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Summary: It worked for us!
Review: I highly recommend this book for anyone with an infant! Our 6 week old baby girl simply could not settle down. After reading Dr. Karp's book and implementing the 5 S's, my husband and I can now help her to relax. It is amazing! The steps are simple and the book is an easy read. Again, I recommend it for any new parent!
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Summary: happy baby and happy parents from San Diego
Review: This book has done wonders for our family! I got the book when our 10 week old baby was about 5 weeks old. He had just started having long fussy periods at night between feedings. I would pace the floor until I could feed him again. I even resorted to nursing him more frequently..every hour or 30 minutes...nothing worked. Once I read this book, I had an effective way not only to calm Cole, but to put him to sleep. Now we use the Cuddle Cure to put him to bed at night as well as down for naps when he gets fussy during the day. This technique has provided us with a way to calm him and to put him to sleep. We use this technique now every day. A definite must have for new parents.
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Summary: It's About Time
Review: Where was Dr. Karp and this book 10 and 12 years ago? How I wanted to calm my babies in an effective manner. They weren't 'colicy' but when they did cry or wouldn't sleep, I wasn't always successful in calming them. I often times felt ineffective as a parent and the only advice I got was either 'let them cry it out alone' or 'just hold them and deal with the crying until they stop'. NOW, thanks to Dr. Karp, there are some wonderful, practical and useful solutions to 'colic' and fussiness that WORK. No one, not mommy, daddy nor baby are left feeling frustrated or unsuccessful by these solutions. Dr. Karp's suggestions of the 5 'S's' are comforting and effective for all. Less tears and more smiles all the way around!
In my present profession as a Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice, I have many parents ask me about calming their new babies. It is hard for parents to realize how much sleep their babies need, much less, how to help their babies get all that sleep. Since reading Dr. Karp's book, I have answers for them! Now I suggest to all my future clients "Read this book now, before your baby comes into this world". To my present clients, I suggest they buy a copy ASAP. This book is empowering.
This book will change the beginning of the parenting journey in many positive ways for all who read it; moms, dads, grandparents, Childbirth Educators, Doulas, Lactation Consultants and Pediatricians. Even the most hard to convince parents and babies will be surprised by the results! Enjoy!
He also has a video for those visual learners, or those short on time (like new parents!). It is a great video too!
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Summary: A Must for Every Mom!
Review: This book is a must for every new mother! Whether this is your first or fifth baby, Harvey Karp's new book is a must for a happier Mom and baby. I've used all of Dr. Karps techniques and they really, really work. I loved this book and I highly recommend it to anyone with a new baby.
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Summary: Good info, though book seems "cartoonish"
Review: My son hasn't really been a "problem" baby in any way--no long nights of crying, etc, so the results I experienced may be less dramatic than those written about by others. However, I found his techniques mirrored things I was already trying when my son was upset or having trouble sleeping. He simply explained in a straightforward manner how to combine what I already knew into a technique that works almost all the time. It was reassuring to know that my instincts were right, this being my first child. My one complaint about this book is that it tries to be funny and cute, which almost demeans the information found inside. I found the cartoons and silliness distracting.
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Summary: Thank you Dr. Karp! This really works!
Review: We have a 5 week old that I would consider a pretty good baby. He was sleeping between 2 1/2 and 4 hours between feeds at night but, consistantly fought his nap during the day. We knew he was tired but, he couldn't figure out how to put himself to sleep or back to sleep. My husband and I were really starting to doubt ourselves as parents. We didn't want to fall into the trap of rocking or walking our son to sleep.
I read the parts of Dr. Karp's book that applied to our problems and within one day my husband and I had our baby sleeping during the day after every feeding without more that a minute of tears. Now our baby is waking one time only during the night to eat and then goes right back to sleep. Dr. Karp's 5 S's plan works like magic.
With Dr. Karp's book we helped our son show us he is not just a good baby; he's an angel.
