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Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate With Your Baby

Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate With Your Baby

List Price: $18.95
Your Price: $18.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I bought this book when my newborn was about 3 weeks old out of curiosity not because we were having any problems connecting with our son. I have found it to be very helpful and quite refreshing. At first I thought her EASY method(Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) was silly and not applicable to my baby, but as I studied my baby more using Ms. Hogg's cues, I realized that she was dead on. He basically, eats, does something for a while and then sleeps. Its so simple, but I hadn't thought about this structure before. At about 3 weeks my baby went from being a sleepy and calm newborn to being a regular baby with more awake time. One day, he had a total freakout (something that had not happened before). After reading this book, I realized that my baby was tired and overstimulated. Previously he had no trouble tuning out stimulation and getting himself to sleep wherever he was, but that all changed. Using some of the ideas in this book, my month old has had fewer episodes of crying and can go to bed on his own now with a little assistance, but sometimes just setting the mood works.

I also found her info on the sounds of baby's cries and what to observe very helpful.

Some of her breastfeeding info may be questionable, but I find many conflicts in a lot of the breastfeeding stuff I read. What's refreshing about Ms. Hogg is that she believes that bottle fed, breastfed, or a combo is all fine. (La Leche League take note. Ms. Hogg might actually turn somebody onto breastfeeding by showing women how they can do both bottle and the [breast] because she doesn't make you feel guilty for the method you choose. Hallelujah!)

Her structure is very easy to follow and allows for babies to be individuals while you maintain your sanity. Buy this book, but get a good all-around baby book as well. (Penelope Leach is great and, even though I disagree with Sears on many things, he has good info about babies in his book.) I recommend this book to any new parent even if you think you know a lot about babies already.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice idea, but not so helpful in the end...
Review: My husband and I pored through this book before our first child was born, ready and willing to immediately get our little one safely and happily on a schedule by following her directions and watching for the signs she told us we'd see. So when our baby arrived, we were really shocked by how totally impractical her advice turned out to be, at least for the first three months. Our daughter did need to eat more frequently, and when I tried to wait the specified time to feed her, my milk supply dwindled; the baby was utterly miserable left alone; she slept and woke for such short periods that I couldn't decide when to even start the schedule.

Now that she's older, some of Tracy's advice has proved more doable, but it seemed to us with our daughter that unless we were complete sadists, to start this sort of schedule on a newborn (or at least our newborn) was both impractical and insensitive. As I've gone back and read it again, I've noticed a subtle but distinct bias against breastfeeding that I overlooked before motherhood, and I also get the feeling that the whole system works terrifically well if you have a live-in nanny to make it happen.

I do like the heart of her message, to remind parents that they need to be sensitive to all of their babies' needs and watch and listen to them carefully, and also that parents' needs can't be ignored, but practically, the E.A.S.Y method was anything but, for us and for our daughter. It's an interesting read, but take it with big grains of salt.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Must-Have for New Parents
Review: This book is a must-have for all expecting parents. It offers helpful advice so new parents don't start bad habits and end up feeling overwhelmed. After I read it, I tried some of the techniques, and they actually work. I buy this book for all of my friends who are expecting.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: disappointed
Review: I was very disappointed in this book and author. Parents don't need to spend [money] on what to do - just listen to your inner voice and to your child. It's sad that we, as parents and women, have such little faith in ourselves that we have to turn to these so called experts.

What are Ms. Hogg's credentials - there are not listed anywhere in the book. Her information regarding breastfeeding is just wrong and she calls babies who feed "on demand" demanding - simply wrong again. The term should be "feed on cue" and this is way of baby feeding is endorse by many national and international pediatric organizations. Wrong again, Ms. Hogg.

If you feel the need to buy a book on this topic, buy anything by Dr. Sears, especially his "Nighttime Parenting" - wonderful! His credentials including being a pediatrician and a father to 8!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: True Expert or Self-pronounced Expert?
Review: Friends gave us a copy of this book after having our first child. And, as I am of all books that steal their titles from something else, I was a bit wary of this book. And, now I see there are already follow up books "baby whisperer for toddlers" and so on. Pretty soon there will be a whole like of "whisperer" books by Tracy Hogg...Yikes!

