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Summary: Baby Wise plus common sense equals peace of mind
Review: I heard about this book from a waitress in a restaurant who said that her sister raved about the book's principles of getting baby to sleep through the night. As a parent of a 3-month old, I was dying to read Baby Wise. When I finally got a hold of a copy, I found that I had been following some of the book's ideas already (through common sense), but the book suggested some things that helped me better understand how to get my daughter on a schedule. Most of all, Baby Wise gave me peace of mind that I was doing something right and gave added advice on how to best take care of my baby's eating, waketime and sleeping needs.
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Summary: Should be required reading before giving birth!
Review: This book gave me the confidence to help my son establish regular eating, sleeping, and play times, while also allowing me the flex-ability I needed to maintain my 9 yr olds life. I put the recommendation in this book to work 7 days after we came home from the hospital, and my son was sleeping through the night by 10 weeks. More importantly, his sleep/appetite patterns were well enough established that I could schedule appointments, run errands, and leave him with a friend without the uncertainty of "when will he be hungry/sleepy? It also gave me the confidence to teach him to put himself to sleep by laying him down awake, something I knew I should have done with my first baby, but never could believe it would work. Copy the schedule for waketime acitivities, and fill one out every day! It helps to look back over the week and notice trends, also makes a good keepsake for filling out baby's book later on! (you won't remember everything!)
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Summary: If you can ignore your baby's needs, this book's for you
Review: I got this book as a shower gift and only got through the 1st few chapters before throwing it away in frustration and disgust. I could never let my baby cry due to hunger and not feed her. My pediatrician says that babies need to eat more often then every 4 hours during the first few months to grow properly. It seems this advice is not only controversial and highly opinionated, but dangerous. The advice on co-sleeping really annoyed me, too. In most countries co-sleepings is commonplace and we don't hear about babies dying. Many parents have slept with their babies without incident and the advice this book gives is simply silly. There are many benefits to co-sleeping such as convenience if you're breastfeeding and increased bonding with your child. Don't waste your money on this book...
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Summary: Did we all read the same book?
Review: I have just finished reading this book. My first child is not due for another several months, so I have no working knowledge of the method. Like all the reading I have done so far, I am taking the advice with a grain of salt. However, I am very surprised to read several reviews attacking the book and the author for things I feel the book does not advocate in the first place. Not once did I ever get the impression that the idea is to ignore your child! The idea is to EVALUATE the nature of the distress before automatically offering the breast or the bottle. Appropriate response rather than automatic response is the idea. As for Failure to Thrive, several, several times the author recommends checking your baby's growth and development against the norm and proceeding accordingly. For a parent to do otherwise with any method would be ignorant and neglectful. I had to LAUGH when I read the review claiming that the author says that babies are evil and manipulative! What? Where? The same reviewer sited studies in which infant monkees were left untouched in cages and hence died. While it is very true that neglect causes failure to thrive and serious developmental problems, I fail to see this fact's relevence to the book in question. The book frequently refers to parental cuddle time and even -gasp- recommends comforting your child when he cries. I'm not sure everyone is reading the same book! Or reading at all. Lastly, I never had one impression or another about the author's religion. Living in the belt-buckle of the Bible Belt, I am warry of the Christian Right and other extreme religious groups. Not once did I feel uncomfortable or preached to. How could I, there was no sermon! Though I defend the book on these points, I have yet to be in a postition to review the method. I encourage all new parents like myself to educate themselves on a variety of parenting skills and to use good judgement in selecting the ones that seem right for your very individual and unique child. I knew nothing of this method or the author before someone gave me Baby Wise, so I feel I can be fairly objective in my statements here. I had absolutely no preconcieved ideas or opinions.
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Summary: Have you done it?
Review: I have one question for those of you who are against the Babywise method. Have you tried it?
