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A review by erikars
The Gentle Sleep Book: Gentle, No-Tears, Sleep Solutions for Parents of Newborns to Five-Year-Olds by Sarah Ockwell-Smith
2.0
I'd found the content of one of Ockwell-Smith's earlier books, [b:ToddlerCalm|18398387|ToddlerCalm A Guide for Calmer Toddlers & Happier Parents|Sarah Ockwell-Smith|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377857395s/18398387.jpg|26026810], to be useful, even if I was somewhat annoyed by the writing style. When I heard that she had a newer book on baby and toddler sleep, I was intrigued.
Overall, this book was rather meh. I'll start with the good. Ockwell-Smith presents the BEDTIME framework for helping debug sleep issues. BEDTIME is: Bedsharing and co-sleeping; Expectations (setting and having the right ones); Diet; Transitional objects; IT and screen time; Me time; Environment. If your child is having sleep issues, Ockwell-Smith recommends that you go through these different factors and think about how could be changed to improve sleep. Then make some changes and be sure to try them for at least 6 weeks before giving up on them. She has some specific tips she gives for each category. Overall, this framework is similar to that in other books on baby sleep, but listing the factors is a useful addition.
As for what is annoying, the same tendency she'd shown in ToddlerCalm to be a bit critical of certain parenting choices was somewhat annoying. Also, while the background on infant and toddler sleep was interesting, you could tell that the studies she chose to emphasize were highly cherry picked to support her particular beliefs. Some of her comments about diet and chiropractic treatment for babies and toddlers (ack!) veered near if not into the woo category.
The other thing that annoyed me is that Ockwell-Smith heavily encouraged bed sharing and co-sleeping (yay!) but her discussion of transitioning the child to their own bed/room was decidedly brief. Most of the second part of the book is case studies for different age groups and not a single case study discussed transitioning. This is a huge gap.
Overall, this book was rather meh. I'll start with the good. Ockwell-Smith presents the BEDTIME framework for helping debug sleep issues. BEDTIME is: Bedsharing and co-sleeping; Expectations (setting and having the right ones); Diet; Transitional objects; IT and screen time; Me time; Environment. If your child is having sleep issues, Ockwell-Smith recommends that you go through these different factors and think about how could be changed to improve sleep. Then make some changes and be sure to try them for at least 6 weeks before giving up on them. She has some specific tips she gives for each category. Overall, this framework is similar to that in other books on baby sleep, but listing the factors is a useful addition.
As for what is annoying, the same tendency she'd shown in ToddlerCalm to be a bit critical of certain parenting choices was somewhat annoying. Also, while the background on infant and toddler sleep was interesting, you could tell that the studies she chose to emphasize were highly cherry picked to support her particular beliefs. Some of her comments about diet and chiropractic treatment for babies and toddlers (ack!) veered near if not into the woo category.
The other thing that annoyed me is that Ockwell-Smith heavily encouraged bed sharing and co-sleeping (yay!) but her discussion of transitioning the child to their own bed/room was decidedly brief. Most of the second part of the book is case studies for different age groups and not a single case study discussed transitioning. This is a huge gap.