Rating: 
Summary: Lots of bashing by people who are misinformed
Review: I am shocked at all the bad reviews. I cannot believe what I am reading! Since a lot of people writing reviews feel the need to share their background and religious affiliation I have included a few of my "stats". I am an early childhood educator turned stay at home mom (and I love evry minute of it!) Yes I am a Christian and am a little offended by those implying that those using babywise are somehow doing something wrong. To those people I say, you obviously did not read the book or did not comprehend the meaning AT ALL. This book is wonderful and a lot of these bad reviews seem to be from people who have not read the book, but rather have a perceived understanding of it's contents. The book does not condone denying your child food, love, or tenderness. It simply gives you a plan for getting your child on a schedule and warns against "traps" we all fall into.
Examples of these traps:
1. NEVER putting the baby down-according to Dr. Sears babies should be held 24 hours a day (yes I did read his book from cover to cover, I am not just pontificating)
2. ALWAYS offering the breast or bottle if the baby cries -perhaps the baby just needed a change or scenery-they get bored too.
3. SLEEPING WITH BABY because it's easy or fills some need of YOURS. Every person I know who has their kids in their beds, wishes they had never started this habit, even if they do like the snugglesI have a 16 month old son. He was a happy, healthy, newborn. He ate all the time, and I was always holding him. (Sound familiar Dr. Sears fans?) I had read the BABY BOOK by Dr. Sears and according to him I was doing everything right. The only problem was that my baby would only go to sleep if I nursed him, always wanted to be held-24 hours a day, and I was exhausted and stressed, but wanted so much to do the right thing. Somehow doing all the things in Dr. Sears book seemed to be doing more harm then good. I have several friends that used this method and their kids are so well behaved, well rested and confident. So at 3 months of age, we started to use babywise. Within 3 days, my son was napping on a schedule and sleeping through the night! (10-12 hours!) I breastfed him when he was hungry and comforted him when he cried. I never let him cry for more than 5 minutes and he always knew mommy was there for him. He did not suffer. He is not scarred for life. He is a confident and energetic child who LOVES his routine. He looks forward to nap time and has no trouble at all going to bed for the night. My final sdvice is to sort through the review and see that those who have had success modified the program in some way to find balance. That is the key. Don't follow any parenting book/philosophy blindly. Use your instincts and get your kids in a routine. This is a great start.
P.S. I do like Dr. Sears book as a source of info., but as for the sleeping advice (have all your children sleep with you until they choose to have their own bed-whatver age that is!) and his advice on carrying your child all day long (again-how will a child learn to be independent if he is never off your hip?) I think you need to read for yourself and see..
Rating: 
Summary: DON"T DO IT
Review: Babies are supposed to be loved and cuddled - not put on schedules & left to cry. Don't do this to your child. Life is messy, and so are babies they can's & shouldn't be scheduled - having kids means sometimes they sleep & sometimes they don't. This method is creul & wrong!
Rating:
Summary: Decide for yourself.
Review: I would never advise someone NOT to read something. Why substitute my judgement for your own? Sure, read this book. Then read several other books. Read at least one by Dr. Sears. Take from each what works for you and your family. I think the danger here lies in NOT HAVING a parenting philosophy, which leaves you trying random approaches and being reactionary. It's also dangerous to only expose yourself to ONE view, be it Ezzo's, Dr. Sears's, or your pediatrician's. ALWAYS get a second opinion. And trust yourself. No one knows your baby or your family or your sitation better than you. Arm yourself with a wide variety of information and THINK before you act. Never do something simply because "the doctor said so," or "the book said so," or "some woman in an amazon.com review said so." Just for the record, I practice my own brand of parenting which has resulted in two VERY happy, healthy, well-behaved, intelliegent, loving little boys. You can tell by the score I gave it that I didn't use much from this book. If you're worried about "wasting money," check it out from the library.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT buy this book
Review: This book supports extreme parenting. If you carefully read all the reviews of this book, even the positive reviewers clarify their opinions with something like "you need to apply some common sense to this book" or "take the good and leave the bad". If using a parenting resource requires you to use that much effort to sift out the bad, why bother? If you are looking for a moderate parenting resource, you should read Tracy Hogg's "Baby Whisperer". At the very least, if you are interested in parenting at the extremes, like Ezzo, also read the author at the other end of the parenting spectrum, Dr. Sears. While I am an admitted advocate of Sears, I think most loving parents who follow their hearts on what is best for their children will find themselves parenting somewhere in between. Ezzo is dangerous for the vulnerable and uninformed.
Rating:
Summary: baby wise
Review: This is not going to be a discourse on the extremely wide-ranging recommendations of pediatricians - too much controversy. My wife and I used (with minor variation) the principals of Baby Wise on both our children against the wishes of her entire family. They were all shocked that both children consistently slept 11-12 hours per night by the time they were 3-4 months old (they still do after years). We receive compliments daily on their excellent behavior, happy dispositions, and high intelligence. Both are perfectly healthy, and my wife and I, unlike many of our friends, have the entire evening to ourselves every night. This may not seem like much, but it is vital to maintain a healthy relationship. Baby Wise does not just work on calm, good-natured, naturally sleepy babies. It has worked on every baby I know of whose parents used it, and it usually ends up calming down high-strung babies (one, in particular, whose pediatrician recommended against it). Try it, get your life back, and raise a happy, healthy baby!
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A HORRIBLY CRUEL METHOD!!! DON'T DO IT!!
