Isn't it an often voiced fantasy that young babies should come complete with a “user's manual”? Look no further—one has been produced. It might have to be purchased from the bookshop rather than collected from the delivery room, but that in no-way reduces its appeal.

Silent nights is a highly readable, and often amusing, account of normal sleep (and early feeding) patterns in babies and children, some of the problems that can arise, and how to prevent them from …