On Becoming Baby Wise: Learn How over 500,000 Babies Were Trained to Sleep Through the Night the Natural Way

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Summary: I recommend this book whole-heartedly
Review: As a child development professional, I find that those who criticize On Becoming Babywise exxagerate and take material and quote it out of context. The authors make no claims that God wants babies on a schedule, but they do suggest that thinking moms and dads know best--not baby. Doctors and developmental experts recognize that children respond to routine. It gives them security. Parents who choose to give security through a routine are making a loving choice--and one that our parents made for us. The ideas in BW are not new. If you believe that your baby is a much wanted, welcome addition to your family; that she/he will thrive with good rest; that you can breastfeed successfully without co-sleeping and feeding as often as every hour; and that mom really does know best--read this book. Decide for yourself. You'll love the results if you apply the principles (not a list of rules--you still have to think for yourself).

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Summary: Disappointing!
Review: I had great expectations for this book when I first purchased it and it sounded great in theory. After actually putting it to work I was highly disappointed. It leaves too many questions unanswered, like what if during your childs "sleep" time, it doesn't sleep and just cries it's way through it, are you supposed to move on to the next scheduled eat/awake/sleep schedule or let it sleep? It is also geared for breastfed infants and gives very little direction for formula/bottle fed ones. Lastly, I totally disagree with how the authors tell you to let your child basically scream itself to sleep. All that does is leave both you and the child exhausted and your nerves are shot. Crying is one thing, screaming is another. I tried the Babywise way for 1 week and after being even more frustrated than when I began I threw it away and guess what? My son put himself on his own 4 hour schedule the next day and started sleeping through the day after that (10 hours at a time at 8 weeks old). He does cry at times, but it's mostly a tired cry and if he doesn't stop after 5 minutes I reassure him, pat him on the back and leave again, I ususally never have to do this more than twice. My advice is to go with your own instincts because babies will eventually sleep on their own.

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Summary: Happy parents means happy children.
Review: I believe that parents should review several books regarding child rearing and feeding and choose a philosophy that best suits their personality. I thoroughly enjoyed Gary Ezzo's book. It helped me to establish a routine for my baby yet provided me with the flexibility that I needed. My daughter is eleven weeks old and sleeps 9 hours at night. She is obviously happy as she smiles and coos throughout the day. She almost never fusses or cries and if she does I know that she has a legitimate need. I am a person that craves structure in my own life so the information provided in this book is very pratical for me. I was not comfortable with demand feeding because I found it difficult to plan my day. I never knew when my daughter would want to eat or sleep. I try to keep my daughter on a fairly consistent schedule but she is able to adjust easily when flexibility in our day is needed. Baby Wise promotes flexibility not rigidity as many reviewers have reported. Read it yourself and decide if it suits your personality. Choose which philosophy meets your needs. Happy parents mean happy children.

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Summary: A must have from day 1 for the professional career woman
Review: As a busy career woman, it proved impossible for me to adjust to my new baby and the demands of a professional career. I loved my new baby but also loved working. I wanted to do what was best and breast feed exclusively but couldn't do everything without sleep. Thank you Sandy for saving my Sanity and recommending this book. I read a lot of other new mother information so most of the book was repetitive for me but I've read and re-read the sections on Parent Directed Feeding. I didn't force my baby into a schedule, I simply reinforced his schedule. Now I smile when everyone tells me how lucky I am to have such a happy baby--even the baby sitter with her 9 years experience didn't believe me at first. Stop taking silly advice from "experienced" parents who think they know everything just because they've done this and their children "survived". My baby and husband can't be happy unless I'm healty and happy. I don't see how anyone can be happy without adequate rest and time to relax. I'm a 90's woman, living in this reality--not a TV show--and this book is a must have!

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Summary: Two thumbs down. There are so many better books out there.
Review: I found this book to be very confusing. In some places it seems to suggest one thing and in another it seems to suggest the opposite. The author's tone bothered me, too. At one point he describes his crying grandchild: "she would climb rapidly from a whimper to a wail, like an F-16 heading to the stratosphere". He tells us that for his other grandchild, crying "became an art form". In both cases the point he made was it was unnecessary to attend to the baby, because the cry was (in his opinion) just basically noise (or art, I guess). I have read many books on parenting and never heard a parenting author write in such a detached way about a baby's cries. He seems to be quite compassionate about adults needing their sleep, and about men getting their wives attention away from the baby, but there is very little compassion and understanding directed at the little F-16 wailing in the crib. There are many, many other wonderful and insightful books on parenting babies. Buy one of them.

