The Science-Backed Guide to Helping Your Baby Get a Good Night's Sleep-Newborn to School Age

Very helpful research based information. Well organized and clear answers to lots of questions. I like this perspective and balanced approach. It is not “cry it out in sheeps clothing” as other reviewers have said- trust me, I’m a breastfeeding, baby wearing, co sleeping mom- but some babies/ kids have to fuss a little as they go to sleep to get that frustration out. There’s a difference between a “I’m frustrated” cry and a distressed cry.
That being said, I have chosen not to sleep train my babies until they were close to a year old- when I personally feel they understand that you are not leaving permanently and can intellectually understand what you are telling them will happen. The book was still helpful for me in preparing to sleep train my second baby, while also answering a lot of questions about toddler sleep for my first. I have read/ skimmed most of the popular sleep books and found them mostly useless for my sensitive reflux babies- this one actually helps.

I loved this because it worked. Reading the science behind why babies need sleep helped bolster me when I wanted to let my little one stay up late to see her dad come home, and taught me about the importance of patterns. Within 3 days, my 14 month old was sleeping through the night and not fussing at bedtime. When I said her script, she reached for her bed! Two months later, we went on vacation and got thrown off at home. After 2 weeks of being exhausted, we went back to the sleep wave. At 16 months it wasn't as easy, she flipped out when I came in very 5 minutes, so we let her CIO for 40 minutes after 20 minutes of the sleep wave. The next night she cried for just 10 minutes and now she is back to reaching for her bed at naps and nighttime. It's made a huge difference to have a script and follow this routine. For younger babies I'd bet it works really well a few times in a row, no CIO needed.

This book was recommended to us by our pediatric NP. It all sounded too good to be true after I first read the book. But I cannot tell you how big of a difference this 'method' made in our household. My husband and I actually get to sleep through the night now bc baby sleeps through the night! We have our sanity back, and baby is well-rested. This method is a modified version of CIO. I like this method because you aren't just letting the baby cry to the point of them feeling fearful or abandoned. The main point of this method is that the baby learns to soothe themselves instead of the parent having to soothe them to sleep, or the parent having to soothe the baby every time they wake up in the middle of the night. We started doing this when our daughter was 5 1/2 months old.

Multiple people suggested this book and I'm very happy I listened! By night three my 1 year old was sleeping 12 hours with maybe one wake up where he then put himself to sleep. This book is wonderful. It helped me and my husband break some bad habits, get our son to sooth himself back to sleep and create a great nightly routine. I highly recommend this book.

My husband and I were frustrated after months and months of rocking our son to sleep and it taking forever for him to get to bed at night. We were spending sometimes 2-3 hours a night trying to get our 20 month old to sleep. After a particularly grueling night, I came across an article about this book, and immediately downloaded it to my Kindle. After just two days, we had a whole new routine down, and our little guy was happy as a lark to go to bed!! No more crying, and no more having to wait until he was already asleep to put him in his crib, only to sneak away and hope he wouldn't wake. This book absolutely changed our lives!!

Great guide. Using these techniques basically transformed our lives as new parents. It's important to remember that nothing works completely, you'll always have to be flexible and go with the flow, but they have many tips for all the different phases your child will go through. Using the methods got our daughter in a solid rhythm and drastically improved everyones's sleep.

Awesome book, easy to follow and written in an order that makes sense. We previously used "Happy Sleep, Healthy Child" which worked well for our now 3 year old. However, I always had difficulty following along and found myself re-reading. The methods in this book seem similar but this one is written so much more intuitively. I also appreciate how much the authors work in nursing and how to account for that. Thank you, Julie and Heather!

I did research online and had several sleep books recommended by my friends, but needed more guidance on how to instill healthy sleep habits/associations from early on (2-4 months)- and not just "follow baby's lead". This book has been really helpful for that age and later- my son is 5 and a half months now and has been sleeping 12 hours (except for a few teething pain wake-ups) for several weeks.

I ordered this book out of sheer desperation. At 6 months of age, my daughter was sleeping for MAYBE an hour at a time if I was lucky. I was at my wit's end. My partner and I were fighting in the middle of the night about what to do. I was barely surviving at work. It was sheer misery. We read the Happy Sleeper and put it to work the following week. (I would have started immediately, but she was due for vaccinations, so we put off starting until after her vaccinations, as the book suggested.) The first night was sheer hell. She cried most of the night off and on. We kept at it with the 5 minute checks, but I honestly think I cried as much as my baby did. When night two rolled around, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stick with the program, but fortunately night two was SO MUCH BETTER. Night 3 had its rough patches, but form there, things just continuously improved. By the end of a week, she was sleeping in solid 3-hour stretches (MUCH IMPROVED from the 1 hour we were getting before). By the end of 2 weeks, her first stretch of sleep was anywhere from 5-7 hours. It's been amazing. I am so grateful for this book.

