When Avery was 5 months old, James and I spent 2 weeks straight co-zombing in the wee hours of the night because Avery was on a 90 minute snack-n-sleep routine. The happiest baby on the block, but not solid sleeper.
I found myself Googling for books to get babies to sleep. As ridiculous as it sounds, as a mother of 3 , for some reason this felt embarrassing, like I hadn’t learned anything from my previous two. I mean we dealt with broken sleep before. Ryan wasn’t a great sleeper. Ok. He was a HORRIBLE sleeper. He fussed and fought sleep every night until he was 3 years old (not kidding). But this felt so much was different (or so it seemed in hindsight). His waking every 90 minutes for a 10 minute snack-n-sleep seems torturous when we were juggling three all day. He didn’t sleep any better when co-sleeping. We were failing time and again at crying-it-out because we were exhausted and just trying desperately to get some sort of sleep. We were in a vicious cycle. So what’s an exhausted Mama to do? Tweet, Google and Tweet some more. I found a few books through Google searches and Twitter conversation. Everything had mixed reviews, so I compiled a handy dandy list to break-ka, break-ka it all down! 
If you aren’t sure where you fall when it comes to crying it out, this article does a great job of breaking down different views of crying it out and No-Tear methods of sleep training. Deciding which of these types of sleep-training you feel is best for you and your baby is the best place to start before choosing a book to work with. 
Becoming Baby Wise
I figured why not hop right into the most controversial method?
The Method + Pros:
Strict regimented routine training babies cycle eating, playing and sleeping every few hours.
Cons:
Many believe it can deprive baby of nutrients by holding off feeding them if they are hungry and negatively affect growth. My two cents– for what it’s worth: Let me start with, I have never read this book. Based on what I’ve read about this method, I can see how this method could be challenging for breastfed babies who require a feed-on-demand schedule. However, for bottle-fed babies, my pediatricians always recommended feeding schedules of every 3 hours or so. If the baby seemed hungry, they recommended feeding them more at feeding times to get them to hold out a little longer. There’s An App For That! If you are still curious about Baby Wise Sleep Training, there’s an app you can check out the Baby Wise Nap App. 
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Secrets Of The Baby Whisperer
Sleep training is only a portion of this book. It also discusses things like feeding solids, behavioral problems, toilet training. The Baby Whisperer focuses on answering questions to find what your baby’s needs are at any given point.
The Method + Pros:
Crying it out is tough and though sometimes effective, it is not for everyone. The Baby Whisperer is anti- CIO (cry it out). She recommends things like putting your baby down when they’re drowsy instead of when they are already sleeping, comforting them when they’re crying and not allowing the baby to stay up too long between nap times.
Con:
Not many to be found, though this might be challenging for babies who truly fight sleep.
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Ferberize Your Baby!
The Solution To Your Child’s Sleep Problems
The Method + Pros:
Many, many parents have had success with this method, as controversial as it is. While the method takes steps to prepare the baby to sleep-including night-time rituals, it is possibly most well-known for “Crying It Out”. At bedtime, Ferber advises to leave the child in bed and leave the room and return at increasing intervals of time to comfort the baby– without ever picking them up.
Con:
Those opposed to crying it out fear this method can cause separation anxiety and stress for the baby.
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Happiest Baby On The Block
The Method + Pros:
Known for the 5 S’s to recreate the conditions of the womb: Swaddling, Side or Stomach positioning, Shushing, Swinging And Sucking, this method is all about soothing the baby to sleep and is best implemented with newborns.
Con:
May not be effective for older babies (months old).
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No Cry Sleep Solution
Pros:
Gentle no-tears approach. This book has a 6 phase method to get babies to sleep in their crib and recommends things like rocking to sleep, responding immediately when they cry and keeping logs of sleep and awake time.
Cons:
Some argue it is not effective for their strong willed sleep-fighters.
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After you skim through this list and make your choice, I personally recommend checking their availability on Audible because if you are as tired as I was/am (because yea I’m still navigating), you’ll barely make it through a chapter without passing out. Right now I am barely making it through this blog po…. {Zzzz…}
