Sleep training didn’t work for you? You’re not the only one—and you don’t need to give up. Researcher and sleep coach Macall Gordon and the Sleep Lady Kim West offer a tried-and-true approach to shifting sleep behavior that actually works . . . even when nothing else has.

WHY WON’T YOU SLEEP?
A Game-Changing Approach for Exhausted Parents of Nonstop, Super Alert, Big Feeling Kids
by Kim West & Gordon Macall
BenBella, November 2024
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

A tsunami of modern sleep training methods promise “easy” and “quick” results and for many parents and children, these methods work as intended. However, there is a large, exhausted group of parents whose children have sleep problems that are not responsive to those crying-based methods. These children tend to be more reactive, persistent, and perceptive than their peers. And when it comes to sleep, little ones with this kind of temperament put up a much, much bigger fight. They need a different approach. That’s where Why Won’t You Sleep? comes in. Based on extensive research and proven methods used with thousands of families just like yours, this guide gives you strategies tailored to your child’s unique temperament. Readers will learn:

• Why popular sleep training techniques, don’t work for some children
• Simple changes to your child’s routine and environment that prime their nervous system for slumber
• A step-by-step plan for your child, using the time-tested approach that doesn’t require leaving babies alone to cry
• Tips, tricks, and workarounds for night wakings, co-sleeping, and more
• How to gently push past plateaus and setbacks

Additionally, Gordon and West provide much-needed encouragement, validation, and insights to bolster parents’ self-confidence and resilience along the way. Why Won’t You Sleep? will finally give you concrete answers to why sleep has been more challenging for you and your child—and offers a much-needed confidence boost that will leave you saying, “I’ve got this.”

Kim West, MSW, is a mom of two who has been a practicing child and family social worker for over 25 years. She has personally helped over twenty thousand families all over the world gently teach their children how to fall asleep—and fall back asleep without leaving them to cry it out alone. She started training Gentle Sleep Coaches internationally in 2010 and has appeared as a child sleep expert on numerous magazines, newspapers, and television programs including Dr. Phil, TODAY, and Good Morning America.

Macall Gordon has a master’s degree in applied psychology from Antioch University in Seattle with a research-based specialization in infant mental health, sleep advice, and parenting culture. She also has a BS in human biology from Stanford University. She is a senior lecturer in the graduate counseling psychology program at Antioch University. She has conducted and presented her own research on temperament, sleep, and parenting advice at infant and child development conferences around the world. She has been a featured speaker at national sleep conferences and has led webinar-based advanced training for sleep coaches, mental health providers, and others on the impact of temperament on sleep. She is a certified Gentle Sleep Coach (trained by Kim West) and a featured provider on the women’s telehealth platform, Maven Clinic. She comes to this work because she had two sensitive, alert, intense children, and she didn’t sleep for 18 years.