Getting a young child to go to sleep and stay asleep is one of the most challenging aspects of parenting. Yet many parents resign themselves to enduring years of exhaustion. Practical help is not easy to find, and much of the available advice stresses letting even very young babies "cry it out," an option that is not comfortable for many parents. Kim West, known to her clients as The Sleep Lady®, has developed an alternative and effective approach that is gentler on both parent and child. West emphasizes that sleep is a learned skill and explains how parents can teach children to sleep, even at an early age. She starts with newborns, showing parents how to avoid sleep problems from the beginning. And she has solutions for older babies and children who have developed poor bedtime, nighttime, or nap time habits. The Sleep Lady method—including a gentle, practical, step-by-step program called The Sleep Lady Shuffle—has proven effective for hundreds of families. West has spent more than a decade successfully teaching parents how to help their children sleep soundly and independently through the night. She provides specific, achievable guidelines that work, while also taking into account the values, lifestyles, and parenting styles unique to each family. Most parents who adopt The Sleep Lady Shuffle see dramatic improvements in a few weeks, if not days. Good Night, Sleep Tight contains age-specific chapters from birth through five years old, in which West succinctly outlines what action to take; discusses important developmental changes; provides sample waking, feeding, and napping schedules; advises how to use The Sleep Lady Shuffle; and lays out common problems and solutions. Included throughout are real-life testimonies and anecdotes from parents West has assisted. Good Night, Sleep Tight also discusses co-sleeping, bedtime strategies for twins and siblings, and dealing with nightmares and illnesses. West even offers tips on how to minimize sleep disruption when families travel or experience other breaks in routine. Essential reading for any tired parent, or any expectant parent who wants to avoid the pitfalls of sleeplessness, Good Night, Sleep Tight offers a practical, gentle, easy-to-follow remedy that will work for all families in need of nights of peaceful slumber.

Of all the questions new parents face, none is more common than ‘Does he sleep?’ If the baby sleeps well, the answer all too often is ‘Yes, he’s a good baby.’ By implication, those who don’t sleep are bad babies. The mother and father, already overwhelmed by exhaustion, must also deal with feelings that they are failing their first test as parents. Of course, the millions of babies who don’t initially sleep through the night are not moral failures. They are just new little people who have not yet learned to put themselves to sleep. Learn is the key word. We all know that the need for sleep is biological but we don’t always realize that the ability to sleep is a learned skill. All children can learn it. All parents can teach them. But like everything else in life, some just need a little more help than others. I’m Kim West, also known as the Sleep Lady, and I have spent a decade providing help to hundreds of weary and bleary families. I won’t promise you no tears but I do aim for fewer tears, and I never tell you to just shut the door and let your baby bawl alone in the dark. My gentler method depends on step-by-step changes in bedtime, napping, and overnight routines so that your child can develop sleep independence, go to sleep on his or her own, and sleep more soundly and longer while feeling confident that Mom and Dad will be nearby and responsive. A well-rested baby is usually an easier, less cranky baby. A well-rested mom or dad (in case it feels like it’s been so long that you can’t remember) is an easier, less cranky parent, able to show the child more joy and love, and less of the irritability and frustration that’s inevitable when they are up with him ten times a night. About ten years ago, my husband, Bill, and I moved to the Annapolis, Maryland, area where I later opened a general therapy 13 practice as a clinical social worker. At the time I had no particular interest or expertise in childhood sleep. But I did have a personal stake in the topic. I need a fair amount of good, solid, uninterrupted sleep myself, and as Bill and I began to think about having children, I began to worry. I saw my friends start families and lose sleep. I saw the rings under their eyes, heard the strain in their voices, witnessed the brittle irritation with their spouses. Sometimes it seemed like their only topic of conversation was what a bad night they’d just had, and I could discern a growing sense of guilt and anxiety on their part. Convinced that there had to be a better way, I began to research everything available to me about the physiology and psychology of pediatric sleep. I began to interweave what I was learning about sleep cycles, arousal states, and the physical need for sleep with what I already knew about child development and behavioral psychology, especially the need for parental consistency as we try to teach and mold our children’s behaviors. When my own two daughters were born, neither were ‘angel babies’ who just drifted off into peaceful slumber. The second one, in particular, was fussy and had reflux, putting my theories to the test. Still, I had Carleigh sleeping for an eight-hour stretch at night by eight weeks, Gretchen at ten weeks – and, yes, I breastfed both of them. Gradually, I began helping my friends to teach their babies and toddlers to sleep, and then friends of friends. Word spread, and soon I had a growing number of sleepy parents with sleepless babies knocking on my door.