Accessories

Love this book!
I wish I had read this book before bringing home my baby from the hospital. The authors tips on feeding, sleeping and communicating with the baby were right on for me and my baby. I was quickly able to get to "know" my baby and learn how to read her cues before she has a meltdown. My baby is six weeks old now. This is supposed to be the time where a baby cries the most, but she cries maybe 10 minutes a day. I love this book and I've bought it for other pregnant friends. I will continue to do so also!

Helped us through a rough patch
This book was recommended to me by my sister when I was about to lose my mind from lack of sleep. My 7 month old was waking up multiple times during the night and always took short naps throughout the day. Being my second child, I assumed that I could do what I did with my first. Offer to breasfeed him whenever he woke up, needed to sleep, or was fussy. I guess that I took the "feeding on demand" to an extreme. I picked this book up and read through it in a day (I skipped a lot of the parts about newborns as I was well beyond that point). I tried her recommended techniques, specifically pick up/put down and her suggestions about establishing set routines, and to my absolute amazement my little toughie responded incredibly well. The first three nights were brutal, but by night four he was sleeping 11-12 hours straight. He has also drastically improved with his napping. I am now recommending this book to everyone. I breastfed my first child for 12 months and am planning on doing the same for this one. I did not feel once that the author was trying to talk me out of breastfeeding. I think that it is nice that she offers encouragement for both sides as I have a lot of friends who chose not to breastfeed and they receive a lot of negative comments from breastfeeding advocates. Neither of my kids took pacifiers either (why would they they had me), so I ignored any suggestions about them. The basic ideas make a lot of sense and unfortunately following my maternal instincts led my down a very sleep deprived path. This book saved me!

Book in great condition
The book was in great condition. But the delivery time was not as prompt as I hoped.

Outdated Claims Regarding Allergies and Breastfeeding
Several other reviewers of this book have commented about bad information about breastfeeding and about this book's generally negative tone about breastfeeding and I too was deeply dismayed by that aspect of this book. I would also like to suggest that other areas of error include claims currently contradicted by recent scientific discoveries. For example, the presence of pet hair, criticized by "Baby Whisperer" as leading to allergies, actually has been demonstrated in several studies to help prevent the development of allergies and asthma in children. There is clearly a need for a revised edition.

This is definitely a parent-centric book in that it seems to care more for the parents' convenience than the baby's nature and well-being. The rigidness (sold as "flexibility") seems artificial and certainly does not fit for my son. I hadn't actually known much about "attachment parenting" before my read of this book sent me looking to learn more, and a modified version of attachment parenting seems much more appropriate for my baby. The general plan of "Eat, Activity, Sleep, You-Time" makes sense, but the truly rigid scheduling (which the authors tout while continuously denying that they are being rigid) is misplaced and likely to create more stress as the parents watch the clock and not the baby.

And the constant "luv" comments drove me nuts! :)

Best guide for new mommies
Could not be better! 5 years ago, I received this as a gift from my aunt while pregnant with my first child. As a result of taking the advice in this book, my little boy slept 6 hours a night by the end of week one and was a healthy eater and sleeper the rest of his infancy. My friends and family were in awe. I bought this book for a friend of mine who is currently pregnant. Great as a gift, great reference book, great for all new mommies who are unsure of the 'how tos' of infancy.