Rating: 
Summary: Science or religion?
Review: "Attachment parenting" is a religion with many followers, and Dr Sears is making a lot of money publishing the same information under different titles: "The attachment parenting book", "The fussy baby book", "The fussy book how to bring the best in your high need child"... Save yourself a lot of money, go to your public library, browse through one of his books and decide for yourself. Don't even bother if you are not breastfeeding or are going back to work after having the baby (This book will make you feel guilty!).Instead read "Your fussy baby" by Dr Weissbluth. He provides a scientific explanation for fussiness and gives advises and suggestions on how to deal with it. Furthermore, you'll realize that fussiness is just a phase babies go through (so, you don't have to keep buying books that promise the perfect and only solution)
Rating: 
Summary: It was great just to finally get some reassurance!
Review: After suffering through six months of sleepness nights and napless days, it was great to just hear that we weren't alone - or worse, doing something wrong which was promoting the behavior we so much wanted to get rid of. It was also reassuring to read that what we were instinctively doing would not lead to a spoiled baby later as so many people had told me. It gave us the strength to go on!
Rating: 
Summary: Not terribly impressed
Review: As a first time mom I was dismayed when my baby cried all of the time and only seemed somewhat less miserable in my arms. He wanted, no needed to be touched all of the time. He nursed a lot, and slept very little. He had colic for SIX months and I think I cried along with him every day. We went to the doctor but there was nothing physically wrong with him. I felt like it was our fault,that we were doing something wrong. Until I found this book and bought it out of sheer frustration. Thank goodness for this book and for the Sears! Finally, someone who understood what we were going through. Finally, someone who gave solid advice and ideas for how to deal with the situation. Not to break the baby of his behaviors, but how to deal with them, diffuse them, roll with them and help him grow. I was able to get past the feelings of guilt and failure and be a better parent to the baby we had. As time went by, he slowly grew out of the high needs behavior and now he's a happy, spirited six year old who brings us joy every day. Fortunately, our second wasn't high needs and slept through right away but he's now a very spirited toddler, so I have used this book again, as a reference. For people who expect every word in this book to apply to them evenly, I think you'll be disappointed, that isn't what a reference book is or does. This book will help you in many ways but not everything will be applicable to every single thing, nor is it supposed to make you feel bad if you don't do every single thing they suggest. It's a great reference for those parents who are at their wits' end in dealing with a high needs baby and I am so very glad I found it!
Rating:
Summary: My High Needs Baby is Now a Happy Six Year Old
Review: As a first time mom I was dismayed when my baby cried all of the time and only seemed somewhat less miserable in my arms. He wanted, no needed to be touched all of the time. He nursed a lot, and slept very little. He had colic for SIX months and I think I cried along with him every day. We went to the doctor but there was nothing physically wrong with him. I felt like it was our fault,that we were doing something wrong. Until I found this book and bought it out of sheer frustration. Thank goodness for this book and for the Sears! Finally, someone who understood what we were going through. Finally, someone who gave solid advice and ideas for how to deal with the situation. Not to break the baby of his behaviors, but how to deal with them, diffuse them, roll with them and help him grow. I was able to get past the feelings of guilt and failure and be a better parent to the baby we had. As time went by, he slowly grew out of the high needs behavior and now he's a happy, spirited six year old who brings us joy every day. Fortunately, our second wasn't high needs and slept through right away but he's now a very spirited toddler, so I have used this book again, as a reference. For people who expect every word in this book to apply to them evenly, I think you'll be disappointed, that isn't what a reference book is or does. This book will help you in many ways but not everything will be applicable to every single thing, nor is it supposed to make you feel bad if you don't do every single thing they suggest. It's a great reference for those parents who are at their wits' end in dealing with a high needs baby and I am so very glad I found it!
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: Don't read this book if you don't practice "Attachment Parenting". It has no help for you if you don't subscribe to the Sears way. I also prefer "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp. The methods in Dr. Karp's book worked WONDERS!
Rating:
Summary: Positively Reassuring
Review: Dr. Sears provides down to earth suggestions and solutions to coping with a fussy baby. He also provides some reassurance to new parents who aren't quite sure what to do with a screaming baby. I think his ideas about parenting are logical and seem to reinforce what intuitively I already knew. Dr. Sears also provides support for his beliefs about attachment parenting and sharing sleep. It's also wonderful to hear that his style of parenting is not an all or nothing style. He merely suggests that parents need to do whatever works for them and their unique little person. Ultimately, Dr. Sears just wants parents to be just that, PARENTS.
Rating:
Summary: It's my son in print!
Review: During the first few weeks of my son's life, I would have gone utterly out of my mind without this book! Before he was born, I thought fussy babies happened only to other people -- those who didn't see a midwife, have a homebirth, live simply, plan to attachment parent... you get the idea :) I have been humbled completely by his personality... and this book sooo helped me to realize that his fussiness wan't anyone's fault; he was just born wired that way. And it has been an excellent reference for us to work with his needs instead of against them, and realize that his traits, so annoying at times when he was littler (he's now four months old), will help him out as an adult. [It's funny now, watching video of us when he was a newborn; we speak as though we're in the midst of a hostage crisis, counting the days since his birth. We didn't think we'd have another, but are now already considering it in a couple of years. It started out tough, but he's now a very energetic, serious, hyper-interested baby, and we love him dearly.]
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Summary: BUY IT NOW!!
Review: I am a pediatrician and a first-time mother. My extremely colicky son was not what I expected from motherhood. This book was both reassuring and informative. I saw myself and my son in nearly every description. My only regret is not buying it sooner! My son is now a well-adjusted 21 month old. We are much better at predicting his "high-needs" and he is much better at verbalizing them to us. However, I still refer to it often as both a mother AND a pediatrician. I have recommended it to many families in my practice. Even if you are not a big believer in attachment parenting, there is very useful advice in this book.
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Summary: This book made me feel better about my child!
Review: I bought this book after feeling angry and disappointed that my son's temperament did not match up with what is considered normal in most parenting books. I kept wondering what I was doing wrong to make him so cranky all the time. After I bought the Searses book, I felt so much better. It describes all sorts of personality traits common to high need babies, but instead of making them seem like a curse, the authors show how these traits are beneficial for the child now and later in life. If you are at your wits end because you feel like you can never put your baby down without him/her crying or that your baby wants to nurse all the time-get this book. You will feel so much better.
Rating: 
Summary: If in need of expert validation, this is for you...
Review: I bought this book thinking it would be nice to be able to relate to parents who had experienced these 'types' of babies (I am very wary of the term 'high need') - that perhaps they would offer some new insights or approaches I hadn't thought of. What I didn't buy it for was outside or expert validation from being criticised by family and friends for not letting my baby cry it out... I am not the type to need outside validation. Additionally, there are one too many references to God which put me off, advice like 'let go, let God' just isn't my cup of tea, but to each his own. While this book is good for mothers who doubt themselves and their own instincts as it provides the necessary 'expert,' outside validation some new mothers may desire, it is a shame we need expert validation in the first place. It doesn't take an obsessive number of kids and a PHD to be an expert parent, you only need your own baby. Rather than spending money on such advice (ie validation), perhaps you might consider just telling yourself what this book is saying at much greater length, only in four simple words: 'your instincts are right.' but you probably already knew that anyway.
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