Why your baby is crying and what you can do about it.

Being a parent is like being on a roller coaster ride. There are plenty of ups and downs, enjoyment and frustrations. As a parent I have experienced my share of testing times along with the many joys of parenting. The most challenging times were when my children were babies, toddlers and teenagers. I was already a registered nurse and midwife by the time my children came along. As a result of having personally experienced the demoralising effects of post natal depression I wanted to help others who found the early years of parenting a struggle, and so I decided to train as a mental health nurse and later as a child health nurse and lactation consultant. For the past 17 years I have been employed as a child health nurse in an early parenting residential centre, where my role primarily involved assisting parents to resolve complex baby and toddler care problems. I know that the families who gain admission to these centres are only the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other parents out there desperately searching for answers to their child's feeding or sleeping problems. About 10 years ago I started an online parenting consultation service, BabycareAdvice.com. I have enjoyed a high success rate, and a great deal of pleasure, assisting parents world-wide to find solutions to baby or toddler care problems that match their circumstances. Problems that their local healthcare providers were in many instances unable to resolve. The reason for my success is because my expertise lies in resolving behavioural problems; the most common of all problems experienced by healthy babies and toddlers. I knew I could reach more parents though books than individual consultations. In 2012 I published Your Sleepless Baby: The Rescue Guide, the first of what will become a series of baby care books. After 37 years as a nurse I now live and work from home on the glorious Sunshine Coast of Queensland with my husband, Bruce and dog, Ruby. We get to reap the rewards for being parents and the joy of being grandparents!

A breakthrough approach for a good night's sleep--with no tears There are two schools of thought for encouraging babies to sleep through the night: the hotly debated Ferber technique of letting the baby "cry it out," or the grin-and-bear-it solution of getting up from dusk to dawn as often as necessary. If you don't believe in letting your baby cry it out, but desperately want to sleep, there is now a third option, presented in Elizabeth Pantley's sanity-saving book The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Pantley's successful solution has been tested and proven effective by scores of mothers and their babies from across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Based on her research, Pantley's guide provides you with effective strategies to overcoming naptime and nighttime problems. The No-Cry Sleep Solution offers clearly explained, step-by-step ideas that steer your little ones toward a good night's sleep--all with no crying. Tips from The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Uncover the stumbling blocks that prevent baby from sleeping through the night Determine--and work with--baby's biological sleep rhythms Create a customized, step-by-step plan to get baby to sleep through the night Use the Persistent Gentle Removal System to teach baby to fall asleep without breast-feeding, bottlefeeding, or using a pacifier

With decades of expertise as a pediatric gastroenterologist and a pediatric occupational therapist, the co-authors have helped thousands of parents soothe their high-needs infants--improving attachment, sleep, feeding, and overall quality of life for the whole family. Parents will learn possible causes of their baby's crying and ways to help, including information on reading their baby's cues, attachment, infant massage, positioning, and nutrition. Additional chapters address postpartum depression--especially critical when coping with colic--and what to do when colic extends beyond 6 months of age.

Certified sleep consultant Natalie Willes, known also as The Baby Sleep Trainer, shares her effective and efficient sleep training method in her new book, Getting Your Baby to Sleep the Baby Sleep Trainer Way. Thousands of families throughout the world have used the Baby Sleep Trainer method to help their infants and toddlers learn to sleep through the night and take healthy naps, all with the fewest tears possible. Backed by thorough scientific data and years of professional experience, the Baby Sleep Trainer Method offers parents a tried and true solution for children aged 16 weeks through 3.5 years. Step-by-step, comprehensive contents include: The science of baby sleep habits How to prepare your child's room for optimal sleep Discussions on cortisol and crying in babies Creating healthy sleep habits with newborns Exactly when and how to start sleep training for nighttime sleep and naps Tips and tricks for multiples Troubleshooting common sleep training issues and pitfalls Detailed eat-wake-sleep schedules for children on 3, 2, and 1 nap Sleep training toddlers and children in beds Praise for the Baby Sleep Trainer method: "My 5 month old was waking up every 2-3 hours at night and I was seriously sleep deprived. My sleep deprivation was affecting every aspect of my life. I read several books on sleep training, as well as blogs and websites. I was at my wits end. After following the program for two weeks, my child was consistently sleeping 11-12 hours a night and was on a consistent schedule during the day! This program has literally given me my life back." - McKel Neilsen "Two months ago I was at the end of my sleep rope with our 6-month-old, boy/girl twins. Exhausted doesn't begin to explain it, I felt desperate. After using the Baby Sleep Trainer Method we feel like we have our lives back. The babies are happy and well rested, and so are we! We have our evenings back to cook dinner, spend time with our 4-year-old daughter, hang out together, and actually do things we enjoy. The process took commitment but has been absolutely worth every bit of it." - Beth Oller, MD "Using the Baby Sleep Trainer Method, my daughter quickly went to a routine nap schedule during the day and sleeping through the night from 6:30pm to 6:30am! Also, rather than the exhausting and often unsuccessful rocking or soothing or feeding to sleep, we were able to put her down awake in her crib and she would fall asleep on her own in just a few minutes. It was just incredible." - Online Review

