Rating: 
Summary: Lots of good advice, but be flexible
Review: I was hesitant to read this book at first, since it had so many reviews comparing it to Gary Ezzo and Babywise. However, I think it is very different! Hogg's attitude towards babies is worlds apart from Ezzo's, and is very refreshing! She does encourage structure in the baby's day, but is much more flexible about it than Ezzo. She acknowledges the important fact that breastfed babies need to nurse much more often when they are going through a growth spurt. I do think that she has poor breastfeeding advice. I would suggest to a nursing mom that she not attempt to implement any feed spacing until the baby is at least two or three weeks old and is gaining well. Then, she should also remember that the schedule should be more like 2-2 1/2 hours rather than 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Also, take the author's own advice and be flexible! I checked this book out from the library, but am planning on buying a copy for myself!
Rating: 
Summary: helped our sleeping issues
Review: Before I found this book we were having sleep problems with my then 8 month old. I just couldn't see myself following the FERBER method so I was at a loss of what to do. I found this book and read the part about reparenting. I followed her advice on putting my son in the bed and comforting when he needed it. It was a very long first night but by the third night it only took me 15 minutes to get my son to sleep. Before reading this it would take us all night to get him to sleep in his bed. This is a common sense book that shows you how to connect with your child.
Rating:
Summary: secrets of the baby whisperer
Review: At last, a baby book that makes absolute sense! Everything was common sense and down to earth. There are no " leave to cry" or " pick up baby immediatly " comments. It recognises each baby as an individual, and helps you to find out about YOUR baby, and then on how to communicate and understand YOUR baby, and meet that baby's needs, making the whole family's life better.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful near birth..but not worth buying around 6 mos.
Review: This book had some very good ideas, some you realize once you read them are common sence yet you may not have thought of it yourself otherwise. Like most books, it is best to pick and choose what you find helpful...don't take everything to heart because although she refers to various babies...they may not suite your situation.
NOW THE IMPORTANT THING...I have a 6 month old and just bought the book recently...at this stage it didn't really offer anything that helpful. But if you are pregnant or just home from the hospital, it may have some helpful tips for you. I am looking forward to Volume 2 - hopefully it will help me out more with the 6+ month stage.
Rating:
Summary: Very Helpful
Review: This book helped me figure out why my newborn was crying- it includes a chart on different cries- and what to do about it. It also helped me with breastfeeding tips. The tone is reassuring and supportive of new parents. Tracy Hogg offers sane, practical advice on many aspects of infant care. I even emailed the author with a question and got an immediate response! I plan to buy her book on toddlers too.
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Summary: Attention New Parents! Babies CAN Follow a Routine!
Review: PLEASE...disregard the parents who say you "cannot" put a new baby on a schedule/routine. HOGWASH! This is most untrue. Your baby will respond to the routine that YOU set. It does take work and a serious commitment from Mom and Dad, but it can be done. Don't try a routine for two days and then throw up your hands and say, "It won't work! Babies can't be put on a schedule!" Decide how your home will function and STICK WITH IT.
I am a new mother of a wonderful 2 month old baby boy. I bought Tracy's book in a desperate attempt to find the secret to getting my son to sleep through the night. While it did not reveal the exact secret (he is now sleeping 9 hours at night), it did affirm most of the "old-fashioned-common-sense" baby raising strategies that my own mother shared with me. I found Tracy's methods to be balanced, loving and easy to do. I also found them to be fair to everyone in the household, not just the new arrival. Attention New Moms! You don't have to give up your life to be loving and caring with your baby. Establishing a regular routine for your baby (and you) will benefit both of you. Try Tracy's E-A-S-Y method and put some order to chaos. Your mom was right! ---- UPDATE! April, 2004: When I first wrote this review our son was 2 months. He is now 2 years and absolutely thriving. Putting our son on a schedule, and keeping him on a schedule, has made for a happy and healthy home. We've scarcely noticed that we're in the midst of "the terrible twos" as he is just a delight to be around. Holding steadfast to a routine saw us through some of those big transitions, including weaning, going from two naps to one and moving from a crib to a big boy bed. In a two-year-old's world, where everything is new and changing, a routine that is stable provides a tremendous sense of security. It also makes things easy for Mom and Dad who know exactly what each day will bring.
