Rating: 
Summary: Perfect gift for person with new puppy
Review: I am a mom of four children aged 15, 9, 6, and 4 years. I was asked to purchase this for a new mom baby shower gift. Before gifting to the new mommy, I took a look and got sucked in to finish reading. I was astounded at some of the advice given. Only would be useful if you want to train up your baby in the way you might train a puppy, then this is the one for you. This is not a good gift for a person interested in gentle parenting or someone having their first child. I suggest a more rounded parenting guide such as one by Sears or Brazelton. A baby is not a Pup to housebreak and fit into your routine. Your life will change when you have kids and your routine will change too. This book gives the unrealistic expectation that you can somehow mold your baby's personality into your lifestyle by following her schedule. Before buying, take a look at the other parenting top sellers out there.
Rating: 
Summary: This is THE ONE
Review: With so many parenting books out there, and so many recommendations, I will say just one thing: this is the ONE book that OB/Gyn's and midwives should REQUIRE their expecting mothers to read! After reading this, and experiencing such positive results from it with my own daughter, I feel genuinely sorry for all the babies I see in public with mothers who obviously don't know how to read their babies' cues. This book makes it so easy to understand and to adapt real-life practices that make parenting the absolute joy it should be.
Rating:
Summary: Grandma turned into Momma
Review: I have 3 of my own children that I had no problem understanding from day one. When my grandaughter was born within 6 weeks I was raising her and knew virtually nothing about her other than the weekends she had spent with us. So, I thought I am basically an adoptive parent and there has to be books on this topic. Well, my Chiropractor told me about this book. It was amazing once I used the techniques. Within 3 days, I knew exactly what my grandaughter needed and I felt much more secure in meeting her needs. Now she is 5 months old, she is a happy baby that knows that Nana and Poppy will be there for her always. We must learn to slow down and listen to our children, they are little people that have a lot to say if you listen. Must read for parents, grandparents and all caregivers!! Thank you Tracy for teaching us to slow down and listen!!
Rating:
Summary: The Best Parenting Book I've Read
Review: I'm a first-time mom of a seven-week-old girl. Before reading this book, I read both the Nursing Mother's Companion and BabyWise (which came highly recommended by a few acquantances). After having a very frustrating breast feeding experience in which my 6lb 6 ounce infant was hardly gaining weight, I gave up the demand-feeding methods recommended in the Nursing Companion (and ultimately went to formula feeding), but the scheduled feeding recommendations in BabyWise didn't feel right to me, either.This book demonstrates a much more compassionate approach to infant rearing than either book, because both the parent AND the child are held in respect. Not all of the methods worked for me - my baby sleeps after some feedings and wakes after others, she just doesn't seem to always conform to the EASY routine - however, the temperament section, and the section that interprets baby cries are worth the investment (both in money and time) in this book alone. Her techniques for calming infants usually works for mine, and I found that I felt much more comfortable and confident as a parent after reading this book. In fact, I plan to give the book as a gift to my now-pregnant cousin, who will also be a first-time-mom, this Christmas. I couldn't recommend it more highly.
Rating:
Summary: Great for 1st time Moms
Review: I'm a 1st time mom with NO experience with babies and truely had no "instinct" all these other perfect mothers talk about. The first 2 months with my preemie daughter I was anxious all the time and very disorganized because I didn't have a schedule (it was difficult for me to even take her to the grocery store because I had no idea when she would be sleepy, hungry, etc). I read Baby Wise, but was not willing to let my baby "cry it out". It was too harsh for me so I didn't even give the schedule a try (until later). I read No-Cry Sleep Solution, but found it excrutiatingly redundant. However, it might be a great source for someone with a toddler who is still not sleeping through the night. Then I read Baby Whisperer, it gave me the info I needed to gain the confidence I had been lacking. Hogg gave detailed lists of physical signs that show differences between tiredness, hunger, over-stimulation, etc. She helped me breast feed better, properly burp, and bathe baby. To an experienced mother this may sound elementary, but it wasn't to me or my own mother and mother-in-law (whom with 4 kids between them couldn't figure out when a baby was over stimulated and not hungry). Hogg also taught me how to respect my baby and how to get her to sleep all night long!!! By 4 mos of age my preemie was in the 85% for weight , my grocery shopping got done, I knew when playtime was, when naptime was. I got so much from this book, I was shocked to read negative remarks about it. I do disagree with Hogg about the bouncer and the swing issue, but she promotes the reader doing what's right for themselves. I also went back to BabyWise book for an actual sample of a schedule since Hogg's book didn't include one (she should've for people like me).
Rating: 
Summary: helped me listen to my child
Review: I am surprised by the level of negativity in some of these reviews, and by the fact that some people really took offense to suggestions in this book. Although not everything in this book worked for us, (as not every book is tailored just for one person!) I took from the book some info that helped me listen to my child and ultimately made both of us much happier. For instance, at 3 months of age my son wouldn't nap and wouldn't nurse without falling asleep every time. Therefore I was feeding him almost every hour and feedings were backing up into each other because he kept falling asleep. After reading this and a few other books on breastfeeding, I attempted to implement our version of EASY. It took about 3-4 days in which I worked very hard to give my child some version of a nap (standing over the cradle patting, picking him up and walking, rocking, putting him back down when he stopped crying, etc.) At the end of the week he would take a good 30-45 minute nap every 2-2.5 hours or so. This is a shorter time frame than EASY suggests, but it meant that he was rested enough when he awoke that he could nurse effectively. He's 7 months old now and we still have a version of this routine in place with a longer EASY span and longer naps. It really helped me understand that not every cry is a hunger cry, if you have some predictability in your day then you can diagnose that cry pretty quickly and give your child what he needs.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for me!