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Summary: A must-have for new parents!
Review: A best friend gave this book to me at a baby shower and said, "If you don't read anything else as new parents, read this book. It's a godsend!" And she was right. By 6 weeks, our son was sleeping 5 to 6 hours before a 3:00 a.m. feeding, and since 10 weeks, has been sleeping 10 to 11 hours a night with no feedings or changes. He's such a happy baby, and craves his routine already at 4 months. These successes didn't happen overnight, by any means. When folks compliment us on our baby's extremely happy demeanor, I credit Babywise and our hard work. When asked if our baby sleeps through the night, and I say yes, for 10 to 11 hours, I hear "Oh, you're so lucky." I assure them luck had nothing at all to do with it. Instead, there were nights of holding hands with my husband and listening to our baby get through those awake times on his own to learn to put himself back to sleep, all the while trying to convince ourselves that we, as loving parents, were doing the right thing. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, we were doing the right thing! Our son now puts himself to sleep easily, naps regularly, and mommy and daddy can leave him with a sitter knowing he'll pretty much not be a problem at all. And a fairly strict routine has made our lives so much more predictable. Now, when our son does fuss, which isn't very often, we know that there's a very valid reason and something is truly wrong. No, our son and our lives are far from perfect, but we feel much more secure as new parents thanks to the guidance in Babywise. I always recommend Babywise to anyone I come in contact with who wonders how they'll ever get their baby to sleep through the night, because it works. Now, I'm off to order Babywise II.

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Summary: This book can damage your baby
Review: I have thoroughly read both babywise books and Prep for Parenting. I am also majoring in early childhood education. Gary and Ann-Marie Ezzo go against all theories of child development. They have no medical background, yet they claim they know how much your baby should be eating.Don't get me wrong, I don't think that putting your baby on a schedule is cruel, but you should let your baby determine his schedule and try to shape a consistent one from that. A parent should not determine when a child eats and when they need to stop sleeping. A baby's body knows what it needs. If his body needs rest, then he will continue to sleep. Waking him up for the sake of a schedule is cruel. Ezzo also gives parents the wrong impression of what demand feeding is and how your child will turn out. I know parents that take cues from their baby as to when to feed them. They don't feed them every time they whimper. Ezzo also advocates letting a child cry for up to forty-five minutes. Crying actually burns calories and by the end of the crying the child might actually be hungry and end up falling asleep from exhaustion. If these parents didn't want their life to change and want the baby to fit in THEIR life and not the other way around, then in my opinion, they don't belong having kids. I admire parents that read the book and use what works for them and throw out the trash(even htough I think most of it is trash). But some parents follow the book to the letter thinking that they are helping their child. This is when common sense is lost and this type of parenting becomes dangerous. Not all babies are the same and their is no way this man can GUARANTEE any one's child will sleep through the night if they follow his program. The parents read this garbage and end up feeling like failures if their baby doesn't fit Ezzo's mold.

Rating:
Summary: Good in theory
Review: A friend of mine gave me this book, and I have been following the Babywise theory with a few modifications . I followed the book strictly at first , fed my newborn every 3 hours , and I must admit my son was sleeping through the night at 5 weeks ! Although , I tottaly disagree with putting your newborn child to sleep cold turkey !!! It took hours of crying to get my baby to sleep , after being traumatized he slept beautifully all night . I used Dr Brazelton's theory of putting your child to sleep when they are realexed and allready quite sleepy , if they do cry then you comfort them every 3 to 5 minutes . This worked much better for my son ! He is now 4 months and going to bed is'nt scary and Mommy and Daddy are also happy ! Other than that , I would recommend Baby Wise . There methods for everything else ,like estabilishing a good routine is great. This book can be very helpfull if you use your best judgement as a parent.

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Summary: Child hate in disguise...
Review: Anyone who tells a mother to ignore her God-given instincts and let a baby cry it out for up to an hour has no compassion or understanding of what a small baby needs! This book is garbage! Babies don't need to be "trained" they need to be loved. Ezzo thinks parents should force schedules on tiny babies. In other books he also recommends hurting babies as young as 6 months old for "playing with their food".

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Summary: With a grain of salt...it works
Review: I have just had my third child and this is the first child I have used Baby Wise with and I must say it was a nice surprise. Having 2 younger children in the house the book provided guidelines to structure the baby's day so my other 2 were not left high and dry when the baby wakes up or needs to be fed. My baby is 8 weeks old and he sleeps 7-8 hours per night and is very content during the day. I wish I would have had it for my first but am certainly glad I had it for my third.