The No-Cry Sleep Solution is on more recommended lists than any other sleep book

The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Elizabeth Pantley, a parent educator and mother of four3

Keep a sleep log for three nights, then follow a ten-day plan of small changes, such as taking the breast or bottle away just before your baby falls asleep.22 It aims for no tears.11

The Gentle Sleep Book

Sarah Ockwell-Smith, a mother of four with qualifications in psychology67

Babies don't sleep like adults, so the book helps you respond to waking gently. It uses no controlled crying.34

Let's Talk About Your New Family's Sleep

Lyndsey Hookway, a public health nurse and lactation consultant23

Look at the whole family's needs and respond to your baby. GoodTo calls it practical and non-judgemental.3 Her Still Awake covers toddlers to tweens.1

The Happiest Baby on the Block

Harvey Karp, a paediatrician5

Calm a newborn by copying the womb with the 5 S's: swaddling, a side hold, shushing, swinging and sucking.207

Worth knowing. Karp's company sells the SNOO bassinet, built on the method.5

The Discontented Little Baby Book

Dr Pamela Douglas, who co-developed the Possums programme6

Practical, evidence-based ways to get you and your baby in sync.6

Sleeping Like a Baby

Pinky McKay, an Australian lactation consultant6

Read your baby's tired cues, make the sleep space safe and settle them gently.6 Book Riot calls it reassuring for parents who can't stick to a routine.7

Sweet Sleep

La Leche League International, the breastfeeding charity

Nights and naps for breastfeeding families, with seven conditions for sharing a bed more safely.68

Worth knowing. The HSE says not to share a bed with a baby under three months.9

The Baby Sleep Solution

Lucy Wolfe, a sleep consultant in Cork2

Stay and support: you stay beside your baby and comfort them until they're calm enough to fall asleep alone. She offers it in place of controlled crying.2

Worth knowing. Suzy Giordano's book also sells as The Baby Sleep Solution, so check the author.1

Good Night, Sleep Tight

Kim West, a licensed clinical social worker known as the Sleep Lady21

The Sleep Lady Shuffle: you sit by the cot and comfort your child, and move the chair further away every few nights.10

Secrets of the Baby Whisperer

Tracy Hogg, a British nurse, with Melinda Blau17

The EASY routine: eat, activity, sleep, then time for you, coming round every 2 to 3 hours. Her pick up, put down settles a crying baby in the cot.1011

What parents say. Some Mumsnet parents found it prescriptive, and others preferred it to Gina Ford.12

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems

Richard Ferber, who led the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children's Hospital24

A child who learns to fall asleep alone at bedtime can go back to sleep alone in the night. You leave and check at lengthening intervals.13

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

Marc Weissbluth, a paediatrician with almost 50 years in practice5

Early bedtimes and protected naps keep a child from getting overtired. Its methods include cry it out.514

Precious Little Sleep

Alexis Dubief

Learn how sleep works, then choose from seven methods, from gentle fading to leaving your baby to cry.15 Swaddlean calls it the favourite of Reddit's sleep training forum.18

The Happy Sleeper

Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright, psychotherapists3

The Sleep Wave: short, regular check-ins teach your baby to fall asleep alone while knowing you're near.8

What parents say. GoodTo's parents pick it for families who won't do cry it out.3

Sleeping Through the Night

Jodi Mindell, who led the 2006 review of 52 sleep studies25

A steady bedtime routine and a child who falls asleep alone solve most night waking. Checks come at no fixed interval.108

The New Contented Little Baby Book

Gina Ford, a British former maternity nurse16

Feeding and sleeping at the same times every day from birth, with each day split into set slots.16 Her publisher says the routine prevents hunger and overtiredness.11

What parents say. Mother&Baby says it has divided parents since 1999.16

Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old

Suzy Giordano, with Lisa Abidin

Babies can sleep 12 hours without a night feed by 12 weeks, the book says.14 You check every 3 to 5 minutes and stay until your baby is calm.10

Moms on Call

Laura Hunter and Jennifer Walker, paediatric nurses17

An hour-by-hour sleep schedule from the early weeks.17

On Becoming Babywise

Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, a doctor14

A parent-set routine of feeding, waking and sleeping. Book lists repeat its promise of 7 to 9 hour nights by 7 to 9 weeks.18

The concern. In 1998 the American Academy of Pediatrics' newsletter linked its feeding schedule to poor weight gain and early weaning. Bucknam took his name off Babywise in 2025.1914

Cribsheet

Emily Oster20

It reads the data on sleep training and other choices from birth to preschool.20