Rating: 
Summary: An EXCELLENT book...
Review: My wife and I have used this book as a reference over and over again and I am always amazed at the relevance of the Sears' advice. But rather than go into specifics about the book's virtues (plenty of people have done that below), I would just like to comment on some of the negative criticism that other users have given this book. First of all, let me make it clear that (obviously) everyone is entitled to their opinions; I'm not trying to say that anyone HAS to like this (or any) book. But if you are going to publicly critique it, it's only fair that you present the information accurately and comment on real shortcomings, not imagined ones.A reader from Dallas states: "Use this book with great caution. If you want nightly habitual feedings, crying for response, and other stressful habits built into your child, use this book." That's pretty scary sounding, but let me present another scenario: My wife and I have let our child (now two years old) share the bed with us since he was born and it has been an unmitigated pleasure throughout. Except for rare occasions, he has always slept through the night, has never needed a bottle to get to bed, and has never shown any signs of being unusually "needy". Also, my wife did not have to get out of bed to breastfeed him when he was still feeding at night [Newsflash: Pretty much ALL babies feed during the night when they are very young infants - don't blame that on co-sleeping]. Now that my wife is pregnant again, we have transitioned him into his own room with absolutely no fuss. In contrast, my sister has never let her baby sleep in bed with her and the baby used to get up twice a night for a year and a half. The point is this: there is no right or wrong way, and there are no guarantees; babies are all very different, they're not little robots. We let our baby sleep with us because we LOVED it, and we will do it with our next one. The Sears state very clearly that you should do what you are comfortable with and that there is no right or wrong way. They just ask people to be OPEN to the idea of co-sleeping and to question those who so confidently state that it is wrong. [By the way, those who condemn it have zero scientific evidence to support their claim. Think about it: Modern day humans have been around for 2.5 million years. For 99% of that time we have been foragers and hunter-gatherers. Do you think we would have survived if sleeping with your children was "wrong"? Foraging and hunting tribes don't carry around cribs with them.] Anyway, my point is that the Sears definitely do NOT say that there is only one way to put your kid to sleep. A reader from New York asks: "Will co-sleeping wane in popularity as parents tire of sleeping with twin 5 years olds and an 8 year old and word gets around on the difficulty of ever getting the children out of your bed?" That's a good question. I have a few questions of my own. Have you ever tried it? Do you know for a fact that it is difficult to get kids out of bed and into their own beds? Do you think that the Sears really suggest that all of your kids should sleep in the parents' bed, regardless of age? Did you see the part in the book where they say that you should do what you are comfortable with and what makes the most sense to you? The bottom line is that the authors clearly and refreshingly state that mothers and fathers know a lot more about raising their children than they are given credit for. Rather than telling prospective parents that YOU MUST sleep with your baby or YOU MUST breastfeed, the overall effect of their book is to say YOU CAN sleep with your baby regardless of what society tells you and YOU CAN breastfeed if you want to maximize your baby's health and the bond between mother and child. Of course, no one HAS to do anything, but it's nice to have alternative sources of information. Thanks for listening.
Rating: 
Summary: After 7 months, here's how this book stands up...
Review: We heartily embraced the Sears book for 7 months, against the recommendation of our pediatrician and OBGYN. Now, after 7 months, we see why. I must state that my wife and I love our baby greatly, and don't see him as an incovenience, as Sears seems to suggest of some parents. My wife decided to stay at home to raise him. We wanted to start on our second child at about this time, but the continued nighttime demands of our 7-month boy make this il-advised. Following Sears, we are being run ragged day and night. Up until 6 months, our baby woke up twice each night for habitual feeding. Out of sheer exhaustion (and the suggestion of several friends with GREAT kids), we let him cry out one night; after this he only woke up once each night. This did not harm him in the least. Use this book with great caution. If you want nightly habitual feedings, crying for response, and other stressful habits built into your child, use this book. I believe the high rating for this book is by new parents that like the philosophy when they first read it but haven't applied it. I think we even have a previous review with high ratings. I wonder how scores would change after several months of actually applying the material. My guess is that this book ends up on the shelf hardly used. That's where ours is going. (By the way, you'll note that Sears does not provide any citations for the studies he alludes to in support of his position. This bothered me from the beginning - I should have been more careful.)
