I received a free review copy of this book and am offering an impartial review.
As a father of two kids ages three and below, I have read a lot of parenting books, watched a lot of parenting videos, attended a handful of parenting classes, and also temporarily lost all touch with reality. It’s often hard to know what to do to love your kids best. Unfortunately, there’s no parenting manual. Even worse, sometimes credible sources change their minds. Sometimes sources that aren’t credible yell at you that they ARE credible, and YOU are the dumb one. While there’s no One True Parenting Manual, there are helpful guides to help you stay strong and love your kids the best you can. For example, I personally loved Dr. Karp’s The Happiest Baby on the Block video. Precious Little Sleep is one of those books that is actually useful. It’s a good mix of humor, encouragement, and cited credible advice.
This book, as the clever title explains, is specifically about sleep. It explains how to help your kids sleep, how to figure out why they aren’t sleeping, and how to help them transition into older human beings who can take care of themselves (the most important job of a parent in my opinion). The how-to-use-this-book section at the beginning is helpful so you can target your reading to your kids’ age ranges. An exhaustive table of contents helps you find what you’re looking for without having to read the entire book, which is really helpful if you’re sleep deprived and your baby is wailing and it’s four in the morning and you have to go to work in three hours. The index is also extensive, although you might consider getting the Kindle version for even quicker searches.
Most useful to me were the sections on (1) how toddlers will limit test you and use going night night as their tactic, (2) how to deal with multiple young kids (!!!) and (3) all of the encouragement to have faith in yourself and in your kids. “You are the best parent for your child,” Dubief encourages you, which may make me you tear up in the middle of the night with gratitude. Because of the sleep deprivation.
When our youngest was in the NICU with breathing problems, one of our sweet nurses told us something that stuck with me. “You are your child’s advocate,” she said. “No one knows your kids better than you. If you don’t stand up for them, who will?” This book gives you research-backed advice so you feel better equipped to help your kids do well.