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Summary: Great book- why is it so polarizing?
Review: ...The book isn't extremist, and I wasn't aware that the authors were even religious until someone told me later....I have to think that something about the authors (their religion?) really, really irks some people. Perhaps they haven't read the book, but have heard stories or have been influenced by others. Honestly, I can't see what there is to get so excited about! The book talks about putting your child on a schedule involving feeding, playing, sleeping. You use a rough schedule of 2.5 to 3.5 hours between feedings. In a nutshell, that's it! Nobody is torturing anyone, and our baby seems pretty content. Since we have a rough schedule of our day, my wife (a stay at home mom) can plan on making a quick trip to the store, or can take a walk around the block without worrying about Baby getting hungry. I recommend the book. Read it- follow it if you like. Use part, all or none of it. Have fun.
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Summary: This book really works!
Review: I read this book while I was pregnant and had no idea of the challenges of a new baby. I thought the authors did a good job of discussing and explaining the evolution of child-rearing theory. At times they got a little too detailed perhaps, but overall I appreciated understanding how they arrived at their viewpoint and the babywise methods. Once my daughter arrived, I began to implement the ideas in this book. Now, 12 weeks later, I have a child that eats on a regular schedule of every 3-4 hours and sleeps 8 hours straight each night. I have several friends with children my daughter's age who have not followed these principles and they are still up several times each night with their babies and are at their baby's mercy as to when feedings and naps occur. I understand that many people disagree with the authors' ideas in this book (the lactation specialist in my hospital thought that it should be banned!), saying that if you do not feed your child when she wants to be fed she will feel unloved and traumatized. I prefer to follow the thinking of the Babywise authors and agree that an infant really doesn't understand exactly what she needs, she needs her parents to assist her in learning how to schedule herself. This book was very helpful in providing sample schedules and suggestions for feedings, though I didn't follow all of its advice (for exapmle, I could not bear to let my baby "cry it out" for a half hour at a time as they suggest!). Overall, I thought this book was a wonderful help and would suggest any new parent read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Be Wise and flexible
Review: Although some of the ideas represented in this book are "tough love" ideas and would not appeal to the "attachment parenting crowd", the basic concept of scheduling works. Finding your baby's schedule (eating, sleeping, wake time) and learning your baby's cues are critical for success in getting your baby to sleep. It also helps both you and your baby "learn" to breastfeed. As a new parent with no clue where to begin, I found this book very helpful if approached in a flexible way. Many of my friends, who had children before this book was available, are amazed to witness my husband and I put our son down to sleep without a peep.
Rating: 
Summary: Why did you become a parent anyway?
Review: I can't believe this book. It's so sad to me that people would read this book and think it's a good way to interact with your baby, the most precious and vulnerable thing in the world. Hopefully people have children to love them and be part of their family. Having your child sleep through the night by eight weeks shouldn't be your primary objective. Raising a healthy, well adjusted and happy baby should be your objective. It just shows how out of whack our society is. And people wonder why we have so many social problems. It's because we value sleep and convienience over the well-being of our children. We value time in front of the TV over time with our babies. It is truly sad. If you're looking for compassionate, yet balanced views on parenting and babies, look into some books by Dr. Sears. Other good books are "Attachment Parenting" "Vital Touch" and "Our Babies Ourselves". That's where you will truly find the answer.
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Summary: ...
Review: HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
This book encourages parents to ignore their babies cries, thus teaching them that no one will respond to their needs. Yah, they probably *will* stop crying after a while! They'll eventually figure out you're not going to come soothe them or feed them. Dont you think that infancy is a little early for such harsh treatment?? I do. It's a fact that babies rely on their parents for just about all of their emotional needs. They need us to make them feel safe and secure. This book teaches babies that their needs are second to ours, no exceptions. It is frighteningly reminiscent of pet training manuals. Hey, babies are people too! Give them a break already! Give them a hug and rock them back to sleep! ...Ezzo actually teaches DISCIPLINE in this book. If you still have to buy into his vile cruel method, please at least ignore the discipline segment. There is NEVER a good reason to hit a baby. (Ezzo describes how to smack an infant on the thighs to avoid leaving marks, no joke.) ....
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Summary: Ignore the hard line tactics, & practice it with love!
Review: Yeah, Yeah, all those folks out there who say it's harsh didn't take what the pricipals were and apply them with heart! Six couples w/ 7 babies all sleeping thru the night from 7 to 10 weeks is testiment enough (and two babies were breastfed twins!). I've got friends who didn't want to try any of the ideas and their child is over a year old and still NOT sleeping thru the night! You don't have to follow their methods to a T, you adapt them to your lifestyle and it will make your life so much simpler! The whole point is not to allow the baby to run your life, you keep control of when things happen and your life & baby's run so much smoother! They put premature babies on a schedule in the hospital, why not put your child on one at home! They get a true sense of comfort and parents life is so much better. Buy the follow up books, too! Our child now speaks & uses her sign language at the same time.
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Summary: Great Guidebook for Raising a Baby
Review: It was hard at first, but I followed the principles in this book and my baby slept 10-11 hours thru the night starting at week 5. Everyone tells me I have such a happy baby, and I know that this book helped with that.
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Summary: FINALLY! SLEEP!
