Rating: 
Summary: take some, leave some
Review: I came to this book while pregnant with my first child. I enjoyed it very much and took it to heart. However, as the realities of our new baby set it, many of Liedloff's generalizations about the right way to raise a baby came back to bother me. This book tries to import a very cultural specific way of raising a baby to our modernized society. And while I have no objection to this in the purely theoretical, it is important for readers to keep this in mind. What works for people who live in the forest, within a tribal support system, without walls of privacy or electricity, may not translate as well to a mother and baby, alone in their house full of lights and machines. In my own life, I found many of the things I enjoy, like reading and sewing were not mobile enough for my daughter. She craved movement. Of course when I was up and doing things around the house, I would carry her in my sling, but I just didn't DO enough. For the mother who is constantly moving and strong enough, exclusively carrying the baby for the first 6-8 months may be feasible. But I am not this mother. Another important consideration is sleeping. When darkness falls in the deep forest people go to sleep. In our culture this is not the case. We utilize electricity to keep the day going long after the sun has set. And while my daugher would sleep on and off in the sling, she soon became aware that we were not sleeping and the light was on. She began to sleep less and less in the sling and even less in the night with us. I don't think tribal parents have to deal at all with sleeping issues, not because they are super-parents but because the low-tech environment they inhabit mandates sleeping patterns for everyone. Overall, I began to resent the feeling that I was doing my daughter a disservice by not being "primal" enough. In the end I think if you carry your baby as much as you can, feed her breast milk and give her all the love you have, then you are doing your best. I think this book may leave mother's feeling like they can't measure up to the perfect tribal mothers. It is important to realize that their world and our world are VERY different and because of this we may have to amend some of Liedloff's suggestions.
Rating: 
Summary: Unsubstantiated claims
Review: I was very disappointed by this book. Liedoff makes numerous unsubstantiated statements such as, "The continuing need for the missed experiences of the in-arms phase leads us to some very bizarre behavior...our taste for roller coasters, loop-the-loops and Ferris wheels." She essentially blames every adult's idiosyncracies (and even some behaviors that I consider normal) on not being held enough as a child. Liedoff simply blows me away with her Freudian-style judgments, which claim that we (adults) all suffer because of our parents' (however well-intentioned) child-rearing practices. The author doesn't make a single citation or have a bibliography, but simply presents her opinions as facts.
So here's the GOOD NEWS: There is wonderful book by Meredith F. Small, an anthropologist, called "Our Babies, Ourselves" about attachment parenting that is well-written, precise, and backed by numerous references. Furthermore, Small's background in the field is extensive, having lived and studied numerous traditional societies for years. Liedoff, on the other hand, bases her entire book on one experience with some South American "Stone Age Indians" (can we be any more condescending?). And as far as I can tell, she doesn't have any children herself.
Liedoff's writing style is loose and imprecise and her claims unfounded. I discourage readers from buying this how-to parenting book written by a novice, and instead go for "Our Babies, Ourselves," which is ten times more satisfying.
