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Summary: Grandma of triplets...
Review: Would highly recommend this book. Our daughter and son-in-law read the book when their triplets were about three months old. It was incredible, after about 3+ days we all noticed a positive, pretty dramatic change in all three of the babies as we used the various approaches recommended by Tracy Hogg. Each one of the babies has a different temperament and needs. After reading this book, mom and dad and all 'helpers' were much more effective in meeting the triplets round-the-clock individual needs and 'reading' their unique personalities -- as a result the babies are calm, cry rarely, experience no colic, rarely do they have a "fussy time", are alert, smiling/sociable, and they are able to self-comfort and put themselves to sleep. By the way, all three babies sleep through the night from about 10:30 PM (a dream feed) until about 5:30 to 6 AM. The babies were born 6 weeks early and now at almost five months weigh in at 19(boy), 17(girl), and 15(girl) pounds respectively. Starting at about 5 days old all babies were given a pacifier and rotated from breast to bottle. (One baby was able to nurse right after birth.) At each feeding our daughter breast feeds two of the babies and one baby is bottled. All babies rotate from breast to bottle throughout the 24-hour day --- so each baby nurses two out of three feedings. Each baby has absolutely no problems shifting from breast to bottle. So much for the dreaded "nipple confusion" concept. Each baby only nurses on one breast as recommended by the author. No problem producing milk --- when our daughter pumps she produces about 8-10 ounces per breast. From now on my favorite baby shower gift will be Secrets of the Baby Whisperer! I thank God for Tracy Hogg and her gentle, common sense, and respectful approach to babies. I would love to meet her. From a happy, calm grandma (ex-Registered Nurse) in Nebraska.
Rating: 
Summary: worth a look, but overrated
Review: There's some very useful information in this book. I found the section on interpreting a baby's body language worth the price of admission. She also give some good, commonsense tips on various aspects of baby care, such as bathing, and there's a nice step-by-step guide to infant massage. I found the section on sleep, however, to be vastly overrated--which was disappointing because that was the main reason I bought the book, since so many women I knew swore by it. Her method might work better if you start using it the minute after your baby is born, but her famous "three-day magic" for breaking bad sleep habits did not work for my eight-week-old. Her tips for soothing and reading a baby's sleep cues were helpful, but this "responding, not rescuing" routine of picking the baby up every time he cries and setting him down as soon as he stops did nothing but frustrate my child and make him cry (and thus delay sleep) all the longer. Also, she doesn't seem to take into account that your child might actually cry himself to sleep in your arms (which is what mine did), and if you put him down immediately, you'll interrupt his sleep stage--which she emphatically tells you NOT to do! It might be easier if you had only one child and could spend an hour and a half or two in his room, constantly picking him up and laying him back down, and if you want to do that, go ahead. But new parents should bear in mind that this is not THE ONE TRUE WAY to put your child to bed, and don't assume that if it doesn't work for your baby you must be doing it wrong. Maybe it's just wrong for your baby (and you). Yes, she does have a bit of an ego problem for someone who only had two kids and apparently spaced them several years apart, but I didn't find her condescending. I thought her casually authoritative voice made for easier reading. But use this book as a reference, not a bible. Not because she gives false information about breastfeeding and formula (she doesn't), but because her philosophy of childcare is just one among several that you can adopt (or adapt) for your parenting lifestyle.
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Summary: I'm SHOCKED!
Review: Why all the bad reviews? I thought this book had so many good suggestions! After reading all the negative reviews, I would swear I had read a different book, because they just don't make sense to me. I did not find any condescending tone whatsoever... I could picture a very pleasant British lady speaking to me as if we had been best friends for life. And what's the deal with breastfeeding? I didn't notice anything that made it seem like it's not the best thing for your baby. As a matter of fact, she helped me to get the hang of it a little better. Of course, there are some things in the book that I choose not to do as a mother, but that's true with ALL the reference books I read before having a baby. That's the key. Don't ever use a book as a way of life! Use it for what it's for...reference! Take what you want from it and leave all the useless info aside.
