Book Review #1: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

I love being a Mommy.  It's, by far, the best possible job I have ever had.  I couldn't ask for anything more than spending the day with my little man.  I have been reading parenting books, when I'm not doing my Mommy duties and thought I would share some of the highlights.  The first book I recently read and refer to often is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth.  This book is research based and helpful for families that are expecting and families that already have little ones at home.  I wish I would have picked this book up while I was pregnant!  Kevin and I would not have guessed our way through Luke's sleeping those first few weeks.  Luckily, Luke was a pretty good sleeper those first few weeks, but since then has become a bit more challenging.  This is a book I will continually reread as it details sleep habits of babes of different ages.  Did you know babies sleep rhythms change as they grow??  Yep, me neither.  I learned a lot and this post is all about that new learning.

New learning and what it means to me...

• Never wake a sleeping baby.  Wow, this is so simple, yet so powerful.
• Keeping a sleep log is a great tool to track your baby's sleeping habits.  The teacher in me LOVES this!  
• Babies 0-4 months are only able to be awake 1-2 hours.  They are sleepy little creatures!  Luke follows a sleep, eat, play cycle.  
• Infants that sleep more during the day are better equipped to learn from their environment and maintain focused attention.  When Luke has taken a good nap he is much more alert and a lot less crabby.  He is more able to play on his own when he is well rested.
• Naps are vital for cognitive development.  Naps are a win-win for everyone!
• Weissbluth states, "Sleep comes from the brain, not the stomach."  This was an 'aha' moment for me.  Everyone says 'when he starts eating cereal, he will sleep longer at night', but Weissbluth doesn't agree.  I have a hard time with this one, because we have noticed that when Kevin gives Luke a bottle at night he sleeps longer than when I nurse him.  Is this because, with the bottle, without a doubt, Luke gets a sufficient amount of food?  Or is it merely coincidence?
• Good sleep means more good sleep.  Good naps during the day means good sleeping habits at night.  Who would have thought?  No more keeping Luke up so he will sleep at night!

There is so much more to this book...especially for parents of children who have extreme fussiness or colic.  As I said before, I will be returning to this book often as Luke grows.  The main battle we are fighting now is the pacifier.  He wants it during naps and at night, but he loses it...thus making Mom or Dad get up to plop it back in, just so he can spit it out again minutes later.  This book doesn't address this issue, but I would love to hear any advice from any Moms or Dads out there on how to get rid of this habit.  Cheers to a good, restful night of sleep!

You can find Healthy Sleep Habit, Happy Child on Amazon for around $11-12 here.

Weissbluth, Marc. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. New York: Ballantine Books, 2005. eBook.

the good 'ole days...when Luke used to spit his pacifier out and stay sleeping