First off, I would just say that I found nothing in the book about the author's background. That always makes me a little nervous. Sure, moms know a lot about raising children, but is it enough to be a parent of a couple children to be considered an "expert."

The second thing that bothers me about this book is that I found the voice of the writing to be a bit smug. I cannot remember right off, but she uses words like "dear" and so on. That's might be because she's English. Its annoying.

That aside, there are some useful charts and such in the book, but I do not see it as the "breakthrough" book that everyone says it is. There are plenty of other books on sleep and babys from people such as Sears out there that can bring you the same results.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Godsend
Review: I didn't purchase this book because it sounded very gimmicky. After 6 months of dealing with a child that fought sleep & woke several times during the night, we were at the end of our rope. We tried "Ferberizing" & "Family Bed" to no avail. Our little one would scream at bedtime even though we could tell she was tired. A friend lent us this book & that very night she fell asleep on her own (with a little crying) & slept through the night. The next day, she fell asleep on her own with no trouble at all. If you have a child that has sleep problems, I highly recommend this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good, but not perfect
Review: I thought this was a really great book. It contains two out of the three major categories in childcare books. It has parenting and child development information, but not medical information.

I really liked the conversational tone of the book. It has the feel of sitting down to a nice cup of tea with Tracy. There were lots of anecdotes of other mothers and babies, which I always appreciate.

I found her characterization of the personality types of babies very helpful. I often feel that parents are too often held accountable for their baby's personality. Despite good parenting, some babies are just fussy. Despite bad parents, some babies will still be angels. Knowing your baby's personality can help make your job easier.

I really liked her "flexible routine." Too often schedules or routines are seen as being set in stone. Tracy advocates viewing your routine in segments of time from nap to nap. I feel this gives you much more freedom to do different things during the day, while still having a familiar pattern for your baby.

My biggest complaint is the chapter on breastfeeding. It was terrible, really! Some of her information is just crazy. For example, she says you must drink SIXTEEN GLASSES of water a day. She also says you must wipe your nipples with a cloth after nursing to prevent bacteria from growing. However, women have glands around their nipples which secrete an antibacterial substance, so this is completely unnecessary. I would recommend anyone skip the entire chapter and read a separate book on breastfeeding. I suggest So That's What They're For by Janet Tamaro, as it is written in a similar tone.

However, with the exception of the breastfeeding chapter, I highly recommend the book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Did Everything it Promised
Review: I admit it, the fact that Tracy Hogg's system classifies my daughter as an Angel baby earned this book a few points right off the bat. But there is much more to it than that.

At the heart of this book is the E.A.S.Y. method. I can't say enough about this sytem; eat - activity - sleep - you in two to four hour stretches, depending on your baby. Within days of implementing this method, I could read my baby. What does this mean? To all you soon-to-be Mom's, it means consistency and predictability, and those my friends are the keys to sanity. I could plan my day in a way that my baby enjoyed while still meeting the needs of my whole family. I felt much more confident and in control. My husband and I got to concentrate on all the amazing qualities of our daughter, while still having order in our lives (which early on seems like liitle more than the ability to shower and do the laundry).

Buy it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: little substance
Review: This book has some good, reasonable advice. It is primarily about how, very generally, to take care of your baby. (It offers little advice for sicknesses, etc.)

However, it's not worth buying. It's one of those books where you get the impression that the author had about 10-20 pages worth of stuff to say, but spread it out over a whole book instead. Skim through it in a bookstore rather than buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What the baby said...
Review: A great , easy read for tired Mommys. Simple, gentle and easy to understand for first time Mum's with no baby experience. I read this when my son was one year old (March 2002) and after ten years as a professional Nanny I found the book was a great reasurance that all was well in our little world and I also found it to be full of wonderful tips to refine my skills in baby comunication . This was the first book that I found that actually shared my own thoughts on caring for Baby and put them nicely into words. If you read it with your heart you will hear and see your amazing baby in a whole new way. Invaluable.


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