Review: There's no rating lower than one star but this book doesn't even deserve that! Please don't buy this book! Parenting isn't about the easiest method, it's about nurturing your child and making sure that they're taken care of ~ whatever that means for YOUR child. There are so many other methods ~ you have to find one that fits you and YOUR baby. To give in to the methods outlined in this book means resorting to mean-spirited, selfish parenting. These methods are hurtful and harmful to the relationship between you and your child.
Rating:
Summary: Sound advice based on results, not theories
Review: We read all the reviews of this book before reading it, and based on some of them, I expected to find Gary recommending that you flog your kid before bedtime. The reviews here that are negative are blown waaaay out of proportion. The Babywise routine worked exactly as described for us, and our son slept through the night at 10 weeks, which he still does now. Did he cry himself to sleep a couple of times? Yes. Did it harm him? No. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics mentions that this will happen sometimes. Ezzo has a strong belief that the results of various parenting strategies speak for themselves, and I have to agree. Wherever we go, people comment on how happy and content our son is. Without exception, our parent friends who use Babywise have children who go to bed easily and are fun to be around during the day. The ones who are AP parents, or something similar, have children who scream for hours on end at bedtime, don't sleep through (even at 18 months), and are very hard to keep happy. I realize that everyone has a right to their own views, and the right to live with the results of their parenting style. I just want to tell those on the fence that the things you read here are very exaggerated, and you should consider looking at the average of the reviews, not just the extreme voices. In any case, we are now using Babywise 2, and plan to use the rest of his books as well. I can't imagine any other way, especially not having a routine. It brings such an easy day to us both (my son and I)--and the results have been wonderful. Good luck, and enjoy the experience!
Rating: 
Summary: Counting sheep, going to sleep, some people are creeps
Review: Hi everybody. It's me again. I had written a review earlier on this book before my second son was born stating that we were going to try the principles on him as well. I am happy to report that our second son started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks. On our first and second visit to the pediatrician, height and weight were well within norms and, to quote our pediatrician, "keep doing what you're doing.". Funny thing about this is that he doesn't agree with babywise. Of course, I don't agree with everything in the book, but it provides a framework to where you and your family can pattern your lives to predictable patterns and keep the sanity of the enitre family in check. The book could have been better edited because it isn't the best in terms of being well written. But if you follow the principles which includes monitoring signs of baby growth, and add a dash of love, then this is the book for you. I have to go back to another statement I made. I believe that failure to thrive problems happen if you go halfway in your parental philosphy by just thinking that you are feeding them but not looking to make sure they are getting fed.
Rating:
Summary: Babies CAN be easy!
Review: As the parents of 4 children (in less than 5 years), we often hear, "You are so lucky..." when referring to our kids sleeping easily and adjusting well. Luck has nothing to do with it. My husband and I MADE them that way, and Babywise helped us. We didn't follow the book 100%, but it follows a logical and natural pattern that fits our lives. (New parents seem to throw logic out the window when a baby is born.) Don't we all wake up, eat and go about our business? Then why wouldn't we want to TEACH our babies to do the same? The fact is that newborns don't know what hunger is. We TEACH it to them, and then wake and sleep patterns follow. There is nothing cruel about that. In using Babywise, my kids never cried excessively, and I never felt even once that I was treating them in an unloving way. My 4 children were and always have been very happy, predictable, and routined little people. Now, being a bit older, they understand they are not the center of our family. They lovingly accept that they are an extension of their father and me and our intimate bond -- and I think in years to come they will respect that all the more. Did Babywise make all of this happen? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Mr. Ezzo and Dr. Sears have totally different appoaches to parenting. The point is -- You have to decide how you want parenthood to affect the rest of your life. Do you want to lose your couplehood, your bed, your date nights (your sexual drive, too) and your individuality because you are lost in motherhood and are too tired from dealing with your kids' sleeping and adjustment issues? Or would you rather enjoy parenthood as an extension of yourself and your couplehood? I prefer the latter, and that is why Babywise worked for us. Because my kids have been routined (flexiblity plays in, too) since they were born, I can still attend to my own desires and needs and also grow with my husband in our marriage. Devoting time to these aspects of me directly affects the kind of mother and wife I am. If I am 100% fulfilled as an individual, then I can also be 100% wife and 100% mother. It's a win-win situation, and I totally believe getting your babies on a good, predictable routine plays an important key in all of that and your overall happiness. "How can you do it all?" friends ask me. It's really not that hard when I know exactly what time my kids will eat and sleep each day. Babywise doesn't have to be hard or seem unnatural. I think it's all a matter of your prespective. Our oldest is now 6, and I will continue to recommend Babywise to new parents.
Rating:
Summary: Take What is Useful, Leave the Rest!
Review: I read this book while I was pregnant, and thought that the advice was great. It sounded easy and because I am a person who likes routine, I thought it would work perfectly. Some things look better on paper than they do in real life. I did establish a 3 hour flexible routine with my son, which he has thrived on. The sleep/nap advice, however, I found to be difficult to swallow. I tried letting my newborn cry himself to sleep, but just couldn't take it! It didn't work for us. After about 3 months, however, I was able to let my baby fuss before his nap (only for a few minutes) and then drift off to sleep. I found that tolerable. Now that my son is 5 months old he does sleep through the night (which he's been doing since 10 weeks old--I'm not sure if it was the regular schedule or the maturation of my child) and takes 3 naps a day. I think that Babywise is definetly worth a read even though it is "preachy", but as a new parent what I have learned is that you take out of books what works for you and leave the rest! You have to do what works for you and your family. I love Dr. William Sears, but I had no desire to share my bed with our baby.
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