Rating: 
Summary: This book doesn't work for the first three months
Review: As a mother of three, I can tell you each baby is unique. I read this book after a friend recommended it to me for my third baby, who is much fussier than the first two ever were. I needed help getting my baby to calm. What a newborn needs is not a schedule, but an environment that is similar to that from which he came, my belly! The Happiest Baby on the Block gave me a recipe for calming my newborn baby, instantly! Baby and I were then able to get back to sleep without hours of fussing and fiddling. Ezzo's book gives rudimentary advice on getting a schedule going which MAY work for a calm baby. It is my experience with all my kids, that they sleep long periods once they are 3 months old on their own. Gary Ezzo is a creep that has no medical training, or research background. I think he was a youth leader for his "Church" which has since excommunicated him. It's easy enough to Google him and dig through all the dirt on him. Bottom line: Don't promote him by buying his book.
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Summary: There are MUCH better sleep/scheduling books out there!
Review: I read this book thinking it would be nice to get my infant on a schedule from the beginning since I also have an 18-month old, but, the scheduling they suggest is completely unrealistic for young babies and it was much more frustrating to try to do everything "by the book" than it was to just go with my natural instincts (and incorporating information from other books.) My 2nd baby turned out to be a pretty high-needs child (completely different from my 1st which shows why this parenting technique simply won't work for all kids) and we all did a lot better after I decided just to "wear" her in the Bjorn most of the time. When she got older (around 9 weeks) she naturally outgrew her need to be held constantly and turned into an incredibly happy baby who now cries only when she's tired or hungry. From the beginning she was a great sleeper and now at 12 weeks, she takes regular long naps (two 1-hr naps and 1 2-1/2 hr nap) and sleeps regularly from 9p-7a, waking up either 0 or 1 time for a feeding (this is with no crying and on-demand breastfeeding.) I consider myself a moderate person, I'm certainly not dedicated to attachment parenting and I'm actually a big fan of scheduling kids b/c they really do seem to prefer having a set routine, but, I think it should be done on an age-appropriate basis (starting around 3-4 months at the earliest), taking the individual needs of the baby into consideration. I also cannot imagine going a lifetime without experiencing the pure joy of rocking your child to sleep and holding a helpless tiny life in your arms while they slumber away. If you follow this book to the letter, it seems to me a lot of the joy of parenting an infant would be taken away -- it's such a short period of time, it's a shame to waste it. With that said, you're obviously looking at reviews of this book because you need information on your child, so, I have some other recommendations. For sleep information, I highly recommend Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a pediatrician. The Ferber book (also written by a Dr. who is a pediatric sleep specialist), Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems, is also very good. They are both cry it out books, but, with much more age-appropriate and scientifically based recommendations. (For example, a baby simply isn't developmentally capable of learning to self-soothe to sleep until they're at least 12-14 weeks old, so, it's pretty nonsensical to let a child younger than that cry themselves to sleep because you won't see any reduction in crying until they can learn to self-soothe. If you do controlled crying at an age-appropriate time, they may cry a little, but, the crying will get less and less very quickly because they can learn to soothe themselves to sleep.) If scheduling your newborn is your main interest, I think the Baby Whisperer book is much more realistic because it is much more flexible and teaches parents how to watch for cues their baby is sending, though, I think even that book is best suited for slightly older babies (2-3mo+), even though the author thinks you should start her routine from birth. If this book is appealing to you because you have a fussy baby and are at your wits end, check out The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp or The Fussy Baby Book: Parenting Your High-Need Child From Birth to Age Five by Dr. Sears. I don't agree with everything Dr. Sears says, especially his pro-co-sleeping stand, but, I do think he's right on point about meeting the needs of young infants (under 3-4 months old) who are fussier than average. There is some good information in this book and I'm sure it's helped a lot of parents, especially new parents who haven't been around infants very much, but, it also has some really really bad advice. (I agree with the reviewer who said you should try to go 4 hours without so much as a drink of water and see how happy you feel.) The other thing that makes me crazy about this book is that it is completely ridiculous to think that you know more than your baby does about when he needs to eat. Believe me, from day 1, your baby is fully equipped to tell you when he needs to eat. Please don't let this book convince you otherwise. (Now, sleeping, that's another subject and I highly recommend reading Weissbluth's book about sleep.) If you do end up buying this book, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, inject your own common sense into this approach because I could really see how following it precisily could lead to disastrous consequences (especially during hot summer months). And most importantly, try to ENJOY and LOVE your children and don't think of raising kids as a war between you and them. What they need most of all is your love and the confidence that you will meet their basic needs. The first few months are all about developing confidence and trust and making them feel secure in this world that's so scary to them compared to the in-utero environment they'd been living in for 9 months. I don't think this book helps parents accomplish that in the least. Trust yourself, love your kids, read a good sleep book written by a doctor, and you'll be a wonderful parent!
