The No Cry Sleep Solution

How old was your baby when you used The No-Cry Sleep Solution?
13 months

How old is your baby now?
Two

When you first met Elizabeth, what was your sleep situation?
Lauren was waking up as many as eight times a night! I was at my wits’ end, because I was becoming more and more sleep deprived with each passing night. But I didn’t want to resort to letting her cry it out.

How is your baby sleeping now?
Great! She wakes up only once in the middle of the night, and I just go get her and bring her to bed with us for the rest of the night.

What solutions were most helpful to you?
Learning about the importance of a consistent bedtime routine and how important the scheduling of naps is to nighttime sleep. Also, I learned other ways to comfort her back to sleep other than just nursing.

What one most important piece of advice would you give parents of a night-waking baby?
Have patience. With consistency, you can help your baby sleep for longer stretches in a gentle way. And try to relax: The baby can sense if you’re stressed.

Looking back, what idea from the book most affected the way you approached your baby’s sleep?
Knowing that I could get her to sleep without having to let her cry really helped me to relax. And also knowing that I wasn’t doing this all wrong!

Did you ever try a cry-it-out method? What happened?
I tried it in a modified version. I didn’t let her cry very long, only a couple minutes at a time. She eventually went to sleep, but woke just a couple hours later, frantic for me. Going to sleep all upset like that made her wake up all upset as well.

What surprised you most about Elizabeth’s program?
That she REALLY meant “no crying”!

After your baby was sleeping through the night, did you have any times when she/he suddenly started waking up again? What did you do?
Yes — whenever she was sick or teething. I just had to try and get back into a routine with her as quickly as possible. Since we had already established our routine, it was so much easier than the first time.

How does it feel to sleep all night?
It feels great! I don’t know how I functioned on so little sleep before.

Excerpted with permission by McGraw-Hill Publishing from The No-Cry Sleep Solution (McGraw-Hill, 2002).

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