Rating: 
Summary: Must have
Review: This book is a tool. Use it as you would any tool, with some good judgement-that is how it is intended.
It is a complete lifesaver.
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful With Twin Babies
Review: I am a mom of happily unplanned, unexpected eleven week old twin girls. I have read plenty of books during my pregnancy and continue to educate myself. I had a wonderful pregnancy, delivered my girls naturally and without drugs, and have two healthy happy babies. No book can truly tell you how to be a parent. I have learned to eat up information, chew it up and spit it out, because no book has all the answers. I'm so intrigued by the people who write harsh, negative reviews about this book, and lengthy reviews at that. I have only been using Babywise for a week and can see and feel the difference in myself and my babies, and I know it's going to continue to be positive. I understand that it may not work for everyone, and a month or two from now it may not work for us, but I feel really good about that - it's a choice. If a parent can be in tune with themselves and their baby or babies, that is the best guide. To those who find this book so terrible - try having two babies at once and then bash this book. The sample schedule in the book was recommended to me by another mother of twins who used it successfully. Previously, my girls would eat at different times and maybe I would get an hour in between feedings. There is a chapter in this book for parents of multiples that I found helpful. Having them both eat and sleep at the same time is wonderful. Flexibility is important, and the book stresses that, but some sort of routine is necessary, especially with more than one baby. I now have a better handle on my day and I'm much happier and am getting more sleep and my girls are growing beautifully. I wrote this review in hope that it might help another parent with multiples. I'm not following it to the letter, and doing everything it suggests. I do have my own mind. Perhaps the negative reviewers just need more sleep.
Rating: 
Summary: dangerous--please look elsewhere
Review: This book is an incredible dangerous book for first time parents. Whether or not you believe in the Crying it Out Method, this book sets up mothers, especially nursing mothers for failure. It can contribute to babies depression as they learn to give up on their parents who are not responding to their needs. They can fail to thrive while parent are sticking to the schedule. Ezzo has been repeatedly criticized for his misinformation. This is not Christian parenting. Responding to a child's needs at this early age is not spoiling it is making sure he's changed, not hungry, and loved. Please do more research on your choice of parenting books. Please look Ezzo up on the web and get both sides of this story. I urge you to trust yourself and not let people who don't know you or your baby to dictate how you should handle your child.
Rating:
Summary: BabyWise is ANYTHING BUT WISE!!!
Review: I read BabyWise as a reccomendation from a friend's friend. After reading one chapter I knew I would not agree with a fraction of what the book sais, but I read on anyway. All I can say is: YUCK! What a heartless way to raise an infant. Try Dr. Sears' Baby Book.
Rating:
Summary: Read it if you must, but talk to your doc before using.
Review: I have read this book, cover to cover.I have also consulted with the American Academy of Pediatrics. I have also looked through scientific journals to find support for the statements Gary Ezzo makes in this book. I have read nearly every document on www.ezzo.info, both in the PRO and the CON section. Thus, I will not use the Baby Wise method with my child. I hope that you will think carefully about where you place your trust when deciding on feeding/sleeping/scheduling methods for your precious baby. For me, I am only swayed by solid scientific evidence. I am not swayed by eloquent but baseless prose. I am disappointed that Amazon will consistently display the 5-star rating for this book (in order to boost sales, I'd imagine) above the more numerous 1-star ratings that follow. Shame, shame.
