Save Our Sleep

When my first baby recently turned 6 weeks  it felt right to move away from rocking her to sleep all the time, and I also thought she wasn't getting enough sleep. Another problem was that I seemed to be feeding her pretty constantly from 5pm - midnight, with a couple of naps she'd have in my arms during that time (wouldn't go in her cradle).

I bought 'Sleep right, sleep tight' which was recommended by my pediatrician and while it had some helpful settling techniques, it didn't really help me very much.

My cousin (who has a 1 year old) gave me this book as a gift as she said it had really helped her. It's been just wonderful for us, with my little girl now seeming much happier, well fed and well rested.

The thing I like most about this book is that it isn't a book about settling her to sleep. It is a book that looks at a baby's whole day; when she should be feeding, playing, sleeping, burping, being warm enough in bed, the routine leading up to the 7pm bedtime etc etc. As a first time mum, I had no idea about any of these things, and in hindsight, I just couldn't tell the difference between her hungry and tired signs, or her different cries, so had real trouble with the whole demand feeding, more 'natural' approach. This book has taken the guesswork out of things and works really well for us. I also know when she is due for a next feed which is marvellous, as I can now leave the house when she is asleep and my hubby or mum is home minding her. Previously, I felt I couldn't do this as I didn't know whether she'd wake in 1 hour or 3 hours to demand a feed (and there was only so much breast milk I could express and have in the fridge in case this happened).

If someone had a lot of experience with babies, then this book probably doesn't help much, but I found it really helped me understand what my baby needs.

I would only recommend this book as a last resort to families really struggling with sleep issues.

Apart from good general advice on teaching your baby to self settle, the routine material robs parents of their self confidence and discourages them from using their natural instincts.

I used it for about six months with my twins (now two) and made my life, as well as theirs, a misery. I rue the day a well meaning friend put me on to this book, especially seeing we weren't having any issues a bit of common sense couldn't sort out.

I have pretty much let my new four-month-old sleep as much or as little as she needs and am blessed with the happiest baby imaginable. She has slept right through the night for weeks now.

So, trust yourself, tune in to your baby's cues - and seek advice if you need more info on that - and give SOS a miss.

My only regret is that I didn't read this book before our first baby arrived!

While we didn't follow it to the letter I found the tips and advice contained in this book to be invaluable in helping my DD self-settle and in helping me have some concept of what was reasonable to expect in terms of age-appropriate sleep routines.  I didn't follow the feeding routine  as I felt strongly about demand breastfeeding, but was still able to use Tizzie's routines most of the time. Our DD transitioned easily from being a terrible settler to a quite good sleeper with minimum fuss and tears using advice contained in this book when she was 11 weeks. It was a life-saver! In our view it seemed ot offer a happy medium between never letting a baby cry and traditional 'controlled crying'. We will be using this book as a guide for sleep routines for our next bub. I would recommend it as good general reading for any expectant parent or anyone struggling with baby sleep issues.

I am forever thankful to my friend who lent me this book.

There is no way I would ever follow the routines to a tee (I just wouldnt wake my daughter during a sleep) but it is great to use as a guide.

It is full of tips and advice on sleeping and settling and I feel it gave me a head start in getting my daughter to sleep better.

If my daughter ever starts to develop sleep issues I will look more into the routines for sure, I know kids that have made huge progress in their sleeps from the Tizzie routines.

HIghly recommended.

We love this book. It was suggested to me when i was pregnant to add as a must have in our selection of baby books ! I read this book before i had our baby and it made sense to me. We decided after reading a few different book (im a HUGE reader and lot of free time during my first pregnancy) that this was the one we would like to try first. From day one we followed this routine patters (although i altered it to times that suited us, eg instead of 7am - 7pm we did 8am to 8pm) DS responded really well to this and we barley had an problems with his sleeping and i felt incontrol and relaxed.

Our little boy was sleeping great and then around 4-5 months (when he got his first two teeth) he started waking every 2-3 hours.  I thought maybe he needed more food so I would feed him, but after a few months of that, and trying other techniques my husband and I had had enough.

My mother-in-law bought us this book and I read it straight away.  We used the lay down technique in the book, and the result?  The first three nights, he slept for 7 hours straight - this was the longest stint we'd had in a long time.

