Rating: 
Summary: A high recommendation
Review: This previous reviewer obviously hasn't read the book. It is not what she says it is. My father is a highly reputable pediatrician in our city and he has found the advice (not rules) to be very good. This book gives great advice on starting your baby on solids, as well as how to structure his day to get the most out of his sleeptime and waketime hours. I found it very helpful and informative. These extremists need to read the book first before bashing it. We have followed Ezzo's advice and our baby is 4 mo. now, in the 90th percentile for height, the 75th percentile for weight, he is happy, well-adjusted, and delightful. Plus, he's predictable! I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: read with an open mind
Review: This book has a lot of practical advice for parents it advocates a flexible structured approach to the first months of a childs life. A useful addition to your research and a great aid to new parents who are looking for more useful advice than 'do what feels good'. This book provides some goal posts to steer through, and advises parents to talk to their medical care provider. I know parents who were going crazy after following the advice given by current thinking who found this book a godsend.
Rating:
Summary: It's a viable alternative
Review: Babywise doesn't work with every family--not even with every child within a family--but it is a viable alternative. The authors give practical advice for those who chose not to follow attachment parenting or strict scheduling parenting. This second volume is for those who have successfully established good eating and sleeping schedules, discussed in the first volume. Like the first volume, the authors stress flexiblity within the method. And added bonus is a section on beginning signs that my pretoddler learned with ease. It was a great day in our house when she could stop screaming at me for the next bite of food and could calmly sign "More" at just 8 months old. My only suggestion is that the first two volumes should just be combined into one volume as I did find I would have to go back to the first volume to check some things. I believe in Babywise--my child slept through the night at 7 weeks in her own crib; is in the 95% in both height and weight; she was nursed until 14 months; and she has an extensive spoken and sign vocabulary as well as picking up Spanish.
Rating: 
Summary: ezzo is NOT qualified, he's a BAD parent & zealot!
Review: before you even consider this book, i advise you to do some research. there's a reason this book is so controversial. it's DANGEROUS, and the techniques in this book teach parents to detach from their children. there are lots of links to tons of information about ezzo an his practices.one of the things you will learn if you research this topic is that gary ezzo is NOT a doctor, nor an "expert" in any way shape or form...he is NOT qualified to be giving parenting advice, particularly advice which concerns infant feeding. his only credentials involve theology (religious), NOT children. it is also interesting to note that he has been excommunicated from the last several churches he was a member of, due to many things, not the least of which is his abrasive, dishonest, and rude personality and practices. (is that someone you should be taking parenting advice from?) you should also know that the original publisher of this book has stopped publishing it due to the controversy surrounding it. they did research on the practices in the book and found too many babies suffering from "failure to thrive" after their parents used his techniques. for parents who swear by ezzo's methods...doesn't it concern you in the least that most official experts in the fields of child development and infant care have warned against this book and practices? the american academy of pediatrics are even against it! there are many experts that have even warned that the "preparation for parenting" classes (the christian version of the book that are unfortunately taught in parenting classes at many churches) are verging on cult-like because of the way they teach parents to not share info about the class with outsiders, even pediatricians! and that this way is the ONLY way to raise "godlike" children. (they flat out tell you that if you don't follow these practices you will have brats...and if you have problems with your kids its because you are not following the techniques properly) it is time our culture stopped listening to the unqualified "experts" and started listening to our hearts! there's a reason you feel bad when you practice the techniques in this book! your heart and your child are trying to tell you this is wrong...you're just not listening! PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: It's great!