Review: I bought this book because I was having some sleepless nights and hoped to find the magic solution. Well, if I've learned anything from reading parenting books, it's that there is no one right way to parent. Everyone has a different theory, you can find a theory out there to support just about any parenting style out there. At the outset, I thought this book was going to be great. I heard wonderful things about it, the author begins by telling you she's going to help you get better connected with your baby and really understand your baby. Then as I started to get into the meat of the book, I realized I was starting to have a bit of an anxiety attack because she made me feel like just about everything I was doing to get my baby to sleep was WRONG. Rocking is bad. Napping a swing or bouncy chair is bad. Co-sleeping is bad. I was doing every one of these things - this is how we got sleep in our household! As soon as I started feeling stress from reading this book, I put it down and vowed never to let any parenting "expert" out there make me feel like I was doing a poor job. Some of what I do, I do because it feels right. Yes, my son slept on my husband or my chest the first few weeks. You know what, I LOVED it and I treasure that experience. My son no longer sleeps on our chests. He needed the closeness when he was a newborn.
We co-sleep and yes, it's not for everyone, but it works for us. I've come to the conclusion that I just disagree with any parenting "expert" out there who tries to advocate making a newborn "independent." If babies were meant to be so independent, they should come out walking & talking & able to feed themselves. Until they're ready to become independent, they NEED us. It may be inconvenient to some, but that's parenthood! When I feel like I'm losing confidence in my parenting skills, I will turn to Dr. Sears, who I think advocates a parenting style very much in line with what I feel is "right."
Rating:
Summary: Not useful
Review: Even if you don't disagree with her suggestions, she gives very little useful information for many moms. She might be able to institute her regimen with my baby, but I have no idea how to do it from the information in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Heartless Parenting
Review: I cannot state strongly enough how much I dislike this book!. If you want a didactic and regimented program to understand your entirely predictable baby then, by all means, buy this book. If you put your own needs ahead of your child and want to contain motherhood within a neat little bubble that ensures that it doesnt intefere on your 'real' life then, as I said, go for it. But if you have decided that what you now want to do is be a mother, with all it entails, with feeding at all hours, carrying your baby for the sheer pleasure of it, and cuddling up with your baby in bed at night, with out fear of teaching it 'bad habits'(which this 'baby whisperer seems obsessed with') then maybe look else where for your parenting advice. Or better yet, trust your instincts; a concept that seems totally foreign to this author.
Believe it or not, there is an aspect of this book which I do find appealing; the appeal to talk to, not at, your baby, and to try to understand what they are communicting. However, once you understand what your baby wants, why then are you expected to train them into new habits? Not all babies respond to a routine, and not all babies fit in to a selection of 'moulds'.
Babies are not cars. A manual cannot explain and diagnose their behaviour. Motherhood is not a chore that needs to be managed. There are many more far more useful books on baby hood; ones that actually have a 'soul'.
Rating:
Summary: Great advice
Review: I was given this book before the birth of my first child and I love it. The style of writing was a bit annoying but bascially I really thought the advice was excellent. I'm actually really really shocked at some of the negative comments I read about this book. I think that the most important take home message for me was to try to figure out ALL my babies cues for what she needed and trust my motherly instinct (that is, listen to advice from others but trust my instinct for what is right for my baby). For me, in order to do this, the flexible schedule Ms Hogg suggests makes all the difference in the world, both for the baby and the rest of the family (seriously, which of us do not strive on a flexible schedule, for example, we look forward to leaving work at a particular time of day everyday and eating dinner with our family at a certain time also, many people look forward to watchiing TV at particular times). I had to go look through my copy of "The Baby Whisperer" when I read some of the negative comments in order to make sure I had the same book that was being discussed as I thought the book made so much sense. The comments where people said their baby was miserable because they were underfed was quite mysterious to me. I believe that Ms Hogg purports that what we need to do is listen to the cues of our babies and react to that. If they are hungry, feed them!! Please don't starve your children. She does suggest a schedule, but it is a flexible one, one that may take more than a few days to establish. Everyone strives on routine to some extent, why shouldn't we develop a routine that our babies can come to expect and feel comfortable knowing, to some extent, what will happen next in the new bright big world they've come into? About breasatfeeding, it was not my impression that she suggested or advocated that women not breastfeed, she simply laid out the reality that some women either will not be able to breast feed, or choose not to. What's the big deal, if you want to breastfeed (which by the way I think is best if Mom is healthy) then breast feed and skip over the parts that address the women who will not! In the final analysis, I think Ms Hogg suggests that a flexible schedule helps both the baby and the rest of the family get into a comfortable routine so that everyone's needs are met, especially the baby and that in the end, you have to what works best for your family, not anyone elses...who can't agree with that?!
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