Rating: 
Summary: Keep it in perspective
Review: This book has some good ideas, but the ideas need to be kept in perspective. The book seems to contradict itself in many places.The schedule is great. Even many adults (maybe not all) thrive on a schedule. Waking up your baby during the day and letting the baby wake you up at night allows your baby to tell night from day (this was recommended by a lactation nurse at the hospital). Also, you catch the baby before he/she is extremely and uncomfortably hungry when you use a schedule. But use your head, not the clock (even the book says this). If your baby is hungry, feed him or her. It seems like some babies may need to feed every 2 to 2 1/2 hours and not 2 1/2 to 3 like the book recommends. Like the nurse at the pediatrician's office told me - it doesn't do anyone any good to constantly nurse the baby every hour. Another idea that is helpful is to avoid "sleep props". I believe that, from day one, my job as a parent is to teach my child independence. This doesn't mean that I prefer that she not need me, but she needs me to teach her, to love her, and to give her the security and self confidence to be indepenent. At a young age, independence means teaching her to put herself to sleep instead of depending on a sleep prop like the swing, rocking, and nursing. This also helps me as a parent. I am less stressed and better rested because she doesn't depend on me to get to sleep. The pattern of eat, waketime, and sleeptime also seems to be helpful, although I am unsure if it is as critical as the schedule and avoidance of sleep props. It does seem to help stretch feeding times if the last thing that the baby does is sleep. In the end, USE YOUR BRAIN. Like EVERYTHING ELSE you read, pull from this book what works for you.
Rating: 
Summary: It works!
Review: My daughter is now 17 months old and is a very good example of how this book does work. We purchased Babywise when she was 5 weeks old (and we were extremely exhausted from waking up several times at night with a newborn who would only nurse for a couple of minutes before falling asleep for another hour or so). After establishing a daily routine for her as the book suggests, and helping her to eat well at her nursings instead of just snacking, we saw a huge improvement in her sleep habits. By the time she was 7 weeks old, she was sleeping 8 hours straight at night and became a very easy-going baby in the day. We continued using the methods in this book and her sleep contined to surprise our friends (who's baby's were not sleeping so well). Another wonderful bonus is how easy going and well mannered our daughter is because of using the Ezzo materials. She's just a toddler and we constantly get compliments from others about her sweet nature and her good sleep habits (she actually LIKES to go down for naps and bedtime verses fighting it). I highly recommend this book to other parents. It made a world of difference for us - and we are now using it again with our 6 week old son. :) As a mother of two young children now, I really think this book has made it possible for me to manage my home the best way I can. I'm able to still take showers, cook meals and spend time with my husband while caring for the needs of my two little ones. It's been a huge blessing to me (and the methods really aren't magical - they are just practical ways that parents have trained their kids for a long time). Just ask your grandparents (who probably had a houseful of kids) how they did it.
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Summary: Use some common sense
Review: I am still amazed at the bad reviews for Babywise. It all depends on interpretations. I found the book EXTREMELY helpful, and would recommend it to anyone. Use some common sense when reading it. It is NOT child abuse. I found it to be a very healthy method, when used correctly. Our daughter is now 2 and naps and goes to bed for the night most times without a peep. Use the book to fit your life style. If you are uncomfortable with some of the suggestions, don't use those particular ones. Overall, the book is WONDERFUL and a god-send. I only wish I had read it earlier. After establishing a FLEXIBLE (and I stress FLEXIBLE. No where in the book do they order you to be a tyrant!) schedule, our lives changed enormously. It was like night and day. We were better able to interpret our child's needs, and were able to pacify the cry, based on what we learned in Babywise. Babywise is beneficial for baby and parents alike. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone that has the ability to read it with an open mind, and who can use it to fit their lifestyles.
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Summary: Babies cry for a reason!
Review: I find it hard to believe that God would let his child cry to the point of exhaustion just to fit his schedule or let his child go hungry because it was not time to eat yet. I don't know any adult that could follow this "Babywise" schedule, how can we expect our children to. I would hope that parents research fully any method of parenting that they choose, following your natural instincts would be my suggestion. Babywise is a way to TRAIN your baby, it's pretty sad that we are training babies in the 21st century. Babies cry because they are hungry, wet, tired, or just need love. We need to stop treating our children as an inconvenience. I have researched this method and the effects on children parented this way. I understand that every parent uses this method differently but for those that stick to it 100% and do not listen to their babies needs, you are causing your child a lifetime of detachment, and emotional and psychological problems. Please listen to your heart and your baby!
Rating:
Summary: What kind of parent do you want to be?
