Good Nights: The Happy Parents' Guide to the Family Bed (and a Peaceful Night's Sleep!)

Maria Goodavage, Jay Gordon

St. Martin's Publishing Group, Apr 1, 2007 - Family & Relationships - 256 pages

Your baby sleeps in your bed, and you love it. Except for those nagging worries about safety. ("She's so small, I'm so big!") And what your relatives are saying. ("She'll never leave your bed!") And that little foot that always ends up on your face.

Worry no more! Good Nights puts your concerns about the family bed to rest, with fun and easy-to-use guidance on safety, coping with criticism, and even keeping the spark in your marriage (albeit outside the bedroom). With warmth and humor, Dr. Jay Gordon, a nationally recognized pediatrician who has endorsed the family bed for decades, and Maria Goodavage, a former USA Today staff writer with training in sleep research, give you everything you'll need in order to thrive - and at times, simply survive - with the family bed. Good Nights provides a comprehensive look at:

- SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH - Science is uncovering a wealth of advantages, including possible protection from SIDS, for babies who share their parents' bed.

- SURPRISING BENEFITS - Parents of young babies get much more sleep with the family bed! And little ones who spend time sleeping next to parents end up more independent (you read that right!) and closer to their parents than their cribbed peers.

- SAFETY - The authors give simple-to-follow advice on how to make your family bed at least as safe as a crib.

- SOUND SLEEP - Yes, it can be had. Good Nights lets you know how to overcome the obstacles.

- SEX - Ditto.

- SAYING GOOD-BYE - Your child really will leave your bed! Good Nights helps you help your child move on when the time is right.

If you're among the record number of parents turning to the family bed, turn to Good Nights. It's a bedside companion you won't want to be without.

Contents

• 2 Tales from the Crib How a Bunch of Little Babies Got Out: 31
• 3 Practicing Safe Sleep Essential Beducation for CoSleepers: 49
• 4 The Sandman Cometh Sound Solutions for a Satisfying Sleep: 71
• 5 Love in the Laundry Room Keeping the Sizzle in Your Sex Life: 105
• 6 Critical Support Coping with Naysayers: 123
• 7 A Farewell to Armsand Legs and Feet Moving Beyond the family Bed: 141
• 8 Bedtime Stories Reassuring Reading from Real Family Bedders: 179
• Afterword: 191
• Appendix A The CPSC ReportExplaining the Errors: 193
• Appendix B Helpful Resources: 195
• Appendix C About Our QuestionnairesInterviews: 197
• Notes: 201
• Bibliography: 207
• lndex: 215

About the author

Jay Gordon, M.D., is a pediatrician, and a teaching and attending faculty member at UCLA Medical School. He is a frequent expert guest on network television, and writes medical columns for national parenting magazines and web sites. He has acted as CBS TV's Medical Consultant for Children's Programming, and also worked for five years on ABC Television as the on-air medical correspondent for the "Home Show." He continues to consult regularly for television and movies, and is the author of several other books about children. His medical practice is based in Santa Monica, California, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

Maria Goodavage is a former USA Today staff writer and the author of several popular books. Her interest in sleep research started at Northwestern University, where she worked at the school's sleep laboratory and studied the science of sleep. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and dog. The latter two no longer share the family bed.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Good Nights: The Happy Parents' Guide to the Family Bed (and a Peaceful Night's Sleep!)
• Authors: Maria Goodavage, Jay Gordon
• Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2007
• ISBN: 1429974362, 9781429974363
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Family & Relationships / Parenting / General; Family & Relationships / Parenting / Motherhood