The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems

I felt compelled to write this review because of how much this book helped me... (sorry for all the details, if you want the to-the-point version read the bullet points below...)For 9 months, I nursed my son for naps and bedtime. This worked out fine for us because he would fall asleep fairly quickly and I enjoyed the bonding time. At around 9 months, my son's sleeping habits changed (as many warned me they would). He is a very active baby and loves to play. I would nurse him and then he would jump out of my arms, and head toward his toys. I knew he was sleepy, but he wouldn't sleep. I tried many things such as putting him in the car, the stroller, tiring him out as much as possible... you name it. I finally was able to get him to sleep by putting him in my ergo carrier and walking up and down the street. This was fine, but still wasn't something I wanted to do every day, twice a day. I was frustrated and felt like I couldn't figure it out. I tried the cry-it-out (CIO) method, and soon discovered it wasn't for me. I turned to the internet and researched and researched and every no-cry method led me to Elizabeth Pantley. I researched her website and many other sites relating to her, but I couldn't find details on this magical solution... At first I did not want to buy the book because #1 I didn't really have time to read a book, and #2 I had the "what is the book going to tell me that I don't already know?" attitude. I had already made up my mind that my son is just not a napper... Finally after several weeks of no naps, I gave in and bought the book, and I am so happy I did. Here is why it's great -- It is not one magical solution (as I thought), but many different solutions based on the problem you are having. She covers many problems in her book, including the ones I was having.- It is organized in a very efficient way, so you don't have to read the entire book and you can just go to the section that relates to you. I do suggest reading the intro chapters, because she goes over information regarding sleep cycles, that helps you understand your baby's sleep a little more (i.e. how many naps they need based on age, how many awake hours between naps, how long babies should nap for).- It is good to have the book around because our babies' sleep routines change all the time (at least mine do) and as they get older, they may develop a different problem.- The book is written in a very gentle and helpful manner. Many other reviewers say that she is like a friend and very supportive of how each mom does things individually. She says that it's not a problem, unless it is a problem to you... which is great to hear because we always hear about how we SHOULD be doing this or that. I felt like she was my good friend helping me discover why my son is not napping and then finding solutions.- She has little worksheets with questions and charts to use if you want to record the sleep patterns. I simply reviewed the questions (which helped me with discovering what I was missing) and I kept my own log for about 2 weeks, just to see if there was any patterns.- I was able to get through the book in about a day, and had many AHA! moments. I immediately took action, and in about 2-3 days, my son was napping on his own, and napping for longer than 30 minutes (which was one of my problems).In summary, I got what I wanted out of this book... A quick way for me to get my son to nap. In addition, I got a lot of other helpful information.If you are interested, I will highlight a couple of things that helped me -- I learned how to read my baby's sleep cues. I realized I was putting him down for a nap much later than I should have been. I used to think, "he can't take a nap now, he barely just woke up... " but now I know better... as soon as he gives me a yawn, or rubs his eyes... off to bed he goes.- I learned to wind him down before putting him in the crib. They cannot go from playing, straight to the crib, they need to wind down. What I do is walk my son around the house with some classical music playing on my phone and say goodnight to all the furniture... it may sound silly, but it works!- I made my son's crib more comfortable and cozy... I bought softer bed sheets and a mattress cover which was slightly padded.These are just a few of the things, based on my problems. if you are having trouble, buy this book! You will find your solution, and you will get your sanity back!!!

The No-Cry Nap Solution was incredibly helpful in our household. Or at least it has been so far -- I'm typing this with my daughter napping peacefully across the hall! I read the No-Cry Sleep Solution also, but got this one since I realized as I was reading that book that we really don't have problems with night sleep, just with naps. I wondered if this book would be valuable, or if it would just repeat a lot of the same advice, slightly reworked for naps. They are really two different books, though they work well together, follow the same philosophy, and cover some of the same ground. This book helped me in three ways:1. Unlike the vast majority of parenting books, this book does not outline a particular viewpoint as the "right" way. Pantley says from the beginning to read through and find the ideas that you think will work well for you and your child. She states this again at the chapter on getting your child to stop nursing to sleep. She gives great advice on how to do that, but makes it clear that it's not necessary for them to stop nursing to sleep unless it's necessary for your family. Is it a hard association to break? Yes. Will it be hard whenever you choose to break that association? Probably. Do you HAVE to do it now? Nope. I loved the permission to do what works for us, even if all the other books say that's the first problem in sleep habits.2. It helped me to really think about how my daughter was napping and why it wasn't working. At first, I was finding all sorts of issues that needed fixing, but as I continued to read, I focused in on what my primary goal in her napping was and what I could do to help that. Over the last week, I've gotten to know my daughter's sleep habits so much better. I'm confident that what we're doing now will work for us for a long time, and I'm confident that when the time comes to change our current plan, I'll know her well enough to make it work.3. Good ideas. Sure, we've probably all come across some of these ideas in other places, but it's great to have them all in one book, organized by nap issue, and cross-referenced when appropriate.Thank you, Ms. Pantley, for a house that is much calmer than it was last week, a baby who is much better rested, and a mom who is less tired and more productive.