There's no correct book about children's sleep - only the one that matches how you want to parent

The shelf runs from the entirely gentle, no-tears end to the structured, method-driven end, and both have books worth reading. The question isn't which is right; it's which fits your values and your child's temperament.

Which also means a book that made your friend's life easier can be the wrong one for you, and that isn't a failure of either book.

Read it as a set of ideas and a map, not a protocol to follow exactly - the families who struggle most are usually the ones trying to make a real child match a printed schedule. And if the sleep problem has a medical cause, no book on the shelf is the right starting point.