Rating: 
Summary: It worked for us!
Review: We used this book as a guideline to raising our baby boy. He is now almost 10 months old. He takes two naps a day for an hour and a half to two hours each and he sleeps at least 10 hours at night.
I still breastfeed (and feed solids) and I have not had any problems with supply. My son does not even have to nurse before going to bed to sleep through the night.
He does cry some, but he almost always goes right to sleep in his crib without fussing at all! He never cries because he is hungry. He eats 3 meals a day (nursing and solids) and I usually nurse him before bed.
I also know two other people who have used this book with success. I recommend it to everyone I know who is having a baby.
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Summary: The WORST Parenting Book- CRUEL! IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTING!
Review: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. And please, leave scheduling for your Tivo. Babies and schedules don't mix. Routines and daily rituals, yes; schedules, no. Sorry, that's not nature's way. Ezzo's ideas are cruel, inhumane, and have killed babies. This is a fact. There are many wonderful parenting books out there on sleeping and feeding your baby. Check out "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by E. Pantley and Dr. Sears, or any of renowned pediatricians Dr. Sears' or Dr. Brazelton's books. Your child will thank you and will thrive because of it. If you are reading this review, you have questions already about the validity of Ezzo's claims. What you should know is that this book has cult-ish origns. To make it palatable for non-Christians, and to supposedly give it some semblance of legitimacy, Ezzo stripped away all of the religious references but kept his outrageous tactics in place. Who does this goof Ezzo think he is, telling us how to raise a "godly generation" by depriving children of parenting, such as comforting, rocking, and holding your baby? Ezzo replaces this with withholding comfort, letting babies cry until they vomit, and other outrageous things including corporal punishment. Ezzo has no qualifications whatsoever, much less any qualifications in child development, child nutrition, or lactation consulting. He won't even publicly admit what his credentials are! Obviously he has something to hide... But don't take my word for it that this book is evil. Check out what pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., former Harvard professor of pediatrics, well-known author and lecturer on baby and child development said when he was asked his opinion of the Babywise parenting books during an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer: "I'm horrified. I'm absolutely horrified." If his response isn't enough, what about the American Academy of Pediatrics, who released this statement in resonse to Ezzo's supposed "godly" "scheduling" of baby's feedings: AAP ADDRESSES SCHEDULED FEEDINGS VS. DEMAND FEEDINGS
CHICAGO - Recent media reports have focused on the issue of whether scheduled feedings or demand feedings are best for babies. In response to these reports, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirms it's stance that the best feeding schedules are ones babies design themselves. Scheduled feedings designed by parents may put babies at risk for poor weight gain and dehydration. The AAP has always advocated breastfeeding as the optimal form of nutrition for infants, and in December 1997, the AAP issued its latest recommendations about breastfeeding infants. The policy statement says, "Newborns should be nursed whenever they show signs of hunger, such as increased alertness or activity, mouthing, or rooting. Crying is a late indicator of hunger. Newborns should be nursed approximately eight to 12 times every 24 hours until satiety ... In the early weeks after birth, nondemanding babies should be aroused to feed if 4 hours have elapsed since the last nursing." P.S. Thanks to Amazon.com's "Customers who bought titles by this author also bought titles by these authors" section, I can not only avoid Ezzo, but anyone who might have the same disturbing mindset.
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Summary: Parents Need Sleep Too
Review: As a first time mom I was in for a rude awakening. I had completely underestimated the demands of labor and delivery, nursing and just the overall exhaustion of being a mother. When my son, who was 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 22 inches long at birth was 3 weeks old, i couldn't continue the breastfeeding schedule he was on, every two hours, and it took him anywhere from 45 minutes to 60 minutes to complete a feed. I was frustrated, resentful of him and exhausted all the time. Then my sister-in-law, who had triplets 8 month prior, told me about this book. When I first read it i was skeptical too, but within weeks we were on a much better schedule and i was sleeping much better. The baby was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks and he was the happiest baby ever!! Everyone said how bright eyed he was, at 6 and 7 weeks, how alert and how happy and how big he was, 14 pounds 9 ounces and 26 inches long at 2 months. People continue to comment on his disposition and his overall health (he was only breastfed for 3 month and he is 9 months now and has never caught so much as a cold or a cough), and i contribute that to a well manintained sleep and feeding schedule. He even has bowel movements every morning at the same time. With all this being said, I think it is so important for the mother (parents) to be on a schedule, it allows time for the marriage and time to sleep. My husband and i are so happy we found this book and we reccommend it to all of our friends who are first time parents. I would also like to mention that i didn't follow the schedule precisley, especially when the baby was still in the first 2 months of life, i think that when the baby cries due to hunger, he does need to eat, i would try to draw out his feeds, try to go to 2.5 or 3 hours betweem them instead of picking him up and nursing him the minute he began to cry. And that seemed to work well for us. (Our sone was very big, so i didn't feel as though i could deprive him of a few extra meals during the day.) As far as putting them down in their own room and not rocking them, i think it is fantastic. I see our friends battling with their 5 month old at 10 pm in the evening, rocking, walking and singing, only to end in failure. This baby falls asleep only in their bed, b/c they are so tired of battling with him, it is just easier for them to lay with the baby in their bed, until they all fall to sleep. i could never imagine experiencing this disaster every evening. Instead, our son goes to bed at 7 pm like clockwork, never cries and fall right off to sleep within minutes and sleeps until 7 am every morning. How can you spend time with your spouse, let alone give attention to other children should there be any, if you are battling with an infant, who needs their sleep more than anything else, by the way. Providing enough rest is the key factor in keeping a childs immune system strong at the infant stage. Our son has gone down for his naps and for the evening without crying since he was 6 weeks old, he knows his schedule. Even when he did cry, it was only a few minutes, then he lulled himself to sleep. If you know your child's cry, and you know there is nothing wrong with them that a few minutes of light crying won't cure, than there is no cruelty in that. I say try this book for 3 weeks, modify it if that makes you feel better, but i guarantee that if you do use it, and get on a schedule, you will sleep a great deal more, therefore you will be a better parent during the day. You will have more energy to make healthy meals and snacks, to play and to read to the baby. In closing, my husband and i are trying to get pregnant again, and i will use this book as my guide the entire way through. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Worked for both my kids
Review: Can't argue with success....my two healthy kids slept through the night at 10 and 12 weeks respectfully. All my friends have Babywised with great success as well!
Rating:
Summary: Please consider other alternatives...
Review: There are so many problems with this book & author, I don't even know where to begin. Ezzo has also authored the books called "Growing Kid's God's Way"--Babywise is just the secularized version of the teaching in the GKGW materials. Ezzo is a man who has been found embezzling money, and has been kicked out of at least two large churches who supported him and his books originally. He has been removed from these churches for not being accountable when asked to produce the supposed documented research he claims proves/supports his methods. If his way is supposed to be our example of how to live our lives or parent "God's Way" I'm worried. Children imitate their parents actions more than their words, and this book teaches parents to be selfish in their actions towards their children ("my need for sleep is more imporant than your need for comfort"..."you may be hungry, but I don't feel like feeding you right now"). If Ezzo is concerned about children becoming selfish, he should question his own theories and the message they send to our impressionable little ones..."I'm more imporant than you are." Since the popularization of this book, science and commonsense have disproven his theories. He states that babies who are fed on cue are self-centered and disobedient, that they are basically manipulative and don't respect authority. To make such claims goes against all logical rationale about babies and gives new parents this idea that we need to defend ourselves against our children or they will ruin our lives and happiness. This book is medically not sound and several studies have proven that (much can be found online in regards to the specifics here). Though some babies may respond to these methods, it should be considered that this may just be because those children are of a different temperment than those who the methods don't work for, not because the methods in the book are so extraordinary. This book is overly concerned with making sure that babies don't incovenience parents and putting the parents' needs first. Another thing I really think is awful about this book is that it completely downplays the awesome design God has given us by encouraging moms to push their babies away by not allowing them to be comforted in their arms (i.e. rocking, soothing), nursing for comfort reasons, and encouraging parents to leave their babies regardless of what their instincts tell them. Before pacifiers and man-made techniques were invented there were simply mom's breasts and arms to hold and comfort her baby. I believe that this is all we need today--not schedules. God's design never changes or is improved upon by us. My husband and I read this book before we had our first child, and after she was born we discovered that it had set up unrealistic expectations in us (unrealistic schedules, patterns, etc.). Because we were acting against our natural instincts to pick up our baby when she needed our comfort (trying to "teach" her to sleep on her own) we were actually desensitizing ourselves to her cries. We were MORE stressed as we tried to follow the principles and theories in the book (even though we tried to be flexible within the confines of it's principles). Through the advice of our pediatrician as will as our own gut telling us to do so, we quickly threw out this book and it's lies. Almost instantly, we found we had more joy in parenting without this information and simply by following our instincts as parents. We have done a complete 180 degree turn from these methods, and have had great joy in seeing the differences between our two children. Though we have done nothing different in our parenting style with our two children, our older daughter took short naps and slept less at night and our younger daughter has taken long naps and sleeps longer at night. Their bodies have different needs. By not trying to put them in a box (such as the exclusive "eat-wake-sleep" method in Babywise), we have been more intune with their individual needs and can respond to them as unique people who deserve to be respected as such. We feel blessed that we have been given these precious gifts to raise and nurture and love. Contrary to the message this book sends, our marriage has grown closer through our time spent with our children, and we have never felt that these kids are intruding on our lives (despite the fact that I nurse 'on cue' and rock my babies to sleep). They only make our lives fuller each day that we can enjoy them and watch them grow! We feel the sacrifices we have made have been with our children's best interests in mind rather than feeling resentful toward them for occasionally keeping us up late at night or needing to be fed one hour after they already had a feeding. We took on the responsiblity to raise them, and they need us to show them they can trust us to meet their needs--emotionally, mentally, and physically. They are innocently asking us to respond to them--not demanding things of us. Don't worry that you're being too permissive with them while they're in infancy--their brains are not capable of manipulation or sin as this book suggests. Save discipline for the toddler years. For more information on the problems (ethically and scientifically) with Babywise go to your favorite search engine, and do a search on the problems with this book. There's a lot of information out there and there are so many more useful and loving books for parents who want to raise their children with a positive perspective. Also read Dr. William Sears books (for those of you who are concerned about getting your advice strictly from Christians, please know that Dr. Sears IS a Christian).
Rating:
Summary: *yawn* same old same old
Review: Wow, those Victorian punitive non-biologically sound child rearing methods sure like to come back... again and again. Except that they STILL ignore basic things like babies digest breastmilk quickly and NEED to nurse on cue, and not by a clock, but tsk tsk let's just ignore that. Much more convenient to package your child into a schedule that suits YOUR needs right? Because children are just posessions that we need to force into our lives. Right. Amusing also to hear of breastmilk "making children obese". Anyone actually read a medical journal or do any reading about the properties of breastmilk? Ah well, some desperate people will believe anything, in order to fit some pre-conceived notion of what all babies "should" be like. I just hope that in 50 years, when this is all behind us as yet another cruel parenting scam, those children raised the Ezzo way will have mercy on their parents.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!!! 5 STARS!
Review: My friend recommended this book to me when I was 5 months pregnant as a first time mother. Not knowing much about feeding an infant, do I demand feed, meaning every 1-2 hours? heck NO! I want to have a life! and the baby needs to be apart of my life not completely change it. This book worked amazