Fussy-Baby Experts
As with most parenting issues, there are many experts whose books you can read for help in getting your baby to sleep well. Each offers suggestions and tips to avoid bad sleep habits and help your baby sleep all night. Although each expert's advice is likely to work for most parents and their babies, you should choose the one that fits best with your own parenting style and way of doing things.
The advice from all of the experts is more similar than it is different, though each offers his or her own theories about why babies cry so much, along with tips to help soothe and settle a crying baby.
Dr. Ferber's Method
If you don't like to let your baby cry, then one of the most popular sleep experts, Dr. Richard Ferber, probably isn't for you. His book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems often gets a bad rap as advocating a simple “cry it out” method of getting babies to sleep. Actually, he emphasizes the need for proper sleep associations and offers a gradual or progressive approach to teaching your child to fall asleep and stay in his bed. This method does involve crying, but it is not a cold-turkey, cry-all-night-until-you-fall-asleep way of getting your baby to sleep. Instead, Dr. Ferber recommends that once your baby is five to six months old and not sleeping well, you teach him to fall asleep on his own and let him cry for progressively longer periods of time before briefly checking on him.
Is one sleep expert better than all of the others?
Not necessarily. There isn't one absolute right or wrong way to get your baby to sleep all night, so you should use the method that you feel most comfortable with. Keep in mind that if your baby is waking up a lot, there will be some crying no matter which method you choose.
If you don't feel comfortable with the Ferber method, there are many other experts and books to give you more detailed advice. The experts include Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Harvey Karp, Dr. William Sears, and Dr. Marc Weissbluth. Another popular book is The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.
The Brazelton Way
Dr. T. Berry Brazelton is a popular pediatrician and is considered to be an expert on many parenting topics, including sleep, discipline, potty training, and fussy babies. His book Calming Your Fussy Baby offers a simple, easy-to-read overview of why infants cry and how to cope with a fussy baby. Instead of trying to “cure” crying as some authors do, Dr. Brazelton offers tips to make it more manageable. It may not be the right book for you if you are looking for a lot of details in using different soothing techniques.
If, like Dr. Brazelton, you believe that crying and colic serve a purpose, and that crying is just your baby's way of “letting off steam,” then you probably agree with him that eliminating it altogether is not always a good idea. Although seen as a “cry it out” method by some, he only recommends stopping the techniques you are using to try to soothe your baby when they are not working or are making your baby fussier.
Dr. Harvey Karp
The Happiest Baby on the Block has been one of the most popular books about crying babies since it was first published. Its author, Dr. Harvey Karp, offers a “new way to calm crying and help your newborn baby sleep longer.” Part of the book's popularity is that it offers specific and easy-to-try techniques that do soothe and calm many babies.
Most of those techniques, summarized by the “5 S's,” are things that everyone tries almost instinctively and understands. Most parents try to swaddle their baby, let them suck on a pacifier, swing or use rhythmic motions, and use a “shhhing” sound to comfort their baby. But when these techniques aren't working for you, Dr. Karp offers tips for using them in the right way and in the right order. If you don't want to read the whole book or still find Dr. Karp's techniques hard to understand, video and DVD versions are also available so that you can directly see his methods.
Although most parents who try the 5 S's like them, one common complaint is that some babies get “spoiled” and become dependent on swaddling to get to sleep. Parents then have a new problem when they later have to wean their baby from swaddling and get him to sleep on his own.
If you have a baby who cries excessively, see your pediatrician for an evaluation before you simply decide that you have a fussy baby. Although there's usually nothing to worry about, medical conditions that lead to such excessive crying can be serious and are important to discover.
William and Martha Sears
William and Martha Sears are often seen as advocates of “attachment parenting.” Their The Fussy Baby Book offers help for all parents. The chapter titled “Creative Ways to Soothe a Fussy Baby” offers many tips, some of which will likely work for you. Of all the books about fussy babies, this one offers the most ideas and soothing techniques, including different ways to hold, carry, and calm your baby.
Dr. Marc Weissbluth
Dr. Weissbluth's first book helped many parents get their children to sleep through the night. Because crying babies and sleep problems are often seen as being related, it should come as no surprise that he also wrote a book to help you soothe Your Fussy Baby.
Although his book is similar to others about fussy babies in that it offers soothing and calming techniques such as swaddling, rocking, massage, and singing lullabies, Dr. Weissbluth is probably the most honest fussy-baby expert. Instead of pushing his own theory of why babies cry, he discusses all of the theories and then simply concludes that no one knows the real answer. Many parents also will appreciate the long chapter on preventing sleep problems.