Rating: 
Summary: The Continuum Concept for the Generic Non-Parent Reader
Review: Let me get two caveats out of the way (and forgive the narcissism of my mini-bio):1) Most of the reviews I have seen on this book seem to come from parents and are testaments to the validity or lack of validity of the continuum concept. I am not a parent*. I have no immanent plans to experience parenthood (or to not experience parenthood) at this point and I am painfully nearsighted on this issue. So I have no desire to debate whether the Continuum Concept is 1) the right way to raise a child in this culture, 2) if its feasible or 3) what to do about modern dangers that exist outside of the environment that man evolved under, etc. I read the Continuum Concept at the suggestion of a friend who is a psychoanalyst. I read it for the insight it would give me into my own life and childhood. It is the similar soul that this review is directed toward: the reader who simply wants to understand their own past and present in light of the concepts that Liedloff puts forth. 2) I try not to write reviews just after finishing a particular book. I find that I am still 'impressionable' and it takes a while for me to let the subjectivity of the author pass out of my system. It takes a while to integrate my identity with any new thoughts or perceptions that arise from reading a new book. With that said, I read The Continuum Concept earlier this year and I am amazed at how much the thoughts and ideas that were bubbling in my mind at the time I read the book are still present in my conscious mind. If you want to read a book that will bring your opinions about your upbringing and the whole western system of values under scrutiny, this is the book for you. It's dangerous literature for anyone who is happy with the status quo, but my assumption is that the reactionary reader will simply dismiss everything in the Continuum Concept as invalid. To accept the validity of The Continuum Concept really changes so much about our perceptions of the modern world. It has been quite some time since the seventies when this book was much more revolutionary, and now there is plenty more research and science to corroborate Liedloff's claims. Perhaps she idealized these people that she lived with in the rain forests of South America. But even if she has waxed a tad bit romantic in her opinions of the Yequana (sic) we can still learn something from her observations. The truth is that far too few of us question the system of baby-care in western culture in its totality. We debate how to discipline a child and the proper age to begin potty training and when to wean the child (after we have solved the debate over whether to breastfeed or not). But there are deeper questions we do not ask...and the obvious question that arises from reading Liedloff's book is "are we doing our children a disservice by using any modern child-rearing techniques at all?" Other questions soon arise such as "Are most of us victims of an incomplete childhood?" "Is the average member of westernized society simply trying to fill some unnatural emptiness created in its earliest and hardly memoralbe experiences?" "Is every aspect of our modern culture infected with our skewed beliefs (e.g. happiness is elusive and only to be pursued but never attained)?" Is the most exhilarating experience in life 'falling in love' or is this just a brief lapse into the state of being we should be living our entire lives under?" These are all very interesting questions and if this is the kind of psychological and philosophical introspection that you like to engage in than this is the book for you (and please send me and e-mail because I am generally better for knowing people like you). The book led me to the final question which I am still trying to answer. "Is the combination of our modern upbringing and the modern world we live in so grossly mutated from the environment that mankind evolved in, that there is no way to adapt and find our way back to intuitive living, and the kind of self acceptance (being comfortable in our own skins) that so many of us strive for?" I guess this is a question (like all profound questions) that must be answered through experience, but I am thankful for this book for at least coloring some of my experiences with a new hue. My hope now is that I can get my mother and twin brother to read this book as well, and we can all dialogue about what it meant for our pasts and what it means if anything for the present and future. I gave the book a five star rating because it made me think and it stretched my mind to new dimensions, which gets harder to do as I get older and older. Serenity *[side note: I can see how this book could grossly misfire in the hands of parents obsessed with raising perfect children. I think the idea should be to provide the best environment we know how to for the child and let the child become what it will become without any preconceptions about what a perfect child is like. After all, its questionable if the emotionally unhealthy and stunted are even prepared to recognize the signs of emotional health.]
Rating:
Summary: I am eternally grateful to Ms. Liedloff.
