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Summary: This book is very useful
Review: The beauty of PDF is that it teaches parents to THINK before they ACT....Any portion of PDF that a parent doesn't agree with, they are free not to do it. Take what you like and toss the remainder.My son began sleeping through the night by seven weeks of age. At 20 months old, he is a very loving, confident, and rested little guy. Ezzo strongly urges mothers to breast feed, opposes sling wearing, co-sleeping, and general AP techniques. Some mothers reject the idea of routines with their children. Routines in my household provide stability and an established framework by which my son and family can totally rely. During the day and at night, there is no guessing what happens next. My son is happy and secure and PDF helped make that possible.
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Summary: Wonderful resource leads to confident parents!
Review: I strongly recommend On Becoming Babywise! It is a wonderful resource that has made a huge difference in our family. Every day we thank God for the Ezzos and their book! Everything in the book came true. For example: our daughter learned to sleep through the night at 8 weeks, we did not have to baby proof our house, and everywhere we went people said "what a happy baby." Whenever we had a concern we opened the book and found the solution listed right there. It gave us confidence in our parenting because we had a resource to which to turn. Our daughter has just turned 2 and now naps two hours in the afternoon and sleeps 11 hours at night. Because she is so well rested, she is alert and happy during the day. We know 3 other couples that had babies at the same time we did. All of us followed the Babywise principles and we all had great results. Each of our children is unique, with a different temperament and different skills - and they all are flourishing. We all also implemented the principles in Babywise II and the class called "Growing Kids God's Way." I have studied most of the criticism of Babywise and of the Ezzos. Sometimes I wonder if the critics have even read the book! I find the most common critisism to be that people didn't want their babies to cry when hungry. Neither does Babywise! Babywise says over and over to feed your baby if it's hungry. So, don't let that worry stop you from reading the book. Other critics say it is the easy way out and solely for the convenience of the parent. Parenting is an incredibly important responsibility and I don't think it is ever easy. However, using this book you at least have a basic parenting philosophy and a baseline against which you can compare other advice. I recommend it wholeheartedly!
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Summary: I strongly recommend this book!
Review: Many recommended this book to me, and when I first heard about it in 1995 before I had children, I was skeptical and a little defensive about the concepts. Now that I am a parent I realize the value of getting a good nights sleep and the importance of teaching your children how to sleep through the night at a young age. I read this book before my son was born and I doubted the theory would work, but decided to try it since it worked for so many of my friends and family members. My son was sleeping five hours at night from the get go, eight hours at eight weeks, and ten hours at twelve weeks just like the book said, and I still refer to the book weekly now that my son is fifteen weeks old. The secret for me was to be strict with the schedule in the first few weeks. This was not easy for me, but I am thankful now as I have a very content baby, and people cannot get over how relaxed we are and have been from the very beginning. This book is for any parent who wants to learn how teach their baby how to sleep through the night at a young age. Thank you Gary Ezzo for your insight!
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Summary: Very Helpful
Review: As far as Babywise goes, I operate in two different spheres. I have friends who have read and basically implemented Babywise principles and those who haven't. The differences are remarkable. In one group of friends, everyone tells horror stories about being up all night, wives feeding through the night at eighteen months, etc. In my other group of Babywise friends we stopped talking about sleeping through the night long, long ago. Nobody's child wakes up in the night more than once in a couple of months and certainly no one's child eats in the middle of the night. Coincidence? I find it hard to believe. Some posts to this page have claimed that the Babywise "system" is flawed because Ezzo is not a doctor but a theologian or because he has had disagreements with some organizations with which he has been associated. That might all be true but, after all, who cares? Take his suggestions as you would (and should) from any source, published or not - as suggestions only. Only by examining something closely can you determine its truth. As for Ezzo's critics, it's worth noting that sometimes people who challenge the standard orthodoxy of their time (in this case Feed on Demand "theology") are proved right regardless of their credentials or reputations. Galileo understood that the earth goes around the sun despite criticism from the official and respected authorities of his day who discredited and made fun of him. In the end, the only thing he had going for him was the fact that he was right. So many of these posts (especially the flaming, negative ones) seem to take a political stand on the book; that is, people are for it or against it ideologically and not practically. They think: This book can't be right because I hate Gary Ezzo's kind of people. Talk about judging a book by its cover. If you're nervous just give it a read, it won't bite. If you don't like it you can put it down and it won't creep back onto your bedside table and whisper in your ear. We used Babywise and found it, by and large, to be very insightful so I'll just add one more testimonial to this list. After I finish this post I'll go in and check on my little boy who is sleeping and will, most likely, continue to sleep through the night as he has for the past hundreds of nights in a row. Judge for yourself.
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Summary: Abusing Children is Not Christian Parenting
Review: This book is truly apalling. The so-called Christian methods of the Ezzos have been condemned by the American Academy of Pediatrics (a very conservative organization) because so many infants whose parents have followed the advice in this book have had to be treated for failure to thrive (read: starving). The Ezzos have no training at all in nutrition or in the mechanics of breastfeeding yet insist in promoting a rigid feeding schedule which causes breastfed babies to starve, promoting the idea that most modern mothers sadly "can't" breastfeed. I am not even going to go into their ridiculous ideas about how infants are spoiled if you hold them and attend to them or about how they advocate striking babies. Please avoid this book if you care about your child's health. God does not condone child abuse.