Review: I read this book at the urging of my parents, who raised me using Ezzo-like methods. Suffice it to say, I was appalled. Please people, understand that your children are not little tyrants whom you must control or be controlled by; they are *people*, forming their own unique identities and finding their own niches in the world. If you want to read a book which will help you form a healthy parenting philosophy, read the Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff. Don't read this one.
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Summary: Need to read book first before making such harsh judgement
Review: I believe the people who wrote such nasty reviews did not actually read the entire book. No where in the book does Ezzo say to let your baby remain hungry. He actually says to go ahead and feed your child. I agree that it may seem harsh at first, but it benfits the baby greatly. What are you teaching your child if you feed them every time they cry. They will seek comfort in food for a lifetime. I did not go full force because I couldn't stand to hear my baby cry for long. I checked in on him every five minutes. He still learned to go to sleep on his own. I have to asked myself if all the people against this book can say that. It changed my life, along with my sisters, who also used this method. I'm a much happier parent and can now give the maxium love and energy necessary to raise my son.
Rating:
Summary: Worked for us
Review: Made sense to us. Humans aren't designed for the modern environment (schedules, plentiful food), and need training to cope with it. The hardest part was putting *us* on a schedule.
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Summary: On becoming babywise: Learn how over 500,000 babies were tra
Review: I think this whole series of books by Ezzo take away from parents. It tells them what to do so they don't learn to trust their own instincts. Or tells them their instincts are wrong. This whole book is about how to make a baby fit your schedule rather than helping people realize a baby is a life changing event. It talks about training rather than allowing the child to experience the world. It also doesn't allow for developmentally appropriate behaviour. It's ridicules to think a 6 or 7 month old baby should sit in a high chair and not play with/experiment with food. In a nutshell I think this baak takes all the power away from the parent so then they depend on someone else to tell them how to raise their own child. It creats an independence on the authors. Run screaming from this book. Throw it away so no one else can pick it up at your garage sale.
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Summary: this method is cruel!
Review: By the time my order for this book arrived, my son was already sleeping through the night (at 11 weeks) despite not following ANY of Ezzo's advice. I don't think I could live with myself as a parent if I had let my son cry from the first week as Ezzo suggests. He was very colicky and crying much of the time anyways; funny, that didn't put him to sleep. Ezzo suggests NOT rocking your child to sleep and not letting him fall asleep while eating. He writes that happy contented babies are not born that way but created by following his method. I'm SO GLAD I didn't read this book before I had already learned the kinder, gentler way!
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Summary: Confessions of a former EZZO parent!
Review: I would like to publicly apologize anyone I might have encouraged to use the Ezzo methods while I participated in some of their classes. In our Ezzo classes at church, we were told repeatedly that the Ezzo methods were God's Way, yes, with a captial G, and that only Ezzo parenting was the Right Way. We were also told that parents who DIDN'T use the Ezzo parenting methods, including attachment parents, would have spoiled, self-centered children. The Ezzos include fictional descriptions of children in their books and course materials, showing a child raised on THEIR methods as being a perfect little angel, and the child NOT raised on their methods as the one who pushes little kids off swings and having no consideration for others. I have two daughters, a pre-teen and an elementary school child.. With the first I got into an Ezzo-type schedule, only nursed for a short time, pushed her into a crib and then into a toddler bed before she was ready. I tried to maintain this level of "deattachment" and schedule with my second child. How I wish I could have known then what I know now. My duaghters would have benefited from less emphasis on schedule and more empahsis on loving interaction. We finally took Ezzo classes at church out of desperation and were TOLD they were completely practical, non-dangerous, and a life-saver. Instead of the techniques improving our relationship with our daughters (especially our oldest), our relationship suffered. It was after this happened that we started researching the Ezzos on the net, and we were shocked to find they had so little foundation for their teachings. We were shocked that we were so gullible to beleive that this was "biblical parenting" and God's Way to raise our children. Ezzo has primarily antedotial evidence ONLY that his methods work, coming from people who have bought into the belief that his is the "biblical" way to parent. He is not well-versed in what is normal child development. His wife was a nurse for a very brief period of time MANY years ago. Dr Buckman had only peen a practicing pediatrician for a year or two when the first Babywise book came out with HIS name on it as a "leading pediatrician." Unlike some people who believe others blast this book out of hand, I have actually read a lot of the Ezzo's work, both the secular ____wise titles and their church materials. I know what I am talking about. I heartily recommend that new or experienced parents of an infant do their research about child development and what is best for their childen before launching into the world of Ezzoism. For the parent who would like to raise a well-behaved and thoughtful child, you don't need the Ezzo methods to achieve this. Babies will achieve a routine and eventually sleep through the night. They have been doing so since time began. You don't NEED Babywise to accomplish this.
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