Rating: 
Summary: Goes Against Medical Advice and Paretning From The Heart
Review: I am a nurse with years of experience with babies, toddlers and small children. I have heard and helped with more sleep issues then you will ever dare to imagine. I will say I have recommended many methods for many different parents and children. Some respond better to some things, and others to something totally different. I love parenting/sleep books by William Sears, as well as believing that Ferber works better for other families. But this book shocked and saddened me. This whole parenting philosophy just horrifies me! Babies on a feeding schedule? The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) CLEARLY recommends against this. Babies need to be demand fed and while enduring illness, growth spurts, stress, etc. may NEED to be fed every 2 hours. I cannot understand where the Ezzos (NOT doctors) get their feeding and medical advice. The ONLY pediatrician to advise on this book was a young man with NO children himself, just starting out! I agree not all parents will be comfortable with sleep sharing, sling wearing, etc. I wasn't. BUT let my newborn/baby cry? Train her? My child is a person, a human. I would not do thos to my PETS, let alone my children. Parents read this book, get a false sense of security. They wonder why their child is not follwoing this book, why their child is still screaming, why their child is losing weight, dehydrated, become withdrawn, etc. As a nurse I HIGHLY recommend against this book. Not only has it landed many babies in the hospital, it's brought feelings of guilt, failure, stress and sadness to many. Not all babies are alike. Parents need to tailor an approach for them and their child. You cannot train a child, you can teach and help them. This book says and recommends things my Grandmother, a proper English mom of 13, was saddened by. None of the pediatricians I know recommend this book and all caution against it. I'd sterr clear of 2 overly preachy parents trying to make a dollar at the risk of your child/baby. I'd recommend reading books by William Sears, Penelope Leach, Ferber, and others to gather some ideas and sleep methods...then follow what works best for you and your child. However the ideas in this book are nothing short of dangerous and should not be used.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: We have, so far, raised three infants using, more or less, the feeding and sleep scheduling methods described in this book. We have found it to be invaluable. You will read many reviews on this web site that insist that this book is a handbook for neglect and child abuse, but this is patently absurd. Most of these people simply have a philosophical opposition to scheduling and prefer to feed their children whenever they cry. This, of course, assumes that children nearly always are crying because they are hungry and that they are always hungry when they are eating. Neither of these assumptions is true. Our experience has been that "demand fed" babies will "snack" off and on all day and often all night. Scheduled babies, on the other hand will eat fully at their scheduled times and not be hungry in the intervals. This book advocates a very reasonable, common sense approach to scheduling and doesn't encourage anyone to become a slave to a schedule. Schedules can and should be altered at times to meet the specific needs of the baby, and every baby is, of course, unique.
Rating:
Summary: Not As Great as It Sounds
Review: What new parent doesn't want their child to sleep through the night? But the methods presented in this book are based on the authors knowledge of Christianity and "God's way" instead of upon sound parenting experience/knowledge. After reading the entire book, I am more convinced than ever that placing a newborn baby on a strict schedule is not the answer. PLEASE read parenting books by experts in the field and leave this volume on the shelves!
Rating:
Summary: A Subtle Form of Child Abuse
Review: Although several points were interesting in this book, on the whole, I found many points cruel and disturbing. First, a baby should not be sleeping through the night at seven weeks. A child still needs nourishment every two to three hours at that age. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that a baby should sleep through the night at three to four months and the child will do it naturally NOT because you allowed them to scream themselves into exhaustion. If you don't want to be awaken in the middle of the night do not have a baby. Also the schedules are too rigid and don't allow for alterations. Use your best judgement and consult with your baby's doctor. Skip over this book entirely.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerous Mis-information
Review: This book is full of dangerous mis-information. Ezzo is afundamentalist minister--NOT a parenting expert. REAL experts like,Dr. Berry Brazelton, Penelope Leach, Dr. William Sears, and Jeanne Elium have all expressed distaste with Ezzo's methods. Buy their books NOT this one!
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable!
Review: This book has been the most useful, productive book I have ever read! Our child is happy and sleeping just as they said he would be. Now, we put him down and he knows it's time to sleep. Everyone I've spoken to, that has used this book, has had success. I was convinced to go with it, after our friends recommended it and, the person at the bookstore counter said she has only heard rave reviews from her customers. I now recommend it to all of my friends as they have their own children. Get this book as early as possible and read it with your spouse. You'll be nothing short of thankful to the authors.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable!