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Summary: A Breath of Fresh Air
Review: As first time parents, my wife and I were both frustrated and overwhelmed by the conflicting advice that we received even before our daughter was released from the hospital. In between the feedings and diaper changes during the first few days at home, I read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, which was given to us by a family friend. Finally, there was a sane voice of experience that helped us to find our own way. Some of the important points of this book: 1. It is normal to feel overwhelmed.
2. Every baby has a unique personality. While Tracy Hogg's categories may be somewhat oversimplified, she does offer a means of identifying your baby's personality so that you may better handle certain situations. No single approach will work with every baby, because they are all different. 3. You are not evil if you choose not to breast feed. This seems to be the subject of most of the negative reviews on this site, which is unfortunate. However, the author does not advocate either breast or formula feeding, she merely presents the pros and cons of each in a balanced manner, and provides reassurance that whatever method you choose, it is your choice to make, and there is no wrong decision. 4. One of the best pieces of advice: follow a structured routine. "EASY": Eat, Activity, Sleep, time for Yourself. This is another area that seems to have drawn criticism from fellow ... reviewers. "EASY" is presented as an alternative to feeding on demand and scheduled feeding. Actually, it is not as much an alternative as it is a combination of the two.
--> Following a set schedule is often impractical, as we found out ourselves while our daughter was still in the hospital. There, feeding took place every three hours, and at the same times. Most of the feedings went well, but at times, it seemed as though we were were force-feeding the poor kid, and it was implied that we were somehow bad parents if she did not finish the prescribed amount. Once we got home, we were able to be more flexible with the feeding times, which is exactly what EASY suggests.
--> What EASY suggests is following a prescribed routine. Eating is followed by activity, and the activity is followed by sleep. And while the baby sleeps, you have time for yourself. The structure is etched in stone, but the times are not. Who will not agree that flexibility is good? And having the structure will help you interpret your baby's cries and decrease the miscues (for example, trying to feed the baby when the baby is actually overstimulated, or over-tired). 5. The author provides guidelines for interpreting your baby's crying. 6. The author also explains how bad habits start and suggests methods for undoing bad habits. For example: allowing the baby to fall asleep on your chest may lead to the baby needing your chest to fall asleep.... 7. Babies need to become independent. This means not rushing to the crib everytime they start to fuss. Babies need to learn to self-soothe and often will go back to sleep. As with any book of this type, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer is not perfect, and there is some content that I do not necessarily agree with. But that's okay. The author is writing from personal experience, of which she has a lot. You will not find a whole lot of her advice to be in the vein of "studies have shown..." but rather "what I have learned...." The style in which the book is written is also refreshingly down-to-earth. She speaks to the reader in a friendly voice that is neither condescending nor inaccessible. Is this book worthy of addition to your bookshelf? Absolutely. I highly recommend it. Read it once, and you'll refer to it again and again. The best advice that I can personally give anyone who is a new parent is this: TRUST YOUR OWN INSTINCTS. You will hear and read a lot of conflicting advice, none of which is perfect. You will have to find out what works best for you and your baby. No book can do that for you. Where Secrets of the Baby Whisperer succeeded the most for me was giving me the level of confidence to trust my own instincts, while providing some useful guidelines and advice.
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Summary: Not so great- disappointing and annoying
Review: This book had a couple helpful things in it, but overall I was annoyed by her lack of objectivity (while pretending like she was presenting an unbias view). And I did find her tone condescending. I have had a lot of sleepless nights in the past 6 weeks which has given me a great opportunity to fly through baby care books. I have to say that I lean toward books written by doctors or sleep researchers that back up their suggestions with actual data and research. I am a total sucker for science and long bibliographies, and that is what I did not find in this book- just opinion. And sure her opinion will work fine for some babies, but some of her methods are potentially harmful (see other reviews for details). I found her E.A.S.Y. program to be meaningless- Eat Activity Sleep You- whatever! She kept referring to it like it was the meaning of life.
