
I will admit to something now that I don’t usually put out there. I co-sleep. We have a family bed… We started out the first time following all the “rules”. Or we tried.
(newborns by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
The Reader slept in her own bed, in her own room and I NEVER SLEPT, she nursed every 1 1/2 for like 20 mins on each side. I’d get up, go to her room, nurse, change her diaper, nurse on the other side, rock her to sleep lay her down and get a few mins of rest before it all started again.
When Computer Boy came he started in our room in a crib, then we moved to Japan and because of the thin walls we couldn’t allow him to cry, EVER, so we ended up co sleeping. It was BLISSFUL!!! I finally slept and I felt like a new person.
(blessing/2 month pictures by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
With the others we’ve just co-slept from the beginning. So when it comes to parenting books, esp sleeping books, I haven’t ever found one I liked. Until now…
When I was asked if I was interested in reviewing The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep I blew it off at first, but then after another night of my 18 month old in bed and I reconsidered. I read the “about” section of the book and realized that I agreed with his ideas, not letting babies cry it out, co sleeping is okay in the right circumstances, etc… AND the book covers newborns to 5 years old! SWEET!
The first chapter covers some basic “science of sleep”. but I found it fascinating. On page 23 there is a chart of how much sleep per day most of the population needs. And there, on the bottom line is the odd 10% that needs less sleep than everyone else. There are the kids and I! only needing 10.5 hours of sleep as newborns, 12 hours at 1 year, and down to 5-6 hours as adults. My kids all quit napping daily at 18 months old. Baby Boy is at 2-3 naps a week now. Boo…
(4 months pictures by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
Part 1 of the book covers birth to 3 months. And other than not using white noise we had done pretty good with all 5 of our kids. I had always followed my natural instinct and agreed with almost everything he said. We did all his 5 S’s for calming the baby.
Although his technique of waking your sleeping baby when you lay them down so they can fall back asleep on their own? I never did that. BUT I wish I had now, 18 months later, I still nurse my baby to sleep, lay him down and PRAY he doesn’t wake up when I do… It’s not fun.
(6 month pictures by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
The next section is 3-12 months. I think he hit it right on the head calling chapter 6 “hello world!” your infant wakes up to life. Once you make it through the first 3 months it’s like your baby (and you) wakes up!!! Everything you finally had down changes.
He covers getting them to sleep, staying asleep and how to deal with illness and teething and other problems that might hinder good sleep habits.
(9 month pictures by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
And finally 1-5 years. I was afraid it would just be building on the good habits he teaches in the other 2 sections, but to my relief there is also quite a bit for those of us that missed the boat on forming some of the important habits!
I have a huge list that my husband and I are starting to work on as we not only transition the baby out of our bed, but also moving him into the boys room AND weaning him. Yup, Baby Boy has no idea what’s coming, and he’s not going to be too happy about it.
(1 year pictures by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
I think it will take some time, but we have a good plan in place. I will prob get harder before it get’s better, baby boy is already throwing a fit because I cut out a feeding. So doing both together adds to the time frame. But my goal is to have him sleeping in the boys room, and weaned, before the kids get out of school, June 6th. Wish me luck!
(Cake Smash by Chelsea Peterson Photography)
The Happiest Baby website has more information.
