I have done a lot of research - my 15-month-old has had problems sleeping for her whole life - and the book that makes the most sense and has worked the best for us is Healthy Sleeping Habits, Happy Child. The author makes a very good argument for the importance of a well-rested child, even if it means some crying as you're trying to establish the habit of healthy sleep. (Like kids who have sleep problems early on are more likely to develop ADHD, not to mention be chronically crankier, and are likely to become adults with sleep problems - yikes!)

The big lesson I got from the book was that, even though we were doing our best, my husband and I were in effect teaching our baby that she was incapable of falling asleep by herself. We would rock her to sleep every night and slip her into her crib asleep. Then, when she would wake up during the night (as all babies do), she would cry for us to come rock her back to sleep. By letting her cry a little bit she was able to figure out that she could fall asleep on her own and she didn't need us in the middle of the night. Also, she realized that her midnight crying wouldn't be rewarded with our presence. So we took away her two reasons to cry: she thought she couldn't fall asleep without us, and she wanted to play in the middle of the night. It sound so harsh to let your baby cry, but I really felt like, in our situation, it was the only way to teach her to sleep. We looked at it this way: we're empowering our child to be self-sufficient in an area where self-sufficiency is necessary.

Also, the author says that you should look at the whole day's sleeping pattern, including the naps, not just the nighttime wakefulness. I've noticed that if my little one doesn't have good naps, she doesn't sleep well that night. So a big part of my sleep solution is to guard her naps - to not disrupt her schedule if I can avoid it, and to put her down for naps as soon as she's showing signs of drowsiness. If I can help her have a restful day, she sleeps well that night. (Sounds counterintuitive, I know, but it's true.)

My husband and I implemented the cry-it-out method when she was 11 months old, and it took her about 2 weeks to be able to go to sleep on her own without crying at all. Now she doesn't cry when I put her down and she is able to fall asleep by herself. Even better, she goes back to sleep on her own during the night.

It was really hard to do the cry-it-out phase; if my husband hadn't been on board, I'm sure I would have caved. But I'm convinced that it was in our baby's best interest, not to mention the best interest of our marriage and sanity. . . We still have some rocky nights, but we're better able to deal with them because we're all better rested. Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child is a really long book, but I would recommed it if you're feeling sleep deprived and hopeless about the situation. Good luck!

Hello,

My husband and I had the same issue with our oldest son up until 10 months /11 month with the not sleeping through the night. His co-worker recommended watching an espisode from Super Nanny as we both didn't believe in the crying it out method. Well, this episode wasn't exactly -not letting them cry- but it was a way to show your little one that it is bed time but you are not just up and leaving them in the room. it really does work and my son only cried the longest with my husband right next to his bed was 10minutes if that......I the mommy couldn't do it. In a way I let him down by not being able to be the enforcer as we have a much better routine now that he sleeps a good 12 hours. We saw results in one week or less...then my husband went on a business trip and boy do kids know who is the softy....I had to toughen up and do the same thing (1) night only and once he saw he couldn't con me ..... we were back on track! We after this tevio super nanny....Her sleep method is below.

http://www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Your-toddler/-/Toddler-care/The-sleep-separation-technique.aspx

Steps

I don't believe in "cry it out" either but the fact is that children will continue to wake up as long as they have a reason to wake up. Your best strategy is to remove the reason to wake up. Example, if you child is waking up and then being brought into your bed, the reason to wake up is to go in Mommy and Daddy's room. You have to stop bringing her into your room. If the child wakes up and gets a bottle, the reason to wake up is that bottle.

I once went on a house call for an 18 month old who would make herself get sick by putting her fingers down her throat!! Her parents would rescue her and bring her into their room. Every night they went through this torture. I had to convince them that the problem was that they were responding the way SHE wanted them to which in turn was encouraging her behavior. So going forwad the deal we made was that when she made herself sick they would go into her, change her, change her linens and put her right back in her crib - No talking, no holding, no stimulating...it took three challenging nights and then VOILA she started to sleep soundly through the night in her own bedroom!

Well, I don't believe in the crying method either. I have a 2 month old & he sleeps from 8-5am. What helped me was keeping a routine where I start bathing him at 7 & after his bath I give him a warm bottle of milk w/cereal,(my pediatrician actually recommended it because I breastfeed w/both breast & still once a day after I breastfeed he will take a 4 ounce bottle). And believe me he's so full that he sleeps really good. I have a 3 year old who I did the same thing with. Instead of giving him a plate of cereal I would put it in his milk & he would sleep the whole night. They say that this doesn't work but the fact is if their full they don't wake up. Even my 3 yr old I make sure he eats a good dinner & then he takes a bath & that's it it's time for bed. I've seen that if he doesn't eat hardly any of his dinner his up between 3-4 am crying trying to come to our bed so pretty much this is what has worked for me. Good luck!!