Rating: 
Summary: Not good for older babies
Review: In theory the ideas in this book sound great. Unfortunately they don't actually work out the way that you expect them to. After trying some of her examples and suggestions I can't help but wonder if she made them up for the book and didn't test them out first.
One idea of hers is that you not let your baby fall asleep while nursing. Anyone who has a baby that usually falls asleep while nursing knows that it is virtually impossible to nurse them without them falling asleep.
Another problem is that she doesn't address what to do if your baby doesn't fall asleep at nap time while your trying to get them into her suggested routine. After 5 days with my baby not getting her naps in, and her having a much harder time falling asleep at night because of the missed naps, I finally decided to chunk her routine concept and her book. We are all sleeping better now!
This book may work better for newborns, but I do not recommend it for babies that are a little older (mine was about 5 months).
Rating: 
Summary: This book saved my life and marriage!
Review: This was definately the best and most helpful baby book I've ever read. My daughter was 6 months old and had never slept through the night. I was a wit's end. My husband and I were besides ourselves with frustration, we felt helpless. We agreed that babies need to learn how to soothe themselves to sleep but thought the Ferber method was too harh. This gave us a middle of the road approach. Within a week she was sleeping through the night and she has ever since. She is now 18 months old and I have given this book as a gift to many of my friends. I still remember how desperate we were and want to save our friends from that misery. This book liberated my daughter from depending on nursing, rocking, walking, and jiggling to help her fall asleep (which was never very successful anyway) and got us into a daytime routine which led to her being less colicky and generally more agreeable. We were all happier after I read this book. I highly suggest this book to anyone who would like to teach their child healthy living habits. Thank you Tracy Hogg for saving us!
Rating:
Summary: Helps you stay sane enough to enjoy parenthood
Review: Most of the negative reviews of this book are from parents who seem to be looking for a single book that will cure all their woes, or a point of view that they agree with completely. While I think it would be a mistake to follow anyone's advice to the letter, Hogg's basic message of providing lots of love, nutrition while giving the child a sense of independance has made our home, and our baby, extremely healthy and happy. Unfortunately, many of the parents I know who are anti-Hogg are also worn-out human pacifiers after six months who wish they had started the parenting process as they meant to go on.
Rating: 
Summary: We would not like this nanny
Review: We did not like her book. If you want to treat your new baby like a bothersome inconvenience to be conditioned and scheduled into your life, this IMO could be the book for you. If you'd rather consider your child as the special and uniquely needful individual he or she is (no two human beings are the same), and avoid "one size fits all" cookie-cutter approaches that make nice acronyms, then would suggest looking elsewhere.There were some interesting aspects of the book, but on the whole her advice did not make our baby happy or healthy. Found the tone of the book to be needlessly condescending as well, as if nobody knows better than Tracy Hogg Enterprises. No thanks.
Rating:
Summary: beware
Review: The advise in this book has caused some children trouble with growth due to inadequate nutrition. Go over these techniques with a physician before trying them.
Rating:
Summary: Saved my life!
Review: Like any parenting book, you take what you want to out of it and throw out the rest or leave it in the back of your head as a possibility. This book saved my life as far as understanding my daughter's cries and what they meant. I realized I was doing a lot of the things that were actually compounding the problem in efforts to try to help her (like overstimulation). I think this is a must-read for every parent -- new and even if you have other kids but are having another baby.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I opened this book expecting to get helpful advice and an enjoyable read, but I was disappointed. There were plentiful examples of Tracy Hogg rescuing parents who are portrayed as fools. This narrative approach quickly feels self-serving, condescending and inaccurate. That impression is reinforced by the author's frequent use of English colloquial diminutives such as "luv" in addressing the reader. I might not have minded if her advice had been practical and helpful but it consisted of (1) acronyms for the obvious such as "EASY" for "eat, activity, sleep and you time"; and (2) unnecessarily austere how-to tips. Nonetheless I completed the book and reluctantly set aside the advice in it as it turned out to be unhelpful. My contacts from LA tell me Tracy Hogg charges her clients five figures for two weeks work, so perhaps the celebrity recommendations in her book are a result of people having paid outrageous money and not wanting to believe it was a bad decision. Please buy the book by the American Perdiatric Association because it is a thorough reference for baby care, and if you have a colic problem I recommend Dr. Karp's book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" for a loving and effective approach.
Rating:
Summary: All Fluff
Review: This book is too short to be the "word" on parenting; especially on getting your child to sleep through the night. Some ideas sound good but they are not developed thoroughly. I found the book to be very impractical after my daughter arrived. For now on I am sticking with the advise of my doctor, The American Academy of Pediatrics and Dr. Sears.
Rating:
Summary: Better for a read than a method
Review: Secrets of the Baby Whisperer is an okay read. It presents the "eat, wake, sleep" routine that many people use (i.e., a baby eats, then has some awake time, and then sleeps -- instead of the baby relying on the eating to fall asleep). And it explains how to watch for a baby's signs of sleepiness. For these general discussions, this book is okay. So read it if a friend gives it to you, but I wouldn't recommend buying it. I find it ironic that a book which seems to promote positive interaction between parent and child in fact does the exact opposite. Instead of promoting connecting, usually accomplished by snuggling and soothing a newborn, Hogg presents a very austere approach. She explains that most "bad habits" are caused by parents rocking or swaying their children to sleep, allowing a baby to fall asleep on a parent's chest, and other things that most parents do with a newborn. Her approach is for a baby, even at one day old, to learn to fall asleep unassisted, motionless, in his own crib. Now, I certainly agree with the importance of a baby learning to fall asleep unassisted and developing healthy sleep habits (I highly recommend Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child), but most experts explain that a newborn under 6-8 weeks old doesn't have the ability to do so. A newborn a few days or weeks old wants to be cuddled, to feel warm and safe against a parent's chest, to hear his mother's heartbeat, and to feel the rhythmic movements he became used to inside the womb. I simply don't understand how it helps to "calm, connect, and to communicate with your baby" by not cuddling, rocking, or even holding your baby. Especially for the first few weeks, after that it's important to promote some independence, but not before it's time. So read the book if you have it, but do not expect it to be a manual on baby's behavior or sleep. Instead, buy a book written by a doctor, a sleep expert.
Rating:
Summary: Made all the difference in the world!
Review: With my oldest daughter I (loosely) followed the BabyWise schedule. I found it to be difficult to follow because my baby's cries all seemed so heart-wrenching and I just wanted to hold her. Now that we have baby #2, I've found this book and it has made parenting a newborn/infant so much easier. Tracy Hogg does an excellent job in this book of helping readers interpret their babies' cries. At first I was skeptical, but as time went on it became very clear that her descriptions & interpretations of the body language and cries were right on.
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