Review: This book is a lifesaver! The ideal of Parent Directed Feedings reads like common sense. I don't know why there is so much controversy over this issue. This book teaches how to start a flexible schedule, while still responding to the cues of your baby. My daughter is now eight months old and has been sleeping contentedly through the night since she was nine weeks old. This book saved my life.
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Summary: CAUTION!! You are Entering a Harden Your Heart Zone
Review: Tough love and the school of hard knocks for infants. Unfortunately, I cannot say much good about this book. So, I will begin by mentioning what I found useful - 1. the author, albeit rather forcefully, reminds us of the importance of maintaining the marital relationship (in my opinion, this should not be done at the expense of the child(ren). The addition of a child to the family signifies great life changes, including positive relationship changes); and 2. the author stresses the importance of learning to distinguish your baby's cries and choosing a course of action based on this (sometimes, however, you just can't tell what the problem is, and in this case the baby most likely just needs to be held). That's it for the positive. Although most would agree that infants and their families usually do better if they have some routine and structure in their day, the prescribed scheduling in this book is way, way to stiff. Yes, the author repeatedly tells you to be "flexible", but flexibility is very difficult to achieve while maintaining the routine. He also repeatedly tells you not to deviate so much (from scheduled feed or nap times) that you form a new "norm". Who needs to be this tied to a clock? I am very unimpressed by most of the rest of the book. One thing that discredits it substantially is it's constant tirade against "attachment parenting" and "demand feeding". How sad that they have to resort to bashing other parenting styles in order to make their method seem good. Never mind the fact that the directives found within contradict well-established medical fact about infant care and feeding. The author (Ezzo) does a good job of presenting his method as the only correct choice in parenting. He warms the reader up to his ideas with dire warnings of what will happen if they follow other parenting styles (attachment parenting), and pooh-poohs concerns about emotional effects of the large amounts of crying that will happen while trying to follow his plan. His proposed schedule - eat, activity, sleep sounds nice and convenient, but is not realistic with a newborn. He advocates letting a baby from 8 days old cry itself to sleep in the name of helping the child learn to go to sleep on his own, without "negative" sleep props (cuddling, rocking, breastfeeding). Those expecting their first child will not know how impossible it can be to keep a newborn from falling asleep while nursing - and, once baby has eaten well, why would you want to keep him awake? Why deny a precious baby the comfort and security of drifting off to sleep in his most favorite place in the whole world? If it's sleep training you're worried about, this can be done much later in the child's life when she has a large file of positive, loving care to draw upon. I don't mean 3 years old, but after the first year. Also, many children don't require sleep training. They can be nursed to sleep and still learn to go to sleep on their own. Our first child learned to sleep on his own just fine, and he was nursed to sleep until he was weaned at 15 months. Putting a newborn "down to sleep" (more like down to cry, alone) several times a day, helps no-one. Your baby feels abandoned as he doesn't know it's his scheduled nap-time, he just knows he needs you. You feel stressed to the max because you want to comfort him but "the plan" doesn't allow you to (you'll end up with a selfish little beast). Acknowledged sleep experts, such as Ferber, don't recommend sleep training before 5 or 6 months of age. He also doesn't even begin to condone the "cold turkey" crying that Ezzo says you should do. This book fails to recognize infants as individuals. All infants should be treated the same. What kind of robots is Ezzo trying to create? And how dare he insinuate that if you don't follow his plan, you are not a good parent? He states that "attachment parented" children are me-centered. His plan perpetuates me-centeredness in adults. It promotes adult selfishness when we should be learning to be less selfish for the sake of someone else. I'm not advocating the type of extreme child-centered parenting that he describes, but one of the good changes we can see in ourselves as a result of becoming parents is the real ability to put someone else's needs above our own. Overall, I believe this book is a dangerous bet, especially for first time parents. ...There are plenty of excellent parenting books available that respect the reader. (..) Enjoy the first year with your baby. It passes much too quickly. All children eventually do sleep through the night, often without any overt help on your part. Expect some ( or a lot sometimes) sleep deprivation. One of the best sleep suggestions I have seen is to give your child different sleep associations from the start.... Try putting your baby down drowsy, not totally conked. We should be emotional about our children, despite Ezzo's contention that we shouldn't. Follow your instincts, no-one knows your baby better than you. There is an excellent chapter on sleep and how it works in Richard Ferber's "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems".
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Summary: If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is...
Review: Nothing will sell books faster to sleep deprived parents faster than a book promising to get their baby sleeping through the night. I purchased this book before the birth of my son 2 years ago. After reading it, I thought it would be very easy to get my son to sleep through the night using their cry it out method. Nothing could be further from the truth. A week or two after I first brought my son home from the hospital, I tried to let him cry it out to get him to go to sleep, and this was gut wrenching. I knew in my heart it was wrong to let my son's needs go unheeded, so after trying this once or twice I soon learned that in order for us all to get some sleep I had to ignore that advice and nurse my son whenever he wanted. This is what nature intended, not some ridiculous schedule. Also, if you are breastfeeding, nursing on demand is a sure fire way to establish your milk supply. Long story short, my son is now a happy, healthy, well-adjusted 22 month old who knows that his needs are met. Do yourself a favor-- Ditch this book in favor of Dr. Sears' "The Baby Book". You'll save yourself some sanity!
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