The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep by Dr. Harvey Karp

The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep is written by Dr. Harvey Karp, who is said to be America's favorite pediatrician and the world's foremost parenting expert! He is also the author of The Happiest Baby on The Block and The Happiest Toddler On The Block; Books in which are filled with helpful tips on your newborn, infant or toddler, as well as the debunking of well known myths on children and their sleep patterns.

The Happiest Baby Guide To Great Sleep: Simple Solutions for Kids from Birth to 5 Years, is indeed filled with all kinds of helpful tips!  I would recommend it to any new parent, and parents who have children under the age of 5. In reading, you will learn how to train your children (including newborns!) how to sleep better, you will learn the benefits of swaddling and using white noise, and how to ultimately get more of that much needed sleep!

I enjoyed reading The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep and would often find myself falling asleep peacefully (and early!) at night, just from reading! lol. I learned quite a bit of interesting facts that I hope to put to use when I have baby #2 :) My son is now 5, and I can see how certain tips that Dr. Karp shared, would've worked with my son as a baby, kept wishing I had this book back then! :) I did find a lot of the book to be repetitive but I just assumed Dr. Karp wanted to get it across that swaddling and white noise are indeed big helpers in getting your child to sleep.

I want to share some interesting facts with you, that I learned while reading:
Ok, so you know when we do silly things when we don't get enough sleep? Things like trying to put a milk jug cap on your drinking glass (which I did the other day lol) or trying to put toothpaste on your hair brush...I know we've all done these silly things and we blame it on lack of sleep or stress. The term for it is actually called "microsleep" which means our brain has been awake too long and some of our brain cells have actually fallen asleep on us! Pretty crazy.

I love this analogy that Dr. Karp said "Newborn sleep is shredded into confetti-like bits sprinkled throughout the light and night. It's like winning the lottery-but getting paid in pennies."  So true lol. And the tip for formula feeding babies: to have baby's bottle next to your bed with the pre-measuered amount of formula needed, and a separate thermos of warm water, so as soon as it's time to feed baby, you can mix it right their in your bed instead of having to fumble through the house at night, to get to the kitchen and make it. I love this idea and wish I would have thought of it when my son was a baby! lol. But I will take that tip on with the next, if formula feeding is the case.

I love how Dr. Karp includes mothers who choose to formula feed, whether it be by choice or pushed into it, because a lot of things nowadays make mothers who formula feed, feel like their awful for not breastfeeding. Some moms just aren't able to! Dr. Karp doesn't make you feel guilty for it, which I really like. Because as a mother, I really wanted to be able to breastfeed! But circumstances just didn't work out that way.

Some things Dr. Karp wrote, I kind of disagree with. Things like: on page 35 he says "Get a flashlight and tiptoe in while your baby is sleeping. Shine the light right on his closed eyes for one or two seconds. He'll probably tighten his closed eyes, stir a bit, and breathe faster (or maybe even startle." He is saying to do this to as an experiment to test the baby's state control, which helps your baby stay asleep. I just find this as mean to your child. I would hate to have someone shining a light in my eyes when I'm trying to sleep lol. And he also feels weaning a child from a binky is best done by the 4th birthday. I personally feel like even 3 is too old to be still sucking a binky and I worry about the child's teeth becoming ruined. Dr. Karp also mentions (on page 299) that "the SIDS period is totally over after one year." (yes he actually said totally) which could be offensive to the parents who have actually had their children die, due to SIDS over the age of 1.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep, and will most definitely take some of Dr. Karp's tips with me on my next journey with a lil one. It's a great book that I think every parent of young ones would find it helpful!


The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep is available for purchase and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and be sure to check out the Happiest Baby website, which is filled with all kinds of usual information!


"I am participating in a book review campaign with One2One Network. I received this book from Harper Collins for the purposes of reviewing it. I have not received compensation. My participation in the campaign enters me into a drawing for a gift card. All opinions stated are my own.”