The No-cry Sleep Solution (7 page)

22

The No-Cry Sleep Solution

You Can Sleep, Too

There are no good reasons for you to live as a sleep-deprived martyr. There
are
ways to get your baby to sleep without resorting to all-night cryathons. Action is key—action that will strengthen you and motivate you as you move through these next few weeks.

So give the No-Cry Sleep Solution a try and plan on seeing results.

You may not go straight from waking up every hour to sleeping ten consecutive hours, but you
will
go from waking every hour to every three . . . to every four hours . . . to, eventually, that all-night milestone, and more.

Shortly after which
you
will resume waking every hour, waiting for the car to pull into the driveway, keys to plop on the kitchen table, and footsteps to resound on the stairs up to your teenager’s room. It really does go so fast.

Please be
patient
as you move through the steps. This is so very important. When your baby is unhappy or starts to cry (I said

“starts” to cry, not wails for ten minutes!), go ahead and pick him up, rock him, nurse him, or whatever your heart tells you to do to soothe your sweet baby. Every day will move you one step closer to your goal, and knowing that, you can be more loving and patient.

Remember, too, that your baby’s apparent inability to fall asleep on her own is not her fault. She’s done things this way since the
Mother-Speak

“I understand that it will take a while to see positive results.

But after seven months of total sleep deprivation and exhaustion, just knowing that I’ll be sleeping in another month or so seems like salvation.”

Tammy, mother of seven-month-old Brooklyn

Introduction

23

day she was born, and she’d be perfectly happy to keep things as they are. The goal is to help her feel loved and secure while you help her find ways to fall asleep without you.

In summary, I don’t believe a baby should be left alone to cry himself to sleep. Or even left to cry as you pop in every ten minutes to murmur comforting words without reaching out to touch him. But I also know that you can—gently and lovingly—help your baby to sleep
peacefully
all night long.

Pa r t I

Ten Steps to Helping Your Baby

Sleep All Night

This section of the book will cover the steps to follow as you create your own sleep solution. You may want to use this page as a checklist as you go through the steps:

ٗ Step One: Do a Safety Check (page 27)

ٗ Step Two: Learn Basic Sleep Facts (page 41)

ٗ Step Three: Create Your Sleep Logs (page 53)

ٗ Step Four: Review and Choose Sleep Solutions

(Newborns—page 64; Babies from Four Months—page 89)

ٗ Step Five: Create Your Personal Sleep Plan (page 159)

ٗ Step Six: Follow Your Plan for Ten Days (page 169)

ٗ Step Seven: Do a Ten-Day Log (page 173)

ٗ Step Eight: Analyze Your Success (page 177) and revise your plan as necessary

ٗ Step Nine: Follow Your Plan for Ten More Days (page 205)

ٗ Step Ten: Complete a Log, Analyze Your Success, and Revise Your Plan as Necessary Every Ten Days (page 215)

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