Incredible sleep training book!! LOVED it!! Our girls has been sleeping 12-13 hours a night since she was 4 months old. No night time feedings either!! She's a sleeping rockstar. Recommend this book to every new mama!

Every mom I know, including myself, has had sleep issues with their young children at one point. Thank god this book has come along. With clear guidance backed up by science, the advice makes sense and feels right. I hadn't realized that sleep was such an important factor in a child's development. It's such an amazing gift I can give to my children. I've got post-its throughout this entire book so I won't be lending it out but I'll be buying it for every baby shower I attend!!

Great compromise between crying it out and attached parenting. After the first night, our 9 month old was sleeping about 6-8 hours at night. The book also helped to give us guidelines on when to put baby to sleep and how long she should be awake between naps. Also appreciated the special circumstances section that addresses a few different scenarios that might change how you approach getting g your kid to sleep, like nursing at night or co-sleeping.

I never thought I would do a program that involves crying. We did everything possible to not let our baby girl cry and became bed-sharers, which was not in the plan. Due to lack of sleep, a baby who would only sleep on my boob and freedom we knew we needed a change. I heard great things at my Mommy Group (The Wright Group, note co-authors group) and I figured we'd check out this book. My husband read the first part and was like- yes! A solution. I was hesitant at first as I hate to see her cry but because it's only 5 mins it's not like CIO. It's not CIO but they need to have time alone without you there to figure it out!!
We did this the first night and it wasn't easy but it worked. A baby that used to take 3/4 hours plus to go to bed now goes down alone on her own! And for naps too!!! Plus, she is a tummy sleeper. Something we would have never figured out if she was still in bed with us as she didn't have the room to turnover. She now sleeps thru the night and on a bad night, one wake-up. I seriously can't complain. I feel like we under estimated her and now know she is able to adapt and it's empowering!! This book has changed our lives!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!

It works! My baby was a great sleeper until about 5 months and then sleep regression took over - we went from sleeping through the night in a crib to waking up and fussing multiple times even in rock and play and terrible napping. I just started adjusting things accordingly yesterday and he slept for over 9 hours at night without an issue and is napping in his crib after falling asleep on his own! I am so amazed and thankful I found this book - this seems to be the structured approach that my little one and my family needed.

No one enjoys sleep training your baby, but after 7 months of dragging myself out of bed 3-5x a night, something had to change. I found this book to be a clear, and considerate middle ground to CIO training. After 1 night with about 50 mins of tears, and a second with about 15, night times and naps have become easy and my son is sleeping well and waking up happy.

Purchased the Kindle edition last week after going through 3-4 weeks of sleep regression / challenges as LO turned 4-5 months old, and learning that the swaddle transition tools we planned (merlin suit) were not AAP/back to sleep org approved due to lack of movement etc. So need a new, better tool kit and was unwilling to follow long periods of CIO models of sleep training.

I believe this book offers a happy middle ground and is so specific in its guidance / methods that it serves as real aid. I also had some follow-up questions after crash reading it during one particularly difficult night up. The author responded within just a few hours and I can't say enough about what that said about the level of commitment to helping us as new parents, etc.

As the author acknowledges, it can be bit like ripping band-aid ... moving away from swaddles/aids and pacis for night time soothing to other tools. But following their method, we are free from that after less than 1 week. My daughter spent first few nights learning her new space and crying at points in frustration about all this new stuff. We had one particularly rough night on Wed (started on Saturday); this tested our fortitude BUT we had breakthrough night on Thursday just after. While Friday night was not as good as Thursday, I can see the training taking hold / not just a fluke and we are so pleased to have this set of tools to work with through this transition. We probably have few more nights to reinforce etc before we are totally to the 11hr per night goal ... but we are so much better than where we were a week ago... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU :)

I cannot recommend this book more! My son regressed in his sleep when he was about 3 months old and I was hardly getting any sleep for 2 months. Nap times were a 30-45 minute battle as I swaddled him, held the binky in his mouth, and swayed back and forth until my arms were so sore. This book gave me the confidence to put him down awake and unswaddled, which ended up being the best thing for him. He falls asleep on his own every night and every nap time and is getting better at staying asleep each night! I love watching him self soothe as he rolls his head from side to side, grabs his feet, and rubs his lovey across his face. So thankful that a friend recommended this book to me!

