Description

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UPDATED IN 2024. An urgent message for sleep-deprived parents: You don't have to suffer through "cry-it-out" OR attachment parenting's "co-sleeping." There's another way! 
 
Parents spend a great deal of time and energy coaxing, negotiating, singing, and swinging their children to sleep. Yet studies show that sleep deprivation among young kids is rampant. Babies and young children get an average of 9.5 hours of rest per night when experts agree that they need 11-12 hours. A mountain of research links drowsiness to academic, health, and psychological problems. It turns out that over time, all that cajoling and soothing can actually have the opposite of its desired effect. The harder we try (with the best of intentions and boatloads of love), the more we get in the way of our kids' natural sleep development.
 
The Happy Sleeper shows parents how to avoid and undo cumbersome sleep habits, putting their babies and little kids on track to a full night's sleep. Heather Turgeon, a columnist for Babble.com and writer for the National Sleep Foundation, and Julie Wright, a psychotherapist and highly popular parenting expert, teach parents that babies have an innate capacity to self-soothe, as well as the brain machinery to sleep well. So why do many families struggle at night? Most do what works today, but don't notice when it's no longer needed tomorrow, and then push harder when it becomes a hindrance the day after that. Parents get stuck working overtime with fanfare and tricks to put their babies and children to bed--lying down with their kids, re-tucking and refilling water glasses endlessly. Mindfulness--the practice of using focused attention, being present and open--has proven effective in many realms of health and serves as the foundation for the techniques in this book. Using these methods in a thoughtful, attuned, and loving way, parents transfer the role of soothing from themselves to the children.
 
The Happy Sleeper features a foreword by neuropsychiatrist and popular parenting expert Dr. Daniel Siegel, author of Parenting from the Inside Out and the New York Times bestseller Brainstorm.

About the Author

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Heather Turgeon, MFT, is a psychotherapist, a science columnist for the popular online parenting magazine, Babble.com, and a writer for the National Sleep Foundation. Her health and psychology articles have appeared in Salon, The Huffington Post, and The Daily Beast. She is also the mother of two little ones, both of whom sleep happily through the night.
 
Julie Wright, MFT, is one of Los Angeles's best known parenting group leaders and has taught thousands of moms in her popular "Wright Mommy and Me" groups at The Pump Station & Nurtury. She trained at Cedars Sinai Early Childhood Center and co-founded a program for parents and babies, ages 0-3, at the LA Child Guidance Clinic. Julie specializes in attachment theory, infant sleep, and mindful parenting. She also works in a private practice with infants, children, and parents, and is the mother of a well-rested teen.

Praise For…

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"Clear a space on your bookshelf! You'll be consulting this friendly, research-based guide to the blessings of sleep for you and your little ones for many years to come." 
—Adele Faber, co-author of How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

“Compassionate, courageous, and creative. . . Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright have written a user-friendly, scientifically-informed, practical guide that provides the information and intention you need to cultivate healthy sleeping habits not only for your child, but for yourself as well! Give your children the relationship security they need while also providing them the structure they require to sleep well and thrive.”
—from the foreword by Daniel J. Siegel, MD, New York Times-bestselling author of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain

“An important resource for parents seeking to give their children a lifetime of quality sleep. Good sleep habits are vital to child development and overall health, and The Happy Sleeper offers real-world strategies for getting children the sleep they need.”
—David M. Cloud, CEO, National Sleep Foundation

“Solid information on children’s brain development and physiology supports a clear and systematic “attunement” philosophy that strikes a happy balance between “cry it out” and “over-helping.”  Turgeon and Wright’s compassionate but firm system reminds parents that even the smallest infants are already learners, and to be cognizant of what they want to teach.”
—Publishers Weekly