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Book Ever Written
Review: Read this before reading this terrible book:
http://www.ezzo.info/ First, the methods in this book may work; for the same reason babies in orphanages don't cry. Gary Ezzo has absolutely NO medical training, and his theories are completely without foundation, so the best he can do is make up reasons why people should follow his program. Multnomah Publishing will no longer publish any of Ezzo's books and he has been ex-communicated from two churches. Why would anyone listen to what he has to say?! Ezzo claims that infants will be in "metabolic disarray" if they are fed on cue instead of a schedule. This unsupported claim is simply contrary to what pediatricians know to be the case (you know, doctors who actually know something about children). Following Ezzo's advice has resulted in infants failing to thrive in many cases. He recommends making an infant to wait until the next scheduled feeding even if the baby is hungry, because it will teach them to "take a full feed." This is a recipe for disaster, particularly for breastfed infants, who by nature's design will vary their intake from feeding to feeding. Doctors believe that one of the reasons breastfeeding results in less obesity later in life is that babies learn to eat the right amount, whereas bottle fed babies are more likely to learn that they should feel stuffed after a meal. He claims that breastfeeding your baby too often (more often than his schedule allows) results in lower milk production. This is simply false, and you will not find a person educated in lactation who agrees with him on this. The reality is that many women who follow his system find they lose much of their milk supply, usually around 5 months. I wouldn't use Ezzo's recommendations to train a dog, let alone my precious baby girls.
Rating:
Summary: The Baby Wise System Works
Review: I am a firm believer in the Baby Wise system. I used this book as a GUIDE with both of my happy, healthy, much loved children. I can attest to the fact that you can exclusively breast feed succesfully using this system. I breast fed both of my children for a year. I was able to go 10 hours in between the last night feeding and the morning feeding with no problems. I always had an abundant supply of milk and I did not return to ovulation until after I finished breast feeding. Every woman's body is different and every child is different. It is irresponsible to say this system cannot work. I loved knowing exactly when my children would be hungry or tired. It took alot of pressure off of me as a mom and allowed me to love my children without wondering what they needed. If you are a person who is schedule oriented and likes to be organized, I think you will enjoy this book and find its principles helpful. If you are more spontaneous and like to take things as they happen, this book may not be for you.
Rating:
Summary: Babywise believer and exclusively nursed for 1 year
Review: I am very surprised to read all of these negative reveiws, especially the ones that claim you can never nurse a baby with this type of schedule. I followed Babywise and nursed by now 2 1/2 old daughter for over 1 year. I plan to follow baby-wise with my second child due next month. The plan is especially helpful for mothers who want to continue nursing when they go back to work. By the time I went back to work (part-time) when my daughter was 4 months she was on a predictable schedule which allowed me to continue nursing. I do know know how mother's who nurse on demand can continue very long when they have to return to work. I will admit there are some things in book I don't completely agree with but I used the information as a guide, not a bible. I would hope that most mother's would gleen what is most helpful to them. What was most helpful to me what how to go about getting the baby on a schedule.
Rating:
Summary: Baby Unwise
Review: I love how people claim that reviews they don't agree with are written by people who haven't read the book. I have read the book. I will say that before I had a child, and before I had read books written by more credible and educated authors, I too thought Babywise made sense. But then, once I had an actual baby, and once I was more educated, I realized that Babywise is complete and utter nonsense. Instead of responding to your newborn, Babywise tells you that your instincts are wrong and that you should just let a newborn cry and work it out themselves. Some babies do learn not to cry anymore since their cries are not responded to -- just as babies in orphanages don't cry. Other babies become fussier. Check out ezzo.info for numerous personal stories of how following Babywise resulted in serious problems, such as failure to thrive, detachment disorder, etc. Ezzo starts by making up examples of babies parented in other ways and then claims that these babies are fussy, etc. Then he tells you that to avoid this, you must follow his recommendations. He is particularly critical of attachment parenting. What's interesting to note is that he has permitted NOT ONE single peer review of the studies he claims to have conducted. That is because he has conducted no studies and simply makes it up as he goes along. At any rate, I will say that my baby has been raised using what is closest to attachment parenting principles, and people are constantly commenting on how happy she is, how lucky we are that she is such an easy baby, etc. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that babies raised in a loving, responsive environment will be happy children. His breastfeeding "information" is just plain wrong, and no one educated in lactation agrees with him on these issues. Most women cannot sustain a good milk supply with his "schedule," and in fact, most women following Ezzo have supply problems that show up around 4-5 months. Babywise is clearly for the convenience of the parents, and not in the best interest of the baby, developmentally or otherwise. Babywise, through its schedules, attempts to get a baby to sleep longer that he is developmentally ready to sleep (and this is one of the reasons breastfeeding moms have trouble with their milk supply under this system). My baby slept through the night when she was ready at about 4 months, which doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice for a parent to make. One of the circumstances in which Ezzo recommends deviating from his schedule and feeding a hungry baby "early" is when others will be bothered by the crying (like on an airplane). This is just another illustration of how his system is concerned only with adult's convenience and comfort, not a newborn baby's. I am an adult who, particularly as a parent, can be expected to make sacrifices that are not appropriate to expect a newborn infant to make. Ezzo says that by cue-feeding your baby (as recommended by doctors), you will end up with a demanding toddler and child, etc. This is nonsense and contrary to what studies have shown. Just because you feed a newborn when he is hungry instead of by an adult-imposed schedule does not mean that you will give a toddler everything he wants. Ezzo makes this jump without providing any proof, because such proof doesn't exist. When you read his books, it's clear that Ezzo doesn't like children. He also lacks even the most basic education. There are much better books out there. Buy one of those instead.
Rating:
Summary: If you really want to breastfeed stay away from BabyWise!
Review: I don't believe any exclusive breastfeeders who wanted to last at least the first 6 months, have had Ezzo's system actually work for them, most women HAVE to nurse or pump at least every 1-3 hours and not go over 6 hours once a day, that is 8-12 times or more for a good supply and a gaining baby. If you want your breastfeeding relationship with your child to last, please avoid this book. If you try to stretch out your feedings and nurse or pump fewer than 8-12 times in 24 hours the majority of women WILL lose their milk. The science of making milk is frequency. MANY scientific evidence-based references are available about this! Longer periods will not make more milk and allow your child to drink more! Longer and longer periods will cause WEANING, and supplementing with formula or food way too early. Your baby will actually become more disorganized and probably fall asleep even more quickly because he is exhausted from crying and trying to wait. Some will even refuse to eat. Why do you think the mothers in the 50's, 60,s and 70's could not keep their breastfeeding up, because they were told to nurse every 4 hours and to stop breastfeeding at 10:00 p.m. at night, wait 8 hours and not nurse again until 6:00 a.m. in the morning. This is not physiologically feasible. Only 5-6 times in 24 hours! Sleep is another issue. YOU should not go over 6 hours once in a 24 hour period or your milk will diminish and ovulation will return sooner. The LAM method of birth control/child spacing could not work in these families. Ten hours is NOT something to expect in any baby. Babies need the higher rate of arousability that happens in the 2-3 month of age period because of the higher SIDS rate in this group. So your baby should be awakening or stirring one or two times per night, then the breastfed baby may actually go a bit longer at the 4-6 month or more age than the formula fed baby. Again this is evidence-based, scientific research. Then teething, and illness might wake your baby or the child that just begins to crawl, their are many reasons to start awakening again even after they start that 5-6 hours. 5-1/2 hours is considered all night for a baby and the healthy norm to shoot for. Do the parents here who say their babies sleep the horribly long time of 10 hours exclusively breastfeed with no supplements for at least 6 months? Or are they all formula feeders? And do they actually sleep this long themselves or do they just enjoy spending most of their time with adults and not really want to hold and care for their babies? Don't buy this book! Throw away your clock and schedule and nurse and hold your baby. Buy "The Continuum Concept", learn about "Kangaroo Mother Care" and listen to your baby. "The Ultimate Book of Breastfeeding", "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding", "Touching", "The Vital Touch", "The Scientification of Love", "The Breastfeeding Book", "Listening to Your Baby" "Goodnights, the happy parent guide to the family bed (and a peaceful nights sleep)", "Nightime Parenting", and"The Complete Book of Christian Child Care and Parenting", are all MUCH better choices.
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