The No Cry Sleep Solution

How old was your baby when you used The No-Cry Sleep Solution?
Eight months

How old is your baby now?
14 months

Do you have other children? Who are they, and how old?
Briana just turned three!

When you first met Elizabeth, what was your sleep situation?

When I met Elizabeth, Chloe was sleeping in my bed and waking every 30–45 minutes to nurse. I couldn’t handle having her in her own crib because she woke up just as much and I wasn’t getting any sleep that way either.

How is your baby sleeping now?
She now goes to sleep in her crib at 8 p.m., wakes at 12, and again at 4 when Daddy gets up for work. This is such a relief from waking every 30–45 minutes!

What solutions were most helpful to you?
What worked for me was to get her to the point that I could put her to bed drowsy. Once we got there, she learned to put herself back to sleep if she woke up and didn’t really need anything. The other thing that really helped was having an established bedtime routine. That made getting her to bed a lot easier.

What setbacks or problems did you need to overcome?
We had a week when she had a cold and was waking every hour again. I brought her back to my bed while she didn’t feel good. Once she was feeling better, she went right back to her routine of only waking once.

Do you have any tips for parents just beginning The No-Cry Sleep Solution?
Do the sleep logs. It helps when baby is waking four times a night to look back and say that it is better than the six times a couple of weeks ago rather than dwelling on waking four times a night. Also, be patient. It is not an overnight fix, but the time it takes is a short time in the life of your baby and it is well worth it.

Did you ever try a cry-it-out method? What happened?
I tried a cry-it-out method with my first and it made problems worse than before. My daughter lost trust in us during the day, too. It was a horrible experience for us and for her. I will never use a cry-it-out method again. I was so happy to meet Elizabeth and read about her methods. They were so much easier on my baby…and the parents.

What surprised you most about Elizabeth’s program?
I was surprised at how many different approaches she had. She had some for crib sleepers, co-sleepers, nursing mothers, bottle-feeding parents, and pacifier users. I sometimes practice modified co-sleeping, meaning that Chloe goes to bed in her crib, and if she wakes up, she comes in with me. I used the nursing, crib, and co-sleeping suggestions, and they were all great.

What makes Elizabeth’s ideas so unique?
Most people think that either you co-sleep and feed as often as baby wants, or you use cry-it-out. Elizabeth has found a solution to help babies and parents sleep longer without any crying at all. It’s amazing. Elizabeth helped me, my husband, my baby, and my older child all sleep better at night.

Did you have any friends or a support group during your sleep plan? How did they help?
I have a friend who is doing the program also and it has helped to share success stories. When one of us was taking a step back, the other was heading forward. It really helped to know that it would get better and to have someone in the same situation.

Excerpted with permission by McGraw-Hill Publishing from The No-Cry Sleep Solution (McGraw-Hill, 2002).

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