I bought this book probably about 6-8 months ago, when I was having problems getting Oliver to go to sleep on his own. I had previously nursed him to sleep and then when we stopped nursing, I would lie with him until he fell asleep. Once asleep, Oliver would stay asleep, so luckily we never had any problems that way.
But my laying with him was keeping him awake, but yet if I tried to go, he would want me to stay. So I bought this book, and skipped ahead to the 2 year old section. Basically, he advocates "cry it out" or as I sometimes call it the "Nanny 911" technique. For the first night, Oliver would get out of bed. I would put him back in with no commentary, no hugs, not even really looking at him. This went on for about 30 minutes, including him saying at one point "Oliver needs a mommy!" (can you tell it still scars to this day?). The next night, he didn't get out of bed as much, and in fact cried for Daddy. The night after, he went to sleep right away, on his own. Just like the book and Nanny 911 said, it took 3 nights.
His sleeping was really good for a long time, even during our trip to Canada it was good. But it fell apart a bit in Singapore, so I had to do the training again. But this time I knew it would only take 3 nights. And it did.
I read more of the book recently to prepare for the baby. I found the opening chapters of the book, to be frankly, a bit preachy. Every problem your child has is related to a lack of sleep (I'm sure if I was reading Healthy Eating Habits, every problem would be due to lack of nutrition). For the 1-4 month stage, he basically says, do whatever you have to do to get the baby to sleep. You can let them fall asleep nursing if that is what works.
It will be interesting to see how Baby ToBe will be compared to Oliver. I know, I know, you aren't supposed to compare. Oliver is a pretty good sleeper, once asleep. I hope this next child will be too.
