Helping Your Baby to Sleep

In this most recently updated edition of their acclaimed Helping Your Baby to Sleep, child development specialists (and mothers) Anni Gethin and Beth Macgregor have created the most sought-after resource for new parents: a comprehensive, practical and evidence-based guide to understanding what babies and toddlers need to help them to sleep. 


Anni and Beth discuss what is normal and what is not, enabling parents to feel more confident about the decisions they make for their baby. They also present the latest research into babies’ emotional and brain development, and describe techniques that take into account a baby’s individual temperament and needs. 


The authors oppose ‘controlled crying’ or sleep-training techniques, claiming that this approach creates stress for the baby and can interrupt the bonding that occurs between parent and child. Helping Your Baby to Sleep offers parents ways of creating better sleep conditions for their babies that won’t endanger their well-being and allows them to feel loved and safe. 


They offer practical ways to overcome numerous ‘sleep problems’, and discuss settling techniques, tools for developing a sleep plan, ways to recognise and cope with normal sleep behaviour, how to screen for sleep disorders and how to identify and address problems that interfere with sleep.


Additionally they have included a whole new chapter on toddler sleep, and offer advice on common problems such as toddlers not wanting to go to bed, stay in bed and coping with nightmares.

In this valuable guide, readers will: 


• Learn why babies wake at night and need help to settle 

• Understand how early parenting choices affect a baby’s growing brain 

• Examine why ‘sleep training’ is risky 

• Discover your baby’s individual sleep needs 

• Explore solutions to common baby sleep problems 

• Receive advice on toddler sleeping issues that can carry on from babyhood

• Find out how tired parents can create an essential support system!


‘This is a beautiful book, rich with empathy for babies and parents, and also practical and down to earth.’ – Sheila Kitzinger, author of Understanding Your Crying Baby 


‘I can’t imagine any parent reading this informed, wise and powerfully argued book,and ever wanting to use controlled crying again.’ – Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Boys 


‘Anni and Beth … unapologetically advocate for the baby’s wellbeing while also acknowledging parents’ very real needs for support.’ – Pinky McKay, author of Sleeping Like a Baby 


‘At last – an antidote to the current vogue for leaving babies to cry! Many parents have felt intuitively that this cannot be the way to deal with their infants but too often they are encouraged to ignore their feelings and to ignore baby’s distress signals as well.’ – Prof. Carolyn Quadrio, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales


Beth Macgregor is a psychologist who provides training and mentoring to professionals who work with families and children in the health, education and welfare sectors. Her work focuses on strengthening the emotional connection between parent and child so parents can enjoy their children and children can enjoy the best possible start in life. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two beautiful children. Anni Gethin has a PhD and runs a research company evaluating mental health and social programs. In 2011, she had a bonus child, Juno, a sister to her three sons. Anni lives in the Blue Mountains in NSW with her daughter and 15-year-old son; her other boys, when in Australia, drop by regularly to raid the fridge.