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Summary: On Becoming Babywise
Review: I had to cringe at some of the reviews that people have written on this book! I find it interesting that one must defend themselves for wanting to sleep at night once they have a baby! As a Mother of 8 month old twins, who was given the book as a gift and read it when they were almost 2 months old, have become a believer that my children are happier and more secure than others I am around that have not used Ezzo's method! I find that everyone asks what I have done to make the babies so good and content! I think it was hard work to follow this schedule at first and that must be why some people find it an unacceptable method! I must say when the babies were still very young I wished that some parts of the book would have been more explanitory, but I now realize that is the beauty of Ezzo's method...It can fit to your lifestyle as you choose. You can be as strict or as flexible as need be. My children have NEVER cried more than 8 minutes to get to sleep, and that isn't very often! And even at 8 months they are the longest 8 minutes of my life, but the babies wake happy and ready to play! They were preemies and have thrived on this feeding schedule! So I am confused as to why anyone would say it is unhealthy for a baby, except that maybe the parent rushed their child onto the next step before he was ready! It took much longer for my preemie twins to sleep through the night, but that was o.k with me, as I wanted them to grow and thrive!! I recommend this method if you want content and secure children! This method teaches you, the parent, how to teach your baby to go to sleep without hours of walking the halls! It doesn't ever say, just let the baby cry all night either! It gives you the time to play and love your baby during the day, because the baby is on a schedule that you have designed to help him sleep through the night! We are now reading Babywise II, and just as happy with the method!
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Summary: Lacking common sense and research
Review: Here's what just one author had to say about this book, "Yet many breast-feeding mothers have reported a failure to produce an adequate milk supply when following the program. Some pediatricians see inadequate weight gain, dehydration, and failure to thrive among newborns on the program." This book is so dangerous that Ezzo's editor, Jeff Gerke, was fired when he spoke out about the dangers of this book. The publishing house itself, Multnomah, has waffled in their opinion about Ezzo. Further, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement in April of 1998 about the dangers of this program. LLL has also spoken out against Ezzo's titles. Many, many of the customer reviews state that you need "common sense" to use this program, however, that contradicts the spirit of this book. Ezzo does NOT advocate picking and choosing from this method. In fact, he admonishes parents not to waiver from the program in any way. To me, that's a BIG red flag. Folks, this guy is going to get sued; it's only a matter of time. Check out Dr. Sears Nighttime Parenting for a more balanced and validated approach.
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Summary: Sleep-saver
Review: I laughed when I read the July 4 review from Austin Texas. It was rather overdramatized. This book was recommended to me while I was pregnant with my first child. I went to the bookstore and scanned the book. I thought, "Not very interesting, chance is what makes a baby sleep through the night." I didn't buy the book. I started getting nervous as the due-date got closer. I kept hearing the endless stories of children of all ages not sleeping well. I decided to buy the book. While in the hospital, the nurses told me to breastfeed every three hours. The hospital realized the importance of a schedule. I followed this pattern and the other simple, practical, easy ways to get your child to sleep through the night discussed in this book. Seth slept through the night at eight weeks. He'll be 3 in September and continues to nap from 1:00-3:00 each day and sleeps from 8:00-7:00 each night. His sister Hannah is 14 months old and follows the pattern consistant with this book. I've recommended this book to several people, including a stay-at-home dad with twins. Everyone has come back and thanked me for the recommendation. It would have been difficult without it!
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Summary: Prevented nursing my fifth child
Review: As a sleep-deprived mom of five under age 8, I foolishly followed the advice in this book. As a result, I was unable to produce enough milk - for the first time, after nursing the first four children an average of 10 months each. If you really want to breastfeed, please don't follow the Ezzo's advice.
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Summary: Babies are not dogs - you can't train and *nurture*
Review: The concept that babies can somehow be programmed to do what parents want at such young ages seems to me, a professional nanny for the past 8 years, absurd and borderline abusive. The rigidity of scheduling suggested in Ezzo's book does not work well for every baby. Babbies are different, and inexperienced or insecure parents could easily endanger an infant if they become determined to stick to the harsh scheduling suggested by Ezzo. Any attempt to "train" a baby are sure to backfire, since babies are not pets to be trained - a baby will keep crying for attention if that attention is denied them, whereas a pet will go away eventually if ignored. When a supposed childrearing "professional" suggests restraining a baby's hands when feeding them solid food, and then slapping their hands (at 6 months of age!) if they try to touch the food, I have to believe they know next to nothing about the needs of infants to experience their world through all five senses. A baby is not an animal to be trained in basic hunger/sleep/play behavior by a parent. A baby needs parents who will respond to them, fulfill their needs, and make them feel loved and secure. Ezzo's methods meet none of these basic needs. Do yourself and your baby a favor - trust your instincts, ask for help from family, doctors and friends, and DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!
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