I find it quite amusing that she appropriated the "the ABC's of operant conditioning". She calls it her the "ABCs of Changing Bad Habits". I would have respected her more if she had admitted this was borrowed from learning theory and behavioral psychology instead of pretending like she invented it. She uses the same terms (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence), but she totally misinterprets how it works. Instead of the common behavioral wisdom (change the consequence to change the behavior- brought to us courtesy of Skinner 50+ years ago and still valid), she says "Change the behavior to change the consequence". But how do you introduce a new behavior? She doesn't touch on that- her ABCs make no sense and just confirmed for me what I had suspected- that she skimmed books instead of doing real research.
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Summary: Can't recommend it at all
Review: My sister-in-law, who is a phenomenal mom, recommended the book so I bought it when my daughter was 10 weeks old. I'm a certified behavior therapist so I can tell you that everything in the book if used systematically and consistently will, eventually, work for all animals as the principles have been scientifically proven for about a century. That having been said, just because we CAN teach someone to do something doesn't mean we SHOULD. There are, I feel, ethical implications involved in denying a baby food, love, and attention when they need it. I can teach my daughter not to cry in the middle of the night when she's hungry but what has she learned in the process? Not to tell me when she's hungry because I won't attend to her needs when she does tell me. Not exactly the kind of introduction to the world I want for my children. There are responsible books out there which help parents cope when exhaustion and frustration set in, this just isn't one of them. There are no easy answers to the upheavel a baby brings, but trying to change a baby to fit a pre-baby lifestyle seems short-sighted to me.
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Summary: Thank Heaven for this book!
Review: I like to think of this book as the "owner's manual" that babies don't come with. It's such a feeling of relief to have an idea of why the baby is crying, or what he's trying to tell you. You'll really learn a lot from this book!
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Summary: great advice on nursing
Review: This book really helped my baby and me get off to a good start nursing. The schedule she provides gives you a good framework in those delirious days of early parenting. And in particular, her advice to feed only on one side after the first few days has worked very well for us. My daughter gained almost a pound in her first two weeks of life and she continues to thrive. I did not find this book rigid and the author takes pains to builds a mother's confidence in her own judgment, in my opinion. In a way, nursing your baby every time she makes a peep and refusing to schedule naps is itself rigid. However, the book on the whole is not well organized. It's the type of thing you read for an overall philosophy (along with practical info) but it's NOT the book you'll go to to get a quick answer to a specific question.
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Summary: Finally Senseable Parent Advice
Review: This book is truely a blessing. It takes a middle road approach to two sides of the parenting decisions we have to make as parents. The advice is easy to follow and is just plain common sense. This is NOT a schedule! It's a routine! It just doing the same types of activies (eating, activity, sleeping, and you-time) in the same order and not depending on a clock! It is about meeting your babies needs first and by doing that you have to learn what your baby is telling you he/she needs. And by putting your child on a routine you have a little bit of help since you and your baby both know what is going on and what is going to happen next. Instead of letting the baby control your life, you give your baby some structure, but it's all very flexible.
Some of the best advice for me in this book was to do what best fit my family best and not worry about what other people think because what works best for your family may fail miserably in mine and vice versa. There's nothing wrong with doing things different and you need not feel guilt over it since every person is different, every family will be too!
Tracy gives you her "secrets" of what she does and the frame work and then lets you go and have the joy of discovering what your baby and family will now be like with a new bundle of joy.
You will probably like this book if you are frustrated with the battle going on over "co-sleeping, feed-on-demand" and "Ferberizing" your baby and neither seems like the solution for you. You probably won't like this book if you are hard-core one way or another on the issues of sleep and feeding.
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Summary: Parenting books aren't nearly as good as fellow Moms!
Review: Not much better than Babywise. Why are we so obsessed with sleep and schedules? This book advocates not feeding your child unless the clock as well as the child says it is time. This leads to insufficient milk supply and failure to thrive. Don't do it. Babies cry because they have an unfulfilled need. If you are willing to hold your baby, sing to your baby, nurse your baby, then you don't need this book. Intuition is better than some artificially forced and unnatural schedule. Your baby will settle into the schedule that is right for him/her. Trust yourself and your intuition, and if you need help, then don't isolate yourself -- seek out other mothers!
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