Review: My son was born with what pediatrician William Sears calls a "high needs" personality. From birth, if I set him down for a second, he would cry and protest loudly. He could only tolerate his stroller for 15 minutes and he turned shades of red and purple while riding in the car seat. He needed to touch my body or be held in-arms to sleep soundly. I carried him in my tired, aching arms the first 4 months and refused to put him down, because it never felt right to me to let him fuss, become agitated and cry. Finally, a mother at a local La Leche League meeting showed me how to use my baby sling (OTSBH, then Maya Wrap) when he was 4.5 months old. I read this book when my son was about 5 months old. While I never consciously worried about my son's fussy disposition, I was relieved to finally recognize that my baby was perfectly normal. I thought that "normal" was a baby lying in a crib most of the day staring at a mobile, or one that was carried around in a baby seat or "Moses basket" as I attended to other things. Read OUR BABIES, OURSELVES by MEREDITH SMALL to learn about how culture influences baby care and how human biology is at odds with Western expectations for baby care. My son was just expressing a very strong craving for vestibular movement and appropriate sensory stimulation. Being wheeled in strollers and carried in cars seats for the majority of the day in infancy (a trap I would have fallen into if my baby wasn't so fussy) is NOT good for human development. (Check out the Amazon reviews for SENSORY SECRETS by Catherine Chemin Schneider.) "High need" babies are simply born experts at getting their developmental and emotional needs met. This book convinced me on the spot to stop trying to use the stroller completely. That in itself was freeing to me as I had no idea how much my expectation to use the darned thing was making me tense and frustrated. Once I let that go, and thanks to the baby sling, things became much easier. Basically, Liedloff argues that time spent "in-arms" in infancy is what helps make happy, well-adjusted, non-neurotic adults. A baby should be carried until he expresses a desire to go down. She argues that the reason so many adults are unhappy is because they are endlessly searching for something outside themselves. People use excitement (i.e., bunging jumping, dangerous sports, dangerous treks, endless traveling, etc...) to fill a void, none of which are good enough and they keep trying to top their last exhilarating experience. Or they turn to shopping, or drinking, or drug use (anything in excess) for that something they missed in infancy... feeing whole and connected to something: ANOTHER PERSON. A mother, father, a caregiver... somebody who carried them around where they felt peaceful for the majority of the time. By being carried the baby experiences inner peace and there is no continuous anxiety, where the baby is begging or signaling with smiles and seemingly happy gestures to be held. Essentially, Liedloff showed me that instead of the mother centering her life around the baby, the baby should be in the center of the mother's life/activity. So I went about my daily activities (which included social outtings with new mothers) where he was a happy and peaceful observer in the sling. He was always in the middle of my activity, taking in the sights, smells, real world sounds, feeling swaying gentle movement and generally at peace. My "high touch" in-arms parenting helped my son to feel loved, secure and calm and he settled down considerably. He never cried or fussed in restaurants. Car rides even became easier. Thanks to the baby sling, I never felt like a shut-in with a miserable baby. He learned that happiness (not want) was the normal state of being. My first year was so easy just because I carried him in the sling all the time. Yes, at times it felt exhausting, but I mostly I found it exhilarating to carry and hold my precious baby. It never felt like a burden to me because I knew I was doing right by him, largely thanks to Liedloff's book. In fact, my son's first year was one of the happiest times of my life, thanks to the wonderful bonding and sense of peace that resulted from "babywearing." I never had to deal with frustration, disappointment, feelings of resentment or guilt for having to choose between meeting my babies needs and my own. We were a traveling and peaceful unit. In addition, I highly recommend THE VITAL TOUCH by SHARON HELLER and MAGICAL CHILD by CHILTON PEARCE. Heller presents an abundance of scientific research that explains the biology and importance of touch and the great influence it has on the babies growing brain, body and nervous system. I recommend Heller's book (which essentially validates Liedloff's theories) to any skeptic. Pearce's book expands further on Liedloff's concepts and is a wonderful companion.
Rating:
Summary: Author's Revision
Review: A few paragraphs concerning homosexuality have been misunderstood by some readers as reflecting prejudice. I, the author, feel there was never any negative note in my words, but my speculations in The Continuum Concept, written in the 'seventies, have long since been superseded by better information about the nature of homosexuality So,as the subject is not relevant to the very important thesis of the book, which is for EVERYONE, those paragraphs are being deleted from all editions, including its fourteen foreign language editions and I apologize for any offense perceived.
Rating:
Summary: Can be recommended for everybody
Review: This is one of my three favorite books, together with "The Wild Girl" by Michèle Roberts and "Journey Of the Heart" by John Welwood. It is about how to care for children in order to let them grow up in a happy way. And it's never too late!
Rating:
Summary: timeless kernel of wisdom within a flawed tract
Review: Somehow I had the impression that Jean Liedloff's diamond-in-the-rough work was a comparison of modern day parenting to that of primitive tribes in general; instead, it is primarily her observations on the Yequana tribe of Venezuela. It's obvious that Ms. Liedloff has a great affection for these peaceful people, but that positive bias is apparent, and eventually weakens her argument. It is also often necessary for the reader to make decisions about whether the author, writing in 1975, should be forgiven for her (currently) strange ideas -- using the universal "he" and "man" can certainly roll off one's back, but proclaiming that male homosexuality is the result of a mother's demanding and overattentive nature and female homosexuality the result of cruel or unloving fathers is not so forgivable. If this theory were true it should have better predictive value, yet who today believes her assertion? In addition, Liedloff avers that children's accidents and burns are not caused by children's physical or cognitive limitations but primarily by subconscious suggestions from the parents, even relating (and she should be ashamed) the story of a toddler who died in a drowning accident that was, according to her, caused not only by the parents' admonitions to stay away from the pool but also by their installation of a security fence around it. Furthermore, roller coaster devotees are actually attempting to capture the experience of adventure denied them as children (I can attest from personal experience that this is not the case), and criminality and addiction are explained by the lack of in-arms time, as are child abuse (discussed solely in terms of women abusing their children), promiscuity, martyrdom, acting, academics and compulsive travelling. Neat trick, if you can make it work. I didn't even know compulsive travelling was a problem. That said, this is the theory as created *and interpreted* by Liedloff, and her misapplication of the continuum concept does not invalidate the theory, any more than Sigmund Freud's personal problems invalidated his few brilliant insights into the human psyche. The author's positive bias also shows up in her willingness to view every act by the Yequana as positive, including parties and work sessions at which all tribe members, including children, drink to drunkenness. She lauds the Yequana's lack of parental guidance, saying that praise and scolding are equally corrosive to the child's ability to function later in life. I disagree with that assertion. I believe feedback is important, and I believe in praise and encouragement. The author shrugs off anomalies such as the Yequanas, despite their having achieved perfect serenity, nonetheless having a mythology of a fall from grace and a yearning to achieve a better state. She also ignores contradictions, stating that modern humans search for physical contact because we were denied it in early life, but the Yequana enjoy physical contact because .... this is not explained. These particular passages convince me that the Yequana probably have a more realistic self-regard than does Ms. Liedloff. Reading this, in it's unfinished, untested, doctoral-thesis-that-never-got-turned-in state, you can see why scientific methods, for all their limitations, are valuable. Having criticized, I will say that when the author gets it right, she gets it profoundly right. Simple statements she makes are well stated and ring true: The intellect is not always our only, or our best, guide. There is an evolutionary dance, informed by experience, between expectation and design. A spirit of competition is not always appropriate. We need to make the assumption of innate sociality. Happiness should be a normal condition rather than a goal. Parents do not own children. Children, though less physically powerful, are no less human and have no fewer rights than adults; consequently, children should be treated with respect and dignity. While the Liedloff version of the continuum concept had little predictive value in the area of social science, she shows some timely insight into what was then becoming cognitive science, and offers some fertile material for artificial systems modellers. As a parent, an education librarian and a substitute teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed the author's introduction of the ironically radical underpinnings of attachment parenting concepts as well as her suggestions for social change. As a cognitive science researcher and an optimistic populist, I was nonplussed by the lack of any bibliography or research -- just opinion and anecdote. There are some tremendously valuable insights here, but the author has slathered it with her own problematic conclusions. For pity's sake, ignore her advice about child safety, which is not appropriate for 21st century parents. My advice is to read this book with an open heart and a sharp mind, and to cull the wheat from the chaff.
Rating: 
Summary: Oustanding introduction to ontogeny
Review: The back cover of The Continuum Concept by Jane Liedloff categorizes this book as "Parenting/Anthropology". An interesting combination, in my opinion, but hopefully one that won't turn away too may readers. Most people looking for parenting books don't have much time for anthropology, and there isn't a great demand for anthropology books on their own--it's a suprise this book ever gets read. But Liedloff doesn't seem too interested in parenting fads or commercial success, and we are all better off for it. This book presents one simple concept, carefully wrapped in the diaper of a discussion of hunter-gatherer child rearing, that just might live up to the quote on the front cover: "...it could save the world." On the surface Liedloff presents an examination of the differences between child rearing behavior of remote indian tribes of the Amzaon rainforest with modern America. A fascinating if sometimes long-winded account, she explains the "in-arms phase"--how the Yanoami and other hunter-gatherer tribes maintain constant physical contact with their newborns until they voluntarily crawl away, and the resultant lack of both psychological neruosis in their populations and post-partum depression in mothers. To say that such isn't exactly the case in America would make the Brittish look like a culture with a chronic tendancy to exaggerate.