Love love this book! It helped me gently sleep train my five month old without feeling too harsh. The book lays out a good plan for almost any situation, and it helped me feel a little less crazy along the way! It also had tips for reducing/weaning night feedings. We are finally all getting a good nights sleep! And no tears at bedtime or naps!

With much anticipation, this book has finally arrived and exceeds my expectations. Turgeon and Wright take their extensive knowledge about the science of sleep and attachment research and provide the reader with a clear, compassionate and effective way to support healthy sleep for infants, toddlers, and older children too. This is a must have resource for all parents!

This book was life changing for me. I had problems with my daughter's sleep since she was a newborn and this book helped me get her on a great nighttime routine with set naps during the day.

The writing is clear and consistent; friendly and helpful. The writers seem to have a lot of experience with babies and sleep and I appreciated having an "expert" guide me without having to pay the sleep expert price.

I highly recommend this book to any parents - new or old!

This book is wonderful. I was previously reading Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by Dr Weissbluth. Also a great book, but the style it's written makes is VERY difficult to read quickly and digest. (Very repetitive, even though the information is good.) But The Happy Sleeper is SO well written and to the point, not only is it informative and organized, it is put together in such a way that it's super easy to look things up and reference what you've read. Additionally, it is VERY how-to in its approach, so there's no guessing about what you should or shouldn't do to make sure you get the best results.

I am in the middle of implementing the Sleep Wave (teaching him to sleep) with my 5 month old. We are on day 2 (of a week or less, depending on the child), and already the improvements are incredible. I already feel confident that this will instill good sleeping habits in my little one, setting him up for a lifetime of healthy rest! Get this book!

This is a good book to have some additional knowledge regarding sleep for baby. Quite the opposite from "baby-wise", but just as good. I can't say I agreed with everything the book presents, but it's always nice to have some extra information to compare/contrast.

This book changed our lives! Our sweet 6 month old was getting up several times every night and refusing to nap in her crib at home (though she napped well at daycare). We followed the advice in this book and by the second night she was sleeping on her own without any protest. She now naps in her crib and sleeps through the night, waking only once to nurse. We couldn't be happier and love knowing that she is learning important self-soothing skills as well.

My daughter (first child) is 22 months and ever since she was born, my poor husband and I have been EXHAUSTED and have struggled with sleep issues. I think I have read at least parts of every sleep book out there, but nothing seemed to make sense for us or for our daughter. She never fit into any of the little boxes that people wrote about! Her main issue was that she could not put herself to sleep and had to nurse every time. We had sworn off these books altogether but checked out The Happy Sleeper on a recommendation. We decided it sounded sane and it made sense to us, and tried your suggestions. I actually started to adjust the nighttime bedtime routine weeks before trying the sleep wave, and even this alone seemed to help my daughter settle down much easier.

The first night we implemented the sleep wave, after talking with her all day about how bedtime would be different, she only cried for four minutes before putting herself to sleep?! Amazing! And things have only improved from thereIt has been over 2 weeks now and we are still stunned. We no longer dread bedtime and our daughter sleeps longer at night without waking up demanding to nurse (except occasionally). This change has made our family so much happier, peaceful, and healthier!

Nothing stresses me out more than not sleeping so I was relieved to finally find a plan that works. The Happy Sleeper is an easy read with lots of practical advice that helped me get both my kids into a healthy sleeping routine. I like the fact that I can jump right in and skip to the chapters that specifically apply to what's happening with my children. I also appreciate that it's a science backed approach that I can trust rather than an another mom's "opinion". I found it reassuring to know that the research shows how babies are very capable beings who are naturally wired for good sleep and after following the steps, I observed how quickly my youngest was able to sleep through the night. Travel and colds over the holidays definitely disrupted everything but now that we are home, we are back to the routine and seeing immediate improvement. Hope this helps. Good luck with your little ones!

My 1-yr old was experiencing a severe sleep regression. No one was sleeping in our house and I wasn't sure what to do. A friend recommended The Happy Sleeper, and as soon as I read the "signs that your baby is ready to self-soothe" on pg. 123, I knew exactly what was going on. My son fell asleep on his own within 30 minutes of using the sleep wave technique, and even slept through the night!! Thank you Happy Sleeper!!!