We had our little boy in a routine, but this book just helped to fine tune it.  I think with every book you read, you take a little bit from it - and maybe don't follow everything that's said.  So, there were a couple of things that we didn't give much thought to, but on the whole - it was just what we needed.

I found this book had some really good tecniques and ideas. We didnt follow it to a tee, just adjusted things slightly and it worked wonders for us. I have never been one to let me baby cry, so I found this book to be quite helpful.

Was recommended this book by a first time Dad and thought I'd give it a go.

Used book as a guide only for first 2 months as my baby was in a routine very similar to the one that Tizzy suggests you use and my thought was why upset a good thing while it's working. When bubs was 2 1/2 months old she was catnapping during the day and I found that she wasn't getting enough sleep so started to follow routine more strictly and found that i now have a very happy baby who sleeps throughout the day and sleeps all night.

Not for everyone, however I found that it really worked for me, my partner and bubs.

I first off found this book really helpful when I used the settling techniques to teach my 4 week old how to self settle. It worked a treat.

I then started the 'routines' with my little one and found the expectations so high for such a little bub, like having to wake her up at 7am each day and expecting her to have naps at a specific time for 2 hours each nap. I ended up so stressed out, worrying why my baby was awake after napping for 1.5 hours instead of 2!

As much as the book helped us in the start with the settling techniques, I believe I would have been better off without it as it put so much pressure on mself and my babyand I was so stressed I forgot to enjoy those first few weeks.

I liked this book but I can see how it would not be for everyone. I brought this book as a recomendation from a friend. I was really impressed that it was broken up into 'breastfed' routines and 'bottle fed' routines.

My son was bottle fed and I had a problem he would sleep for say 6 hours then only for 1 hour and I never knew if he was getting enough sleep, I was always told to never wake a sleeping baby by everoyone but he was missing feeds and I was really anxious about it.

To be honest I think the routines are a little strict and I dont know if i agree with the 45 minute nap in the afternoon. Was hard as it sometimes took 15 - 30 mins to get him off just to turn around and wake him up again.

However what i was able to do was use this book as a base and work out my own routine with this and what I had worked out from my baby over the weeks.  The dream feed worked especially well and my baby was sleeping through the night from 9 weeks - Bliss

As a side note he started refusing the dream feed from about 12 weeks. Refused to drink it just wanted to sleep. While it was great he was sleeping 7pm - 7am I was a little anxious as he was having only 4 bottles when they said he should have 5 - 6 and I could not work this bottle back into the routine. I tried to go on the forum for advice but they wanted $300 and would not even guarantee Tizzie would respond.  

Controlled crying is not for me or my children, it goes against all my instincts... I found Tizzy's routines too strict and I really felt like I was abandoning my baby too much too young.

I would recommend Sleep Right, Sleep Tight instead.

I was recommended this book by a friend who strictly adheres to the routines suggested in the book. I was never keen on sticking to a routine, but now realise that children thrive on them, and need them so they know exactly what is going to happen next. Upon following the routine for a couple of days it was remarkable the change in my son. He never took a dummy which helped, as Tizzie Hall recommends not using one anyway; baby needs to learn to self settle without the aid of rocking/feeding/dummy. She explains that the routines are actually based on the natural patterns of a baby-which she has observed through years of being a nanny.

The book provides helpful inciteful information on sleeping and settling, feeding and starting solids. It also includes a section that discusses when there are changes the the routine such as illness or travel, which I found most helpful.

I realise that although this book is not for everyone, you could still take what you will from it. 

I began following Tizzie Hall's routines when my daughter turned 3 months old.  She had stopped being able to sleep easily and for long periods of time, and had began waking in the night and catnapping during the day, waking up grumpy. So I read Save Our Sleep and learned that she had started to sleep in cycles. 

From that day, I began the routine suggested for 10 week olds to starting solids.  And since then, my daughter has had 4 breastfeeds a day (instead of 8 - 12, which makes it so much easier to go out!), 2-3 naps a day, and a night-time sleep from 7pm until 7am most nights.  It is wonderful to know what time she will expect a feed, sleep or play and to plan my day around this schedule.  I was never keen on routines, but I much prefer this lifestyle to getting caught out somewhere with a screaming baby.

I recommend this book to anyone!  I am not as strict as the book suggests with the wake up times, but even so I can tell that my daughter is very settled, very happy and very secure in the comfort of her routine.

I was reluctant to follow such a strict shedule, but after a few months my baby appeared unsettled and would only sleep for 20mins at a time during the day and 40min if I was lucky.  After talking with a few friends they talked about sleep cyles and that my daughter was only "cat napping" or only having one sleep cycle.  I didn't understand what they were talking about so upon their suggestion I bought this book. 

What an informative and helpful book. It provides information about sleep cycles and how your child can put themselves to sleep, not me rocking or feeding her to sleep.  It is not an advocate for controlled crying but offers suggestions as to how to understand your child's cries.  It is a book useful from birth to two years, including information on how to work with twins, what happens when another baby comes into the family and how to work the feeding and sleeping times.

I demand fed my baby, but naturally she progressed into a 3-4 hourly routine.  This book caters to a 4 hourly feed and my daughter has certainly been happy and contented when I followed this pattern.  

I am now able to understand my daughters needs as there is no need for continuous crying and me wandering what is wrong.  If she is upset I can easily work out the problem.  She is an excellent sleeper now, generally 1 1/2 - 2 hours in the morning and afternoon and 7pm-7am with a dream feed at night.  All of this with no controlled crying.

The book also offers suggestions of what solids to introduce and when.  This book is so helpful and I am constantly referring to it.  

From a mother who would never have imagined  a routine would be part of my life, this daily pattern has been so helpful I thoroughly recommend it to all new parents.

Generally speaking this book didn't sit right with me. It felt wrong. It was bought for me by my mum, she was drawn to the peaceful picture of the sleeping baby and she didn't actually open it herself.

I think it doesn't fit well with a more natural approach to parenting. Though, I can see how useful it could be to someone wanting to put their child on a routine, its very thorough and detailed as to exactly what to do at what time at what age. But her methods still made me cringe.

I do use it occasionally, to give me a rough idea on how much sleep I should be aiming for with my son, or what foods to introduce at what age. 

Personally I dont stand by it, but I can see its a well researched and thought out book. 

A lovely helpful book that has given me a happy, relaxed baby who hardly ever cries.

As a first time mum I had no idea of how much sleep a baby needs and what sort of routine we could set up. This book really saved mine and my babies sleep!

'Save our Sleep' is often in the bigger department stores where it is a bit cheaper than buying it from a book shop. It's also available from the library.

Was given this when bubba boy was 3 months old and just started screaming.  When I tried the net for answers people kept saying 'it's colic' but the definition of colic is crying for more than 3 hours and day, 3 days a week from 2 weeks to 3 months.  I knew it wasnt colic and I knew he was unhappy but I didnt know why.  My friend told me he was probably tired as his sleeping pattern changed just as the screaming started. 

I didnt have a routine for him as he just slept all the time.  He would wake and cry immediately, I would change and then feed him and he would fall asleep on the breast, without exception for the first 3 months.  There was almost no awake and alert time. The he started being awake without crying and just days later the screaming started.  

My friend told me she would give me the book that saved her.  I read it and learnt about routine.  The biggest thing for me was that this book explains how overtired babies find it difficult to get to sleep - and for us that was the key.  I was always telling people my baby wasnt tired because when we put him to bed he couldnt get to sleep.  Within 2 days of using the schedual in the book bubba boy was alseep within minutes of putting him to bed and the screaming stopped.  He slept through the night and he took long naps again, not just the 40 min catnaps he would take during his screaming period.  

Bubba boy is 2 and we still use what we were taught in the book.  Apart from a few nights when he has been sick or teething he has slept through the night, even when we come into the room and he is woken up he will just go back to sleep with no fuss.

I have another baby on the way and I will be using this book from day one this time.  I honestly can say it saved our life.  I had 3 easy months in the beginning so I was really shocked with the sleep deprivtion at that 3 month point.  I was really able to see the difference it made to my life.

I love this book, I followed the routines from birth and my bubs slept through (7pm to 7am with a dreamfeed) the first time at 8 wks and then most nights from 10wks

I often hear breastfed babies dont sleep through or you can't do a routine with a breastfed baby, but I have to disagree as my bub was exclusively breastfed until 6mths

I really dont know where i would have been without this book