Sleeping Like a Baby

A Sensitive and Sensible Approach to Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems

Avi Sadeh

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9780300129229
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

“Why doesn’t my baby sleep better?” weary parents ask. “How can we get more sleep?” There are as many answers to these questions as there are babies and families, says Dr. Avi Sadeh in this helpful and reassuring (some may say indispensable) book. Based on his years of research with sleep-disturbed babies and their sleep-deprived parents, Dr. Sadeh suggests a wide variety of practical solutions to babies’ and young children’s sleep problems.

Other experts may recommend one strict approach to changing a baby’s sleep habits, but a single remedy fails to take into account a baby’s uniqueness and the dynamics of his or her family, Dr. Sadeh contends. He helps parents first to understand the natural sleep patterns of babies, and then to consider their own family’s situation and needs. In an accessible style designed to ease anxious parents’ worries, Dr. Sadeh describes the various sleep problems of early childhood, outlines treatment possibilities, and details the pros and cons of each of these choices.

This book will appeal not only to sleepless parents seeking relief but also to those who are curious about the most recent findings in children’s sleep research. Dr. Sadeh addresses a full range of questions: What is the importance of sleep to a baby? How do babies in different cultures sleep? How is sleep related to development? What causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? How do babies calm themselves? What are the advantages and disadvantages of communal sleeping? With up-to-date answers to these questions and more, Dr. Sadeh offers parents and professionals all the information they need to help babies—and their families—sleep better.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• I. Sleep and Development
• 1. “Why do we sleep?”
• 2. “What’s so interesting about a sleeping baby?”
• 3. “She sleeps when she feels like it, two hours here, two hours there”
• 4. “Why did my child laugh in his dream?”
• 5. “A child who doesn’t sleep doesn’t grow”
• 6. “He’s hyperactive, and at night he has trouble falling asleep”
• 7. “She refuses to go to sleep ever since she awoke from a scary nightmare”
• 8. “It’s hard for me to abandon him alone in bed”
• 9. “She won’t sleep without her ratty ‘blankie’ ”
• 10. “He’ll sleep only in our bed”
• 11. “At night she can scream for hours and her father doesn’t hear a thing”
• II. Sleep Disorders
• 12. “He falls asleep only in the car, and in the middle of the night that’s absurd”
• 13. “She awakens every hour on the hour”
• 14. “He wakes up terribly frightened and doesn’t calm down”
• 15. “She doesn’t eat enough, she’s teething”
• 16. “He suddenly stops breathing and it takes my breath away!”
• 17. “While she slept we took turns standing guard to make sure she was breathing”
• 18. “Be patient! He’ll grow out of it”
• 19. “To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question!”
• 20. “My child is possessed”
• 21. “Does it really help?”
• 22. “It’s hard to believe that this is the same child”
• 23. “How can I make sure my new baby won’t develop sleep problems?”
• 24. “Sometimes even a good parent feels like throwing the baby out with the bathwater!”
• 25. “Good morning, sun’s up, new day!”
• Appendix 1. Methods of Measurement and the Study of Sleep
• Appendix 2. A Sampling of Popular Books on Sleep and Nighttime Fears for Very Young Children
• Appendix 3. Selected Scientific Publications About Infants’ Sleep and Related Topics
• Index