As a mother of three young children and health professional working with mothers and babies, I would NOT recommend this book for the following reasons:1. His method: leave baby to cry for UNLIMITED periods extinction2. Confusing and conflicting advice.3. The leap of faith between the facts and his method.4. Lack of a coherent strategy.5. Patronizing and condescending tone6. Exhausting to read (almost 500 pages).The book does have some interesting facts about sleep, but in the end, Dr. Weissbluth's "Trust me, I'm a doctor"-attitude could never convince me to follow his methods. There are gentler ways of helping baby to sleep well!

For the sleep deprived parent, this book is useless. It is not well indexed, and it is virtually impossible to find information quickly and easily. The author has a rambling style, making it difficult for the not-well-rested parent to read. There is probably good advice in the book, but i couldn't find it. I highly recommend "THE NO CRY SLEEP SOLUTION" by Elizabeth Pantley. It is a MUCH better book-- well indexed, concise, and detailed. (And doesn't have to address what to do if your child throws up from crying so much-- it's not part of the method.) Only buy "healthy sleep habits" if you have the time to read a 500 page book and have a good highlighter.

Since this is written by a doctor it contains plenty of research. The problem is that this (male) doctor is goal oriented, it's about sleep at all costs. The main thrust of any technique given is to let your child cry until he goes to sleep by himself. Not sure if that is really a solution at all, and it certainly doesn't take into account a child's emotional development. If you are OK with your child crying to sleep then just do it and you don't really need to read a book. If you want solutions that take into account your child's emotions and feelings then I'd suggest The No-Cry Sleep Solution which contains many of the same facts found herein but then goes on to provide many non-crying approaches to sleep.

This book is really helpful, I was doing things wrong that I didn't know were wrong for a baby. I'm truly grateful forHealthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

I bought this book out of deperation for solving a developing sleep issue I was having with my 7mth old daughter and I was not dissapointed. Withing a week the problem was solved and she was sleeping like a baby (should!)A good sleep manual for babies over 4 months discussing common sleep problems and how to solve them. I fully recommend this book to everyone!Only thing that would make this book better for children over 4 mths, is to also discuss the less common sleep issues, or to have a contact number to get help if needed.If you have sleep issues with babies under 4 months I strongly recommend "Secrets of the baby whisperer" or "babywise 1" (the latter is better as if you ring them [Growing Families International] they can also give you the number of a contact mum for further support).

Despite the controversy over "Ferbering" your child (a much more extreme form of the "let them cry it out" approach to infant sleeping), this method works and if done properly, is appropriate and helpful for older infants. He suggests 4 months and up but of course every child is different. We used it when our daughter was 5 months and had her on a nap and night sleeping schedule in about a week. She became (and still is) a terrific night sleeper.Basically, his theory is that children need to LEARN how to self-soothe and fall to sleep (or back to sleep) on their own and that you need to help them do this. He stresses getting enough sleep and sticking to a schedule (although you really can mess it up once in a while). One paradoxical bit is that "sleep begets sleep" but it's true!If you're not into "attachment parenting," give this a try.