Everything you need to know about getting your baby or toddler to sleep -- from America's foremost baby and childcare experts. Babies don't automatically know how to sleep through the night; they need to be taught. The Sears family has learned from decades of pediatric practice, bolstered by their own parenting experiences, that different babies have different nighttime temperaments -- and, of course, different families have different lifestyles. Instead of espousing the kind of "one method fits all" approach advocated in other baby sleep guides, the Sears family explains how you can create a sleep plan that suits the needs of your entire family. With a sharp focus on the practical tools and techniques, The Baby Sleep Book covers such topics as: The facts of infant sleep vs. adult sleep Figuring out where, when, and how your child sleeps best Fail-safe methods for soothing a crying infant How to make night nursing easier, and how to stop Nighttime fathering tips Whether co-sleeping makes sense for you Nap-time strategies that work Medical and physical causes of night waking Sleep habits in special situations such as traveling, teething, and illness

A modern parenting classic—a guide to a new and gentle way of understanding the care and nurture of infants, by the internationally renowned childcare expert, podcaster, and author of No Bad Kids “An absolute go-to for all parents, therapists, anyone who works with, is, or knows parents of young children.”—Wendy Denham, PhD A Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) teacher and student of pioneering child specialist Magda Gerber, Janet Lansbury helps parents look at the world through the eyes of their infants and relate to them as whole people who have natural abilities to learn without being taught. Once we are able to view our children in this light, even the most common daily parenting experiences become stimulating opportunities to learn, discover, and connect with our child. A collection of the most-read articles from Janet’s popular and long-running blog, Elevating Child Care focuses on common infant issues, including: • Nourishing our babies’ healthy eating habits • Calming your clingy, fearful child • How to build your child’s focus and attention span • Developing routines that promote restful sleep Eschewing the quick-fix tips and tricks of popular parenting culture, Lansbury’s gentle, insightful guidance lays the foundation for a closer, more fulfilling parent-child relationship, and children who grow up to be authentic, confident, successful adults.

Baby Sleep Training in 7 Days is the fastest, most effective method for sleep training your child and achieving long-term sleep success. Many babies are not naturally good sleepers—but they can be! From the founder of the Sleep, Baby, Sleep® baby sleep training program, Violet Giannone, comes Baby Sleep Training in 7 Days—a straightforward, 7-day program proven to help your child sleep better, quickly and successfully. In Baby Sleep Training in 7 Days, Violet narrows down exactly how to: prepare your child for sleep training, initiate the sleep training process, and ensure that good sleep habits continue after sleep training. Baby Sleep Training in 7 Days offers the support and guidance you need to confidently sleep train your child, including: A clear 7-day plan outlining what to do each day to help your child sleep better within one week. Before and after guidance to prepare you for the week of sleep training and set you up for success afterwards. Troubleshooting support that offers specific advice for course correcting if your baby has a sleep setback. If you’re taking on the tough job of sleep training your child, you want it to work. Baby Sleep Training in 7 Days delivers what you need to confidently sleep train your child and start seeing results in one week.

Comfort the kid ... or let her cry it out? Listen to your instincts ... or ignore them? Your heart tells you that cuddling your baby is much, much better than "ferberizing." This book explains why. It's 2 A.M. and your baby is wailing. You're tired, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Do you heed your friends' advice and let the baby cry it out, hoping he'll self-soothe and learn that he doesn't need you in the middle of the night? Or do you listen to your deepest instincts, go to the child, and comfort her until she returns to sleep? In this eye-opening manifesto, pediatric sleep specialists Eliot S. Katz and Carolyn D'Ambrosio explore the history of the "Cry it Out" industry and the medicalization of perfectly normal infant sleep patterns. They explain how the demands of modern society encourage parents to value uninterrupted sleep over their baby's needs, and to ignore important nighttime opportunities for parent-child bonding. "Comfort the Kid" also provides answers to the many questions that keep parents awake at night: Should my baby sleep in his own room, separated from his parents? (No.) Will I spoil my baby by picking her up when she cries? (No.) Will comforting my infant when he cries make him manipulative and demanding? (No.) Do the words that I use to describe my child become self-fulfilling prophecies? (Maybe.) Filled with useful tips and safe sleep practices, parent-infant communication, and family rhythms and tempos, "Comfort the Kid!" emphasizes the golden rule of parenting. Comforting your crying infant results in less stress and better sleep for both you and your baby. From Introduction, "Infancy is a challenging passage during which parents draw upon talents, insights, and stamina that they never knew they had. It is also a time to acquire a skill set and strategy that will be helpful for the demands ahead. Our hope is that a full understanding of the underlying evolutionary, biological, and cultural determinants governing infant sleep will ease this process. Knowing the benefits of Comfort the Kid will make sleepless nights a bit less distressing, and perhaps even enjoyable. A few years from now, you will remember these interactions fondly." Praise for "Comfort the Kid," "An innovative approach to helping infants and their families obtain healthy sleep through an understanding of normal infant behavior and the importance of a nurturing parent-child relationship. Highly recommended for all new parents." —Laura Sterni, M.D., Director, Johns Hopkins Pediatric Sleep Center "in this remarkable book, Doctors Katz and D'Ambrosio challenge many of the currently accepted tenets regarding infant sleep and direct parents to behaviors that both maximize sleep quality and optimize bonding with the infant." —David White, M.D., Past President, American Academy of Sleep Medicine "The authors take the reader through the reasoning for why letting an infant "Cry it Out" is not a good approach for either the parent's or the infant's health. Using quotes, anecdotes, and science, the authors discuss evolution, normal sleep, and infant development to assist parents in creating an optimal sleeping strategy for them and their children." —Nancy Collop, M.D., Past President, American Academy of Sleep Medicine Doctors Katz and D'Ambrosio cogently discuss why comforting crying infants, co-sleeping, and other practices that promote bonding between infant and parents will eventually result in less stress and better sleep for both." —Stuart Quan, M.D. Past President, American Academy of Sleep Medicine