Review: I don't to write a big review stating what others have already said so I'll just say that those who are in favor of this book are exactly right. Both my kids slept through the night by 7 weeks and they never went hungry. The doctor that my firstborn was seeing didn't like that I followed a schedule and predicted that my child would be underweight. Well, she was in for quite a suprise when my baby exceeded her birthwieght at 1 week of age. I like structure and followed a schedule from day one. Some people don't like schedules and the author points out that this is not meant to be legalistic. It is a routine and all that means is that there is a repeated pattern. You don't HAVE to do everything at the exact same time every day. In fact they mention that if you have no flexibility in your baby's routine you are not using the plan correctly because you are probably ignoring your baby. Anyway, I love Babywise and I recommend it to everyone I know. I have very happy kids. They are well fed, obedient and pleasant. And as the others who support this book have said- if you read it and try it and you don't like, don't do it.
Rating:
Summary: Humerous Controversy...
Review: I have to laugh as I read the reviews on this book. Most of the negative reviews seem to come from folks who either have limited reading comprehension or simply don't read the book at all. My interpretation of Ezzo's thoughts certainly don't seem cruel or unkind to an infant, and MOST certainly do not involve any form of neglect! Any person that thinks otherwise is either stupid or ignorant! Stupid, I can't help you with, but if ignorance is your problem, read the book! After reading this book, and applying the basic principles suggested, it seems absolutely absurd to think that some folks consider it cruel. How can applying some stability to a child's life in this otherwise crazy world be a bad thing? Our child gets as much cuddling, baby-talk, ooggling, etc. as any baby, but he also sleeps through the night, wakes up every morning cooing (not crying). Seems to me the people that have read the book, applies some of the principals with reason, logic, and most of all, common sense, are happy and have happy, well-behaved children! I have recommended this book to many of my friends, and let me finish with one last comment: There are just as many pediatricians, family practice doctors, parents, and other "professionals" that attest to the reasonableness of Ezzo's book as there are who disclaim its merit.
Rating: 
Summary: Think for your child
Review: I think that this book holds some good guidelines. Children do need some sort of structure. HOWEVER, let me say that I tried the principles in the book with my infant, and he was a miserable, hungry, tired little baby. He really did need to breastfeed more than the book would 'allow'. I don't find the information militaristic, after all, you could take the advice or leave it... noone is MAKING you follow the book word for word. However, as a new mother who hasn't been exposed to children beforehand, the book did make me start thinking along the lines of schedules and routine. I just took it as a guide of sorts, not as a strict regime. I've heard from friends who had babies that responded well to the program, and apparently, for some kids, it really does work, and works well enough that the book was recommended to me by several people. As a side note, I read somewhere that the reason why the book now includes warnings about dehydration is that the earlier editions didn't include them, and babies were winding up in the hospital due to dehydration, and parents were suing Ezzo.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent theory and guidance
Review: I totally disagree with any reviewers that found the author's theories to be militant and parent-selfish. The explanations of the feed-wake-sleep cycle were invaluable to understand the needs of a baby. My baby was born 13 weeks early. I didn't even begin to "use" this book until he was 21 weeks old (already 7 weeks "corrected" age). He took immediately to the play and nap routines. He was happier knowing he was going to have a nap when he was tired, and he always woke up happy. He was never "alone and neglected" in his room as other reviewers have written. Perhaps they misinterpreted this book. Of course, he spends time alone in his room when napping or during quiet playtime. Parents who think that their babies need parental attention 24 hours a day are not reading properly their babies'signals. Even babies need "alone" time. My baby never cried when put down for a nap, and never woke up crying. When he grew hungry, I fed him, even it was "early," but the point of the book's theory is that, for the most part, your baby will be hungry at roughly the same times, so that both the parent and the baby know what the baby wants and when. It is better than parents who feed a baby every time it cries, whether or not it's hungry, merely because they don't know what else to do. My baby is always happy, I comfort him when he needs me, and he knows how to comfort himself. I love him with everything that I am and I think parents need to think for themselves and not blame their babies' dehydration, etc. on a book.
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