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Summary: Happiest parents on the block
Review: Dr. Karp is welcome at our home anytime! I learned about this book when our little girl was six weeks old. At that time she would not sleep in her bassinet and wanted to comfort nurse for hours in the evening and at night (and I do mean hours). She would wail if she wasn't nursing or being held. I usually eneded up falling alseep while I was nursing her in bed. When I tried to put her in her bassinet, she would wake up and cry until she was in my arms and nursing again and the cycle repeated itself all night long. Her longest sleeping stretch was four hours. I was exhausted and always on the verge of tears and my husband was sleeping in our guest bedroom so that he could be functional at work the next day. The first night we tried the S's, Madeline slept for five and a half hours. The next night was almost seven hours. In the three weeks since, we've never had less than a five hour stretch and once she slept for almost nine hours. When she does wake up to nurse, I keep her swaddled and she goes right back to sleep. Our little one certainly cries less since we adopted the Karp method. We were already using the SHH (a box fan on high works better for us) but not the rest of the S's. Using four of the five S's (she still won't take a pacifier), she almost goes into a trance once she stops crying. Another nice benefit is that my husband puts her to sleep at night using the S's and that's his special time with her. I can imagine the Karp method won't work well for older babies but it has worked wonders in our home with our little one. My husband calls this the best [money] we've spent and we're telling everyone we know how well the Karp method has worked for us.
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Summary: Not a single idea to help my 10 month old
Review: This book should be titled The Happiest NEWBORN on the block. I would have loved this book when my baby was a few weeks old since the ideas sound reasonable for the newborn stage. However, the suggestions don't work for an older baby. The 5 S's are: Swaddle (like my active 10 month old would go for this!) Put baby on his Side/Stomach (at 10 months you don't PUT him anywhere!) Shhhhh (he thinks that's funny) Swinging (I think every mother sways with a fussy baby, it's natural) Sucking (Oh, he does plenty of that, thank you!) I had to keep searching and luckily found a book for with plenty of answers, it's The No-Cry Sleep Solution, a great book for babies of any age since it also has a newborn section, maybe not as structured as this one, but lots of the same ideas. (Another thing that's rather weird, the endorsements for the Happiest Baby book come from Michelle Pfeiffer (actress) Pierce Brosnan (actor) plus lots of other actors and movie directors. I like movies, but when I want advice about baby-care I don't get why these endorsements mean anything.)
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Summary: THIS DOES NOT WORK WITH EVERY BABY!!!
Review: At least it didn't work with my son. Please don't do what I did, & read the reviews & buy this book and think it will be a cure all for your baby. You'll only drive yourself insane. I read all the reviews & the People magazine article & thought this technique would calm my colicky 6 week old, who cries 12 hours a day. While this book is interesting at times, all of the steps do not work all of the times. Swaddling worked twice (yes, I did swaddle him correctly. I even went back to the hospital & had the nurses show me again to make sure I was doing it right.) "Shhhhing" has worked once or twice (I've done it so much sometimes I feel like I'm going to pass out). Swinging hardly ever works and "sucking" doesn't work either becaues my son refuses to take a pacifier. It actually aggravates him & makes him more upset if I try to give it to him. I have done all these techniques together and also seperately time & time again, and have found that some of the things work some of the time, but it is NOT a cure all. If your baby is anything like mine, it will be hit or miss with a combination of Dr. Karps and some of your own. As I said, some of this book is interesting, and some of it is very repetitive. For example, on about every third page or so, Dr. Karp reiterates over & over again that other countries have almost no instances of colicky babies. That's great if your a member of the !Kang tribe in Africa and can carry your baby every waking hour and breastfeed every 10 minutes. Also, Dr. Karp states that colic babies go through their crying spells in the evening and that colic stops after the "fourth trimester" when your baby is 3 months old. I find fault with that, because my son is wicked from 5am to 11am, sleeps most of the afternoon, and then is inconsolable again from 4pm to about 11pm. Also, I have heard from numerous mothers that colic often lasts longer than the average 3 months. I know one mother who's daughter was colic for 8 months. So please don't do what I did & pin all your hopes on this book, and then fall into a deep depression and feel like a bad mother when, after weeks of trying this book's techniques over & over again, your baby still screams for hours. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong until family & friends reassured me that sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop your baby from crying. Even the no-fail car ride doesn't work with my son all the time. Just keep in mind that it is hit or miss, some days one thing will calm your baby and other days it will be something totally different. What calms your baby today may totally aggravate him tomorrow, at least in my experience anyway.
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Summary: The instruction manual we all wished for.
Review: This book is at the top of my list for every parent-to-be I know. It's the instruction manual we wished came along with our newborns. While our friends worked through the first 3 months with their colicky baby, Dr. Karp's loving guidance and the 5 Ss gave us a bit of peace and a chance to experience the joy of the 4th trimester. Now, if only he'd write the "Happiest Parent of a 3 year old" book.
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