Thursday, January 15, 2009

Sleep?? I Don't Need No Stinkin' Sleep!


This is what my children used to think. Seriously, I have terrible sleepers. Always have. Seth was the worst though. When he was about 9 months old my friend Vanessa told me about Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution. I went right out and bought it. Anything that involved sleeping and not crying? Something that was gentle, yet effective?? Oh yeah, I was ALL over that. It totally worked. He would sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time. It was heaven! I was sleeping at night and was such a nicer Mommy. I have used the techniques she teaches with Amelia and am ready to crack open the book again for a refresher course for Miss Libby. She doesn't stop with sleep for the newborn though. She has gone on to write 4 more books!
  • The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers
  • The No-Cry Potty Training Solution (I SO need this one right now also!!)
  • The No-Cry Discipline Solution
  • The No-Cry Nap Solution *NEW*
Can I just tell you how excited about this newest book I am??? The No-Cry Nap Solution?!?! Oh my gosh, we need naps at my house, in a bad way. On Amelia's 2nd birthday she decided that naps are for 1 year olds, not for her. So yes, since June of last year I can count on ONE hand the number of naps she has had. Elizabeth says that we all know the research and what it says, but we don't know HOW to implement the knowledge, how to get our kiddos to sleep. Well, her books ROCK and she teaches us how!

Will your child only nap in your arms, in a swing, or after elaborate rituals? Does your child take cat naps -- or none at all? Let world-renowned, trusted parenting author Elizabeth Pantley help you. She’ll guide you with the same sensitive expertise and gentle approach used in her other No-Cry bestsellers about sleep, discipline and potty training.

Research proves that daily naps improve health, mood, growth, intelligence and well-being. Yet children often resist the naps they need and parents don’t know how to make them happen. The results are fussy, crying babies and cranky, grouchy kids who also have trouble sleeping at night!

In The No-Cry Nap Solution Pantley explains to parents of children ages newborn to kindergarten the importance of napping to both behavior during the day and sleeping during (and through!) the night. She then shares with you her gentle, loving child-friendly techniques--tested on families of all sizes and circumstances--and shows you how you can customize her solutions for your own family.

Pantley addresses issues such as children who resist naps, dealing with schedule changes, turning short naps into longer ones, helping a child go from needing motion for sleep to “stationery” sleep, nursing at naptime, daycare-related napping problems, newborn “in-arms” or “in-sling” napping issues, and much more.

I don't know about you all, but this book is RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!!!! I think this is definitely one that will be added to my library, and SOON! Here's to a good night's sleep...I know we all need it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm I guess I have good sleepers. We've always just let the child direct the sleep though. No set time for nap. Play until they fall asleep on the floor or chair or highchair in the middle of dinner (last night) My 6 year old we did this with the most and she's really good about bedtime. When she's tired, she goes puts her PJ's on and climbs into bed and goes to sleep. Sometimes we miss she even did it. Now my older 2, we did the having dad come into the room and pray before bed (not a bad thing really) but they will NOT go to sleep unless he does and if he's busy they will stay up til midnight waiting and waiting. So I think that taught us that having something you do over and over and over like a ritual could make it harder. So we went to .. no ritual. The one thing I do teach babies when they are little, since I bottle feed, is when I hold your head in my left arm, it's time to feed, when I want you to nap, your head is in my right arm. So when I toss my girl over to my right arm she knows what I want, and will either cuddle down if she's ready to nap, or fight it if she isn't. I'm glad I did it with both Dani and Missy because of their delayed communication, it was one way to tell what they were thinking...

Jess B said...

I guess I should thank my lucky stars that I have four good sleepers. #3 doesn't like to sleep in his own bed, though...maybe this could help? Hmm...