Rating:
Summary: It Worked for Us
Review: Tracy, you're a lifesaver. When my wife and I bought this book, our baby daughter was just a month old. We were still getting the hang of things, and although things were not really bad, there were times when we really didn't know what our little girl wanted. The uncanny thing is that when I read this book two weeks later, I realised that almost everything Ms Hogg wrote applied to us. For example, the book made us realised that certain cries and actions meant our baby was NOT hungry, but was TIRED. This one simple fact, this one simple thing that Ms Hogg taught us to differentiate completely and utterly changed our lives - we found ourselves better able to predict and understand what our daughter needed, and so all of us benefited - or at the very least, got more sleep! How can I further demonstrate this further? We keep a diary for our daughter, and on one particularly frustrating day, we found ourselves unable to satisfy her, and she kept crying and fussing. My wife and I recorded how we kept trying to feed our daughter, until she seemed to fall asleep out of exhaustion. When we looked back at this early entry, my wife and I were utterly aghast - every sign our daughter displayed was as Ms Hogg indicates: signs of tiredness, not hunger. We were so wrong, and we were so amazed by the power of a few pages of words in this book - it can literally change lives. A few negative reviews of this book I've seen at Amazon give me the impression that these readers have taken Ms Hogg's advice literally and rigidly. Please bear in mind that the authors make it very clear that all babies are different, and that they are only giving guidelines and advice, not commands. Read the book with a pinch of salt, and see how it can guide you and help you. Parents trying to follow Ms Hogg's advice should only use what applies to them, and not follow blindly, or worse, employ her EASY and/or SLOW methods like formulae. They are not. They should only be used, as the author suggests, where it helps you. If it doesn't help you, by all means, don't follow. I'm just glad to say that I agree and have benefitted from 90%+ of Ms Hogg's advice. Tracy Hogg and her co-author Melinda Blau write in a very personal, intimate tone, as if they are speaking to you exclusively. This made the book extremely readable - I finished it in 3 days. This is one of those books where almost every page taught me something new, and better, something helpful. And even if they didn't, or even if you don't believe or agree with everything Ms Hogg says, there are probably at least a few key things she teaches which will impart upon the reader the means to understand, communicate with, and soothe your baby. In the chaos of a post-partum home, how much more can a new parent ask?
Rating: 
Summary: IRRESPONSIBLE and DEADLY ADVICE!
Review: In the month after this book was released, the local hospital had to re-admit 8 newborn babies for "failure to thrive" - i.e., malnutrition. One of them died. All of the parents had read the book and followed its advice. Your newborn needs breastmilk as often as he or she can get it - to limit a new life to a rigid 3 hour feeding schedule is ridiculous and dangerous. Your baby is not a lump of clay. He or she needs to be stimulated when awake, not put in a corner and ignored for an hour after feeding. When they cry, they should be comforted, not forced to suffer through agony in the name of "self-reliance." Yes, you should not make them dependent, but you need to treat them with kindness and respect, something this book seems to have very little of. Yes, babies like routine, but it has to be a natural routine, arrived at after several months of experimentation, not forced upon you both like some immense rigid structure. Newborns have no systematic understanding of the world; you can not expect them to conform to anyone else's desires. Yes, of COURSE you should bathe and read to your baby before bed! That is age-old common sense: gradually develop a routine that will help your baby realize when the family goes to sleep at night. But you can not try to impose a structure on a newborn in 3 days, as this book suggests; you must give them time to adjust to life. You most certainly can not expect them to get hungry and sleepy only at nicely defined and pre-packaged 3 hour intervals. Your baby and you will find the right schedule, naturally, together, but not for many months. You can not rush this; it is as it should be, nothing more. You are raising a human being, a person, who has feelings, needs, and wants. You should try to make them as happy as possible, to bring them into a loving and wonderful atmosphere. Yes, when they are 4 years old, they should mostly sleep by themselves. No, when they are newborn, they need your contact and love. This is their first experience in the world. Make it a good one. The worst thing you do for your newborn baby is to read this book. While there is some common sense advice, there is much which is absolutely deadly. I'm sorry I'm not allowed to give it 0 stars. For the sake of your child, choose love and understanding, not some L.A. fad pop-psych over-hyped publicity-fueled totally clueless and irresponsible and DANGEROUS book. Good luck and love.
Rating:
Summary: A must have
Review: This book is fun and easy to read. I found using the advice and tips helpful. My daughter who is now 7 months started sleeping through the night at 3 months. She also is a great eater and plays by herself for 30 minutes at a time. It's fairly easy to get things done around the house and plan for trips because of the schedule she has. The book is very helpful in teaching the different cues babies use to tell you something. My only prblem with it was I don't think it can truelly be utilized until the baby is 3 months old. The schedule suggested just doesn't fit with a newborn. And in the beginning, all the cries sound the same. I got very frustrated doing everything the book said to do but nothing worked until she become 3 months old.
Rating:
Summary: MUST HAVE!
Review: I LOVED this book. I credit my son's fabulous sleeping habits to this book. The parenting style in this book is one I am extremely comfortable with & have learned so much from this book. If you have a baby you MUST HAVE this book!
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