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.

I really like the general framework of this book. It's essentially the scientific method applied to sleep.
- Figure out the current knowledge (Learn basic sleep facts)
- Observe (Create your sleep logs)
- Hypothesize solutions (Review and choose sleep solutions; create your personal sleep plan)
- Test (Follow your plan for ten days)
- Collect and analyze data (Do a ten-day log; analyze your success)
- Repeat (Follow plan ten more days; log again; revise plan)

If you read the book, that general framework is, in my opinion, the most important thing to take away.

As for the specific solutions suggested for the sleep plan, like with all sleep advice, whether or not a particular solution works for you depends on your lifestyle and your baby's temperament. The author explicitly states that she doesn't expect anyone to follow all of the ideas. I would add that there may very well be ideas she doesn't mention -- even directly contrary ideas -- that would work better in your solution.

So take what you will on the specifics, but whatever sleep solution you look at, it's a good idea to follow the framework of trying things long enough to make a difference and then taking an explicit step back to observe and modify. ( )

This is the only attachment parenting sleep book I could find, and as one message board person put it, it should be called "The Cry While Mom Pats You on the Butt Sleep Solution." But seriously, folks, it's ok. Didn't make my kid sleep any better, but it's nice to know that lots of other babies don't sleep either. ( )

The No-cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night (Pantley) by Elizabeth Pantley (2002)

This is a great book for any parent that wants to help their baby sleep through the night without letting them "cry it out." We haven't been able to strictly follow our sleep plan because of the holiday season, but still, we're seeing improvements in just a matter of days. She went down for 10 hours for the first time just after starting to use some of Pantley's suggestions. And, the best part? Absolutely no crying! ( )