The No-Cry Sleep Solution

This week in our home we have been transitioning our nine month old to sleep in his crib. Letting him "cry it out" was not an option for us so I was thrilled when my sister loaned me a book called "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. Her approach to getting your baby to sleep is a gentle and loving one. She puts to rest a parent's unrealistic idea that their baby should sleep through the night like they do by explaining a baby's normal sleep cycle. According to her a baby who sleeps five consecutive hours is considered to be sleeping through the night. It is completely normal for a baby to have 2-3 awakenings during the night. The key is to gently show them how to put themselves back to sleep during those awakenings. Your baby might wake up hungry through the night so it's important to be able to distinguish those times from others and to not ignore those cues. This process is not an overnight fix so be prepared for some sleepless nights but with some patience the results are worth it. The ideas that we have implemented have been very successful so far and I am happy to say that there was no emotional stress felt by my baby during this whole transition. If you are in need of other no-cry solutions Elizabeth Pantley has written several other books which you can see on her website by clicking here. On her site you can also download a sleep log and her no-cry booklet for free.