I hardly ever write reviews but I am so overjoyed with my baby boy's progress, I am hoping this will help even one tired parent out there! Our son had never been an awesome sleeper... but when the 4 month sleep regression hit it got downright awful. He got increasingly difficult to put down at night (we'd rock him for 20-45 minutes, half the time he'd fight us, and his eyes would pop open the second he hit the crib). It took multiple tries to get him down and from there he would wake ever hour and a half, or worse, and it was a nightmare to get him back down. He'd start the night in his crib, then move to the Rock n Play (which we had tried to ditch when he turned 3 months), and by 3 or 4am he'd end up in bed with us. We even reverted to swaddling him some nights (another habit we'd tried to ditch) because it was so bad.

I heard people talking about this book in one of my Mommy Facebook groups, and then a friend recommended it, so we decided to give it a shot. The week he turned 5 months old we implemented the "Sleep Wave" (he was too far gone for the more gentle methods to work - we tried a few nights of the "soothing ladder" they recommend for 0-4 months old, and he wasn't having it). So we started on a Friday night and did the "Sleep Wave" for both nighttime sleep and naps. The first night he protested for an hour and 15 minutes - it was definitely hard to hear him fuss, and he even seemed madder when we went in for the 5 minute checks. But once he fell asleep, he only woke up three times (A HUGE improvement for him), two of those were to nurse. All 3 times he fell back asleep on his own in under 15 minutes, I couldn't believe it! Night #2 was rough, he was awake from 4-6 am and I started doubting the method... but we stuck with it and I'm so glad we did. He has mostly improved each day with the occasional setback (today we had one tough nap for example) - but he is now sleeping 11-12 hours in his crib with only 2 awakenings to eat. No swaddle, no Merlin suit, no pacifier, and free to roll around the crib and choose his own sleep position (turns out he's a side sleeper). Tonight (night #7) he rolled around for 10 minutes, no crying whatsoever, and passed out. I'm so proud of my baby!

I wish I had this book when he was a newborn so we could have instilled some better habits from the beginning... but then again, with a newborn you kind of do whatever you gotta do to get some sleep. If you are on this page chances are you are looking for some help... just give it a shot! If you had told me literally 1 week ago my baby would fall asleep on his own and spend the whole night in his crib, I wouldn't have believed it!

I am a physical therapist who works with babies. For many years, I previously taught baby classes for parents with newborns, presenting various perspectives on infant development, parenting, feeding and sleep. I am also a very involved mother of 3 kids. I have read many of the books on the market regarding topics of parenting, attachment and sleep training. I don’t typically write reviews, but I feel compelled to do so for this book because I find it to be an excellent resource for parents. I like the authors’ attunement approach which balances the need for nurture, touch and eye contact with the need for exploration, mastery, persistence and confidence. As a clinician, as well as a mom, I find these principles to be critically important, effective and beneficial.

I truly recommend this book to any desperate parent. I started the sleep training with my baby at exactly 5 months, and now she is about to be 7 months and the techniques have shown a big improvement in my baby's sleep patterns... And mine too... As they say happy mom, happy family

Sensible, easy to follow. I have bought or borrowed almost every sleep book on the market and this one, is my favorite. I've had to let my kiddos protest cry to get to sleep but always felt uncomfortable with the cry-it-out methods available. This book focuses on helping your children sleep while supporting a healthy attachment and making sure that they don't feel scared or abandoned. It's the philosophy I've been looking for for 5 years! Thank you!

Fantastic book to lovingly help your child sleep independently using sound science thereby explaining the brain processes behind the techniques. I also appreciated that it's very useful for parents of slightly older babies who thought that our window of time had closed on sleep training. LOVE Turgeon and Wright and can't wait for their next book.

I've always read Heather Turgeon's Babble column and found it to be not only helpful, but also fun to read. I was excited to read a book from someone I already trusted and whose opinion always seemed very practical, thoughtful and reasonable. I am not someone that appreciates extreme suggestions on the parenting front - every baby is different but it is true that certain things do seem to work better than others.

The Happy Sleeper does a wonderful job of sharing the science and explaining the "why" of sleeping. The book demystified the process of sleep training for me and I found the suggestions to be wise, measured and sensitive to both the needs of our baby and us.

Seriously worth it (and I have 10 of these books on sleep)!

We love the Happy Sleeper book. Our daughter just turned 5 months + 1 week, and we implemented the Wave. It has made a huge difference for our family and has been a great success. She is sleeping at night in her crib, and taking naps in her crib too! On the third night she went to sleep in the crib without crying (e.g., waking up) for over 6 hours. We loved that! We never thought we would get to this point and so quickly. The book definitely offers a technique worth trying...consistently!
(and the Sleepeasy Solutions book also had some additional good tips - which we will also reference when we move on to night weaning!)