Review: As with any parenting advise, a person should always use some common sense. For us, this book has some very good ideas that actually worked! My husband and I used the feeding/sleeping methods to train our son to sleep through the night and have had NO problems with him in this area. He's been sleeping and napping in his own bed, all night since he was 9 weeks old. It's heavenly! We still have quiet time with stories and/or songs before bedtime and have cuddle time with him in the morning but when 8:00 PM hits, he WANTS his bed and is very grateful to be in it. I highly recommend this series of books. Again, not all the methods may go along with your particular way of parenting but as for our family, it's been wonderful! I have friends that have sworn they'd never have another child because their child is STILL waking up at 3:30 AM, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT at 13 months old! No wonder they don't want more! They're exhausted! We, on the other hand, are looking forward to the birth of our daughter in April.
Rating:
Summary: This is [a bad] book.
Review: Babies have failed to thrive and even died when parents have followed the advice of this book. Ezzo says that infants who are fed on demand will grow up to be brats who steal, and that they should be fed only every 3 hours, no matter how much they cry. Most child-health experts couldn't disagree more strongly. In the case of breastfed infants, the practice of limiting feeds by the clock in the early months can lead to breastfeeding difficulties, low weight gain, or even dehydration. Do NOT use this book. It advocates cruel and unusal punishment under the guise of biblically inspired parenting advice. Anything less Godly is unimaginable.
Rating:
Summary: please do research before following this book's methods
Review: Talk to your child's doctor and do some research before buying this book. Its advice is not in keeping with current research on childhood development. In some cases children have even been admitted to the hospital because their parents followed the advice in these books. The American Academy of Pediatrics is investigating this book.
Rating:
Summary: very helpful
Review: I found this book very helpful. my baby slept through the night (8 hrs) by 9 weeks-- he's perfectly nourished-- no "failure to thrive". At 13 weeks, he's sleeping 9.5 hrs a night and is happy and healthy. My other friends with babies that are older or the same age are still struggling with getting up at night to feed, re-insert pacifiers, etc. This (getting up & feeding on demand) is a difficult, tiring path to follow, especially if you are a working mom.
As one reviewer noted, take the scheduling with a grain of salt; there's no need to be overly strict or beholden to a schedule.
Rating:
Summary: We loved Ezzo's books . . And then regretted it.
Review: Often people defend Gary Ezzo's parenting materials with "The materials are great! As long as you use common sense and don't follow the books legalistically. . ." The assumption is that there is no inherent problem with Babywise, just in parents not using common sense. Two friends sent me Gary Ezzo's "Babywise" when I was expecting our first. It was interesting, a bit strange--nothing like the other books I had read about infant parenting. But the way in which it was written was persuasive and I found myself skimming over it again. Then the "Preparation for Parenting" classes were offered at our church. In the end, we implemented the PDF routine--with common sense, flexibility, and encouragement from "Contact Moms." My son seemed to do great on it at first--but my son went from a hefty 16 lbs at 3.5 months to 14 lb 2 oz at 6 months. Later I found out that milk supply loss and slowed weight gain is normal within families that implement Babywise. Why? Because it goes against how breastfeeding works, chemically, hormonally and physiologically. And Babywise if full of other *medical* errors, that parents tend to overlook because of how persuasive Gary Ezzo can write. We also used Babywise II and other materials by Gary Ezzo, and recommend avoiding them. If you are interested in the full story of our experience with Babywise, google "Confessions of a Failed Babywiser". Don't waste your time or money.
Rating:
Summary: First Time Parents Must-Have
Review: This book is such a great help for a first time parent such as me and my husband. My mother-in-law searched the whole of the city for this book becuz it was sold out and finally managed to get one.(someone recommended it to her a few years ago). Ironically, she bought it for herself as she was taking care of my sister-in-law's son but she never followed Dr. Ezzo's guidelines. My sister-in-law's son is 8 months older than my son and everytime I visit my mother-in-law, I find her trying to get him to sleep and it's a battle. At the end of trying so hard, she would give up and say the child does not want to sleep, so let it be. Now, every sleep/nap time is a battlefield. And the poor baby is cranky and fussy because he really wants to sleep. My baby boy on the other hand sleeps well and is a thriving, happy baby. I would definitely recommend this book to all first time parents.
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