The core concept referenced earlier lies in the reason Liedloff gives for this difference: Over millions of years, humans (and precursor species) evolved to function properly within specific physical, psychological and social parameters. The needs of human genetic ontogeny are sometimes (often?) at odds with the needs of the civilizational machine (where humanity doesn't evolve) that replaced the hunter-gatherer tribe (where they do). Many cultural and personal problems result from the acendancy of the civilizational need over the genetic need--and their solutions may lie in discovering where these needs are in conflict. The applications of this theory are widespread. Liedloff leads the charge with psychological problems stemming from child rearing practices not in concert with "the continuum" of human evolution. Consider, for a moment, how many other things are required of us from "civilization" that we are uniquely maladapted to through evolution: separation of labor into simplistic and repetetive tasks, processed diets high in simple carbohydrates and low in fiber and fresh vegetables, lack of exposure to the unique light spectra of the sun, moon and fire, forced interaction with group sizes far larger than a "tribe", sleep schedules and activity cycles not in tune with nature, the extension of "childhood" years past the clear evolutionary onset of adulthood, a dominion over rather than communion with nature, the list goes on and on. Liedloff makes a convincing case that any parent raising their child outside the "continuum" is doing the child and society a great disservice...I'm happy to say that I know of at least one couple whom this book has influenced to choose to reject society's standards and raise their child "in the continuum". While the books drags at times, and fails to make the theoretical connection between the continuum in child-rearing and in all aspects of life, it is a definite must-read AND must-do. Hopefully the intrepid reader will realize that its true value lies in providing a new framework for looking at life--if we examine our wants and desires within the context that they orriginated to serve either evolution or society, but not us, we can for the first time truly choose for ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: An Idealistic Approach
Review: As an advocate, of natural lifestyle and childbirth, babywearing, attachment parenting, and co-sleeping, I was strongly attracted to Liedloff's book. Her opportunity to fully engulf herself in indigenous cultures allows a perspective that is rare to many Westerners. Though the intentions to have babes in-arms and tend to their needs is a basic desire and understood ideal, the fact that the author has never had children herself (as stated in the book) can upset someone trying to mimic these life choices. Her concept, and any theory for that matter, must be taken in context of their surroundings and culture... We don't have the opportunities to have baby in arms -at ALL times (i.e carseats, out of home jobs, etc). We also don't have the opportunity to let our crawling toddler find his own boundaries like the people in the jungle can in their surroundings. They aren't battling threats automobiles and other modern dangers. What she witnessed must have been awesome! But, don't feel guilty because you can't replicate it here in 21st century modern society. Continue to do your best... Allow yourself to open up to your baby and love entirely - not limited by external pressures, magazine articles, and questionable stairs. Like she advises in the book, you intuitively know how best to raise your child. If it doesn't feel right in your soul, dismiss it- for such things are true.
Rating:
Summary: Just re-read this book agian, after 20 years past.
Review: The simple truth that we (humans) "need" to be physically held "in-arms" as infants [by our mothers], to complete a phase of developement crucial to our individual "well being" the rest of our lives, is the crux. And that if we "don't" get this vital "in-arms" we will search for it all of our days, feeling unfulfilled, desperate and needy. It is funny how when I read this book back when, and tried to implement the process, by breastfeeding and carrying my kids in slings till they became too heavy or wanted to be down, it also evolved into the rest of their lives as well,(and my own). I ended up not ever wanting or needing to be away from my kids. A commitment to continue being there for them, was natural for me, and ultimately progressed to home schooling etc. or whatever you want to call it. I am available to them, and in essence free. Free to live, and love. I recommend this book to one and all, if you desire to know exactly what you need to do, to be a "good" mother. What is healthy and "meant to be".
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