Happiest Baby on the Block

Rating:
Summary: It WORKS!
Review: A new-mom friend of mine lent me this video and now I am purchasing one for an expectant friend. My baby girl isn't overly fussy, but when she does cry and nothing seems to soothe her, the techniques in this video really work. She loves to listen to the vacuum cleaner or static on the radio! I recommend this for any parent, especially new ones. My husband was VERY skeptical but now uses the techniques himself. I think this should be required viewing before you leave the hospital!

Rating:
Summary: We Live for the Swaddle
Review: Dr. Harvey Karp's techniques were great. We especially liked the first "S" -- swaddling. It is really working well for my 3 month old son. We believe it was because we swaddle him at night that he began sleeping through the night at just 2 months old! He goes to bed at 7:30pm and sleeps right through until 7:30am!

Rating:
Summary: Totally works!
Review: First - This is a must buy but please buy the book as well. They should be sold together because they each have so much to offer on their own. My husband is a neurosurgeon and before the baby was even born he tried out the techniques on his pediatric patients in the ICU and on the floor. These children are very sick and do cry a lot! It worked so well all the nurses were like - what did you do? And teach me how! He came home all excited and even after 3 1/2 months we still are using all 5 steps - Ian has never gone to bed without being swaddled.

Rating:
Summary: A must have for all new parents!
Review: I highly recommend this DVD--it truly made a huge difference for us, and our son Kalan is not even a difficult or colicky baby. My only regret is that I did not learn about Dr. Karp until Kalan was 6 weeks old, and by that point I had already been through the most difficult stage. All new parents should watch this DVD BEFORE their baby comes along. I liked the DVD because it was so much easier to put the concepts into practice after seeing them demonstrated. Reading about it is one thing--for us seeing it on the DVD was even better. I plan to purchase the Happiest Toddler on DVD now too, and I have already purchased the Soothing Sounds CD. You cannot go wrong with the 5S's as illustrated on this must-have DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Best baby product I've bought!
Review: If you can, buy this BEFORE your baby is born to save you from any distress! It is a very good resource on calming your baby and stopping unnecessary crying.
It is uncanny how well this works and the explanations as to why make perfect sense. I am so glad we found this video. Our boy is almost 3 months old now and is a joy to be around. Day AND night.
The video is easy to follow and understand and the question and answer section is also great.
This is my second child and I just wish this had been available for my first.


Rating:
Summary: Best baby product I've bought!
Review: If you can, buy this BEFORE your baby is born to save you from any distress! It is a very good resource on calming your baby and stopping unnecessary crying.
It is uncanny how well this works and the explanations as to why make perfect sense. I am so glad we found this video. Our boy is almost 3 months old now and is a joy to be around. Day AND night.
The video is easy to follow and understand and the question and answer section is also great.
This is my second child and I just wish this had been available for my first.

Rating:
Summary: Paid for itself every day
Review: My wife saw this on either Dr Phil or Oprah, so we bought it along with everything else required for a first child. She and I were skeptical about it, and my mother flatly called it "BS."

We were truly impressed. Maybe we were just lucky, with one child we have little basis for comparison, but this DVD paid for itself every day. It felt great to be able to comfort our little bundle, and it gave us time to adjust to being new parents. We now buy it frequently as a shower gift for close friends, and have received feedback similar to our experience.

We did not buy the book, nor have we tried his toddler video. Based on our opinion of the baby video, we will be buying it soon.

In the Special Features section, there are a few "womb-mixes" that play on loop. Those sounds, combined with a swing, brought hours of comfort and sleep to my little family.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Answers for Challenging Behaviors
Review: The Happiest Baby on the Block (DVD) and the Happiest Toddler on the Block (DVD) offer many practical strategies to try that really work. Who would have thought that you could SHHHCH a baby quiet? Or calm a tantruming, screaming toddler by speaking "toddler-ese"? The video examples are clear and easy to follow in both of Karp's DVDs. In addition to these awesome teaching tools for the early years, I also wish to recommend 2 handy, helpful reference books for babies and toddlers...for medical information..."Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5"...for answers to common behavior challenges of toddlers..."The Pocket Parent". These books do not need to be read cover to cover while serving as comforting support and guidance as needed in combination with Karp's DVDs.

Rating:
Summary: Magic! :)
Review: We bought the video after a few weeks of sleepless nights & long days! It was a lifesaver!! Right after my husband & I watched the DVD, we heard our son fussing on the monitor. We both ran up, excited to see if our new techniques would work. And magically...it did! He calmed down immediately!!

It really does take practice though. When my husband does it, it ALWAYS works, even the first few times. When I tried the techniques, it would work, then the next time it didn't. It took a few times of not doing it right, to perfect the skill. Now I'm confident that I can calm him down when he's fussy. I'm amazed that these simple steps, if done how Dr. Karp describes, can instantly calm an infant.

Rating:
Summary: It works!
Review: We have a 6 week old and we started using these techniques in the hospital when he was born. They work!!!
As he aged a few weeks he starting moving his arms around more and more and sleeping sometimes with his arms over his head so we stopped swaddling but then realized that it was important to continue swaddling to help him sleep more contently.
He sometimes cried when we were wrapping him in the blanket but once he was swaddled and the other S's were incorporated he was VERY calm and happy. (Stretchy blankets work best!)
My family feels this DVD and these techniques were an important part of our parenting successes.