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Summary: On Becoming Babywise
Review: I read these books after meeting children who were so happy and well-behaved that I felt compelled to ask the parents what their secret was...It was this book series. I now have a 4 1/2 month old who has slept thru the night since she was 5 weeks old. This book emphasizes considering the context of each situation and flexibility, versus following strict rules. The principles of the series of books are guidelines. My daycare provider, of 25 years experience, says my daugher is a pleasure to watch, and is a exceptionally happy. These books emphasise training your child's heart morally for future intrinsic motivation versus intrinsic motivation. They advocate strong marraiges, playtime with and affection to your child, repecting others (manners) and others' things. Something to consider in this time! This book is just the beginning principles that are age-appropriate. After reading this first book, my mothering became much more enjoyable. It offers flexibility to our lives. It has decreased our stress immeasurably (mine, husband's and baby's) because I rarely have to guess at what she needs when she cries. She now wakes on her own in time for feedings without crying, and I lay her down to sleep, rarely with a fuss. When it is her bedtime, she is like an alarm clock and gets a little fussy a few minutes before I lay her down...and she sleeps for 8-9 hrs a night! Good sleeping and eating patterns are essential to bring out the best in anyone - especially your precious baby!
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Summary: rested mother of boys
Review: I am a mother of 2 boys with another boy on the way in a couple of months. This book and its philosophies is TREMENDOUS for mothers who enjoy sleeping after bringing a newborn into their homes. I used this program with both of my boys and they were sleeping through the night by the time they were 6 weeks old. They are both extremley healthy and love life and each other! I would HIGHLY recommend this book. It is only offensive to the parents that cannot understand how their children may not be the center of the universe. Parents that teach their children that they are the center of the world foster selfish children that grow into selfish adults who cannot understand why the world does not revolve around them. I know this from experience. I used to be one such child. This book is an EXCELLENT source for parents who are ready to teach their children the preciousness of others at a very early age. I LOVED it and plan on using it for all the children my husband and I may have.
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Summary: Great guideline!
Review: We used the babywise method for our daughter (now 2 1/2) and it was very successful. She is happy, healthy and slept through the night at 8 1/2 weeks. My recommendation to any parent is to use this method as a guide. You need to adjust the feeding schedule to your baby's needs. For example, my daughter generally ate every three hours, but I had to adjust her schedule when she was going through growth spurts. At one point, she was eating every 1.5 hours because she was growing so much! I have heard so many stories of people following this method to the letter of the law and complaining that their kids are hungry. Then use commen sense and feed them! You are the parent - so make decisions that are appropriate for your family. If you follow the suggestion of the order of the schedule (and not the time table), you should be successful with this method. Also, I had to adjust my baby's schedule about once a week as she grew, dropped feedings etc. BE FLEXIBLE!
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Summary: Recommended?
Review: I was shocked when I clicked on the parents & family book section and saw that this was the book shown in the recommended column. First of all, the by-line is misleading. The book was written by Ezzo(the preacher) and ONLY THE PREFACE was written by Buckman, the pediatrician. As I am sure many other reviewers have pointed out, the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other medical professionals, have warned that the methods outlined in this book have resulted in many babies being admitted to the hospital for failure to thrive. I personally have known only two women who have used the Babywise program. Both had babies who fell below the growth chart and had delays in their gross motor development (i.e. sitting and walking later than others their same age). As a full-time mom and former pediatric therapist I can't believe that ignoring a baby's cues now will improve your relationship with the child later. With so many good books out there on infant care, why waste your time and money on something so potentially harmful?
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Summary: On Becoming Baby Wise
Review: My husband and I both loved this book! It gave us a plan to go by when bringing home a newborn. Our baby slept through the night at 12 weeks, this of course helped our marriage and my life as a new mom. Many of our friends recommended Baby Wise and we all have healthy, happy and well-rested babies who sleep through the night! I have no idea what book the negative reviewers are talking about. As a college educated teacher, I took this worthy information and just like with any advice/book, I adapted the parts that worked for my family and I. Our daughter has had wonderful check-ups and our "schedule" has been supported whole-heartedly by our doctor. My advice is: Don't knock it until you've tried it...it's feeding about every 21/2 to 3 hours (the same advice I was given by the nurses in the hospital).
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