Rating:
Summary: Truly THE Baby Book
Review: I have read this book cover to cover. It is, by far, the best handbook for parents, grandparents, and medical professionals who work with young families that I have ever read. The authors' experience as husband and wife, medical professionals and parents of eight children gives them a wonderful background for co-writing this book. Their common sense and nurturing approach helps parents to relax and trust their instincts and do what comes natural for loving parents. Good advice for working parents, day care questions and other topics not so well covered by other references.(Especially good examples are the sections on picky-eaters and whether or not you should take your child to day care when they are ill.) I give this book as a baby shower gift whenever I have the chance! (It is also a wonderful reference to leave lying around for well-meaning, loving grandparents who could benefit from some insight into why there don't have to be so many rules as there were when we were raising children.) I have found sound, sensible and loving suggestions every time I have turned to this book! I can't say enough about this great book. (I am a mother, a grandmother and work full-time as a nurse. I have had lots of opportunities to refer to this book. I only wish I had had access to it 25 years ago!) The only reference you should need for the first two years! I love it!
Rating:
Summary: NATURAL parenting!
Review: The main strength of this book and of attachment parenting concepts is that it draws from cultural and anthropological evidence from thousands of cultures all over the world, practices that have survived for thousands of years. In the VAST majority of countries in the world, people breastfeed for 2 years and longer (although today formula marketing in the 3rd world is reducing that number which is an example of evil corporations trying to sell poor people something they don't need and which is damaging to their health), people sleep with their babies, and people carry their babies with them on their bodies (as in a sling... my Somali friends all use a long fabric wrap to carry their children). The person who said that in 20 years we will see the results of the "attachment parenting fad" fails to realize that it is not a "fad" rather a return to the natural order of things. We are only now seeing the results of the more recent Western parenting phenomena including formula feeding, babies sleeping alone, and being carried in plastic baby buckets and soothed with plastic pacificers... all things that didn't exist until the 20th century and all things that started in the West. I believe that the increase of diseases, violence, depression, ADHD, and many other things may be due to the Western 20th century "plastic parenting" (my own coinage, not in the book) experiment of which my mother and grandmother and to a lesser extent my great-grandmother were guinea pigs. My mother wishes she had this book when she had me. All of the bum reviews of this book show that the reader either didn't properly understand the goals and flexibility of attachment parenting or just didn't want to admit that such a hands-on style of parenting is actually better for their children. Yes, attachment parenting requires more work on the part of the parents-- but if you don't want the baby to change your life, why have a baby? I have noticed that opposition to Dr. Sears' advice is generally a result of people who don't want to admit that the way that they were parented or the way they previously parented was not the best. My daughter is 2.5 months old and she is thriving on Dr. Sears' advice. I have not scheduled her in any way and she has started feeding for the most part every 3-4 hours and sleeping through the night on her own. IF she occasionally wakes up for a night feeding, the world isn't going to come to an end. As babies grow their needs change. They are not dogs for us to train to do whatever is convenient for us. The breastfeeding information is good basic information, however, if you want more detailed information you need to additionally buy a book about breastfeeding such as the Nursing Mothers Companion or The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. The chapter on bottlefeeding does start with a comparison of breastmilk and formula, however the person who said: <<The first 4 pages on bottle feeding talk about how formula cannot compare in any way to breast milk. Hopefully everyone out there realizes feeding your baby is a very personal choice and informational books should not be filled with opinions! >> is exaggerating and needs to keep in mind that breastmilk vs. formula is not a matter of "opinions" but of indisputible scientific FACT and it is a moral obligation of any "informational book" to make the difference very clear. In short, it takes intelligence and critical thinking to recognize the value of attachment parenting. It is not a "fad" started by anyone, but Dr. Sears has simply drawn our attention to things that our culture lost almost 100 years ago. I highly recommend this book, it will change your attitude and your life!
