Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

One of the books many of my friends here have read and talk about is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. I figured that while Frankie is a great sleeper, I may as well read up on the subject so I can try and keep her that way!

There are some helpful ideas in this book, and I have benefited from reading it, but that's not what this post is about. This post is about the fact that this book desperately needed an editor. It seems that he took a bunch of disparate conversations he had with himself and a taperecorder and without any idea how to construct an arguement or provide a helpful step-by-step guide for parents.

There are also several passages that someone probably should have had a conversation with him such as "Did you mean to say it that way, Dr. Weissbluth?" or "Are you sure that's relevant, Dr. Weissbluth?". Maybe it's because this book was published in 1987 and the world was a little less post-modern and politically correct, but here are a few of my favorites:

"Adults with fragmented sleep often fight the ill effects of fragmented sleep with extra caffeine. Alcohol unmasks or uncovers the hidden fatigue and makes them "feel tired". However, well-rested preteens who are given the same amount of alcohol do not "feel tired"."

What?! Who is giving preteens alcohol, and how is this relevant at all to a book about getting your child to have healthy sleep habits? Why were well-rested adults not cited as not feeling tired after being giving the same amount of alcohol? Maybe there are no well-rested adults. Note that this is the end of the paragraph, no study is cited backing up this statement...

"All in all, at age 3, the children who slept more were more fun to be around, more sociable, and less demanding. The children who slept less not only tended to be more socially demanding, bratty, and fussy but they also behaved somewhat like hyperactive children. Later, I will explain how these fatigued, fussy brats are also more likely to be become fat kids."

What?! What medical professional uses terms like "fussy brats" and "fat kids"? See previous note about 1987.

Now he's explaining why I shouldn't disrupt my child's nap schedule for infant support groups, because she won't turn into a social outcast if she doesn't go to them:

"Please do not confuse the quantity of time spent in these scheduled/organized activities with the high-quality social awareness that well-rested children exhibit. The truth is that these infant support groups, especially in cities, often are not important for infants, but instead serve legitimate parental needs by allowing them to meet other parents and escape from their apartment or condominium isolation."

So I don't know of any infant support group that advertises itself as something other than a support group for parents, so I agree with him on that one (although it seems obvious). But "especially in cities"? Was that part necessary? Do parents in suburban homes suffer less from isolation? I know I don't feel isolated. At any point in my day, I can look out my window and see people walking by, I can hear the neighbor kids throwing snowballs at cars, or walk to one of about 5 friends homes in about 5 minutes or less.

Please Lord, help me escape my apartment or condominium isolation...

And thank you, Dr. Weissbluth, for being unintentionally funny.