Rating:
Summary: a baby book
Review: I do not co-sleep with my baby, but I still love this book! My baby is so happy as a result of me purely loving her and meeting her needs as this book describes. I did not need to put her on a rigid sleeping schedule, she made her own and slept through the night by six weeks. Dr. Sears is a medical professional that backs up his info with medical research, unlike Ezzo who tells thousands of parents how to abuse their babies and become detached! Another good read is a Guide to your childs sleep , by the American Academy of pediatrics. My mother practiced attachment paretning with me 28 years ago and it worked! I am a happy, independent, not depedent individual and have excellent self esteem. You can not love a child too much. You can not hold a child too much. By God , they are only little for such a short time. Treasure them and become attached! Our society would have less screwed up people if parents practiced what Dr. Sears shares. I am a successful breastfeeder who returned to work and continues to love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Astounded by other reviews
Review: I'm kind of surprised at some of the negative reviews of this book. Peole keep saying that co-sleeping and attachment parenting encourage undisciplined children, but if you read the follow-up book, "The Discipline Book," you'll see that's not necessarily the case. If a child knows she can trust you (through early experiences), she will be much less likely to have discipline problems later. Anyway, I got "The Discipline Book" before "The Baby Book" and was pleasantly surprised that it encourages setting limits APPROPRIATE TO THE CHILD and sees discipline as a continuum and not a one-time, spanking kind of thing. Their method of childrearing just seems totally natural to me, the kind of things mothers and fathers did for thousands of years before the medical establishment and society started butting in on childrearing. I think the book is a must for any new parent!
Rating:
Summary: The best general baby care manual
Review: This is truly the "baby bible". I turn to it again and again. Combined with the book, "Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child" by Katie Allison Granju, a new parent will have all the support and info she needs to care for her baby.
Rating:
Summary: The only baby book you'll need
Review: I love this book and have turned to it again and again for help in raising my first child, now 16 months. It has taught me to follow my instincts and respond to my child's needs, and as a result, she is a confident, happy little girl. I wish Dr. Sears would write a follow-up for toddlers! Sometimes I modify his suggestions, seeing his model as an ideal that I can't *always* live up to, but for the most part we've followed him to a T. Our daughter still sleeps in our room in her crib, hangs out with me in the sling while I cook, weaned herself when she was ready, and is a really terrific kid. Thanks, Dr. Bill!
Rating:
Summary: If I had it to do over again
Review: I would be sure to have this book in my child care library. I recently helped my daughter out when her second child was born and spent a good portion of my time reading this book to educate myself. I only wish it had been available when my two children were born. I love its commonsense and nuturing approach, particularly its discussions of attachment parenting. The book is very comprehensive and well indexed. I remembered with disgust trying to find useful and supportive information in Dr. Spock back in the seventies -- that book never seemed to have the information I was looking for and really didn't provide the support I needed for the approach I wanted to take to raising my children. I plan to give this book and a baby sling as new infant presents from now on.
Rating:
Summary: I followed Dr. Sears' advice -- what a mistake!
Review: Although on medical matters this book seems perfectly valid, I think Dr. Sears should stop pretending that Attachment Parenting is so great. That is only his opinion and not a medical one at that. I took his advice to try Co-Sleeping,also known as the Family Bed. What a mistake! It should be called "Lying Down with your Child Until He Falls Asleep" because that is what this practice turns into! My son used to sleep alone, but now that he's had all this co-sleeping he requires my physical presence to fall asleep, which sometimes takes an hour. When he awakes he needs me with him to fall asleep again. This means every nap and every night! I don't have household help like the eminent author and don't have time to spend half my day in bed trying to help my child sleep. This problem has happened to other parents I know who practice the Family Bed. Why doesn't Dr. Sears even mention this problem or how to deal with it? I won't follow his advice on this matter again. My future children will learn to sleep on their own unless Dr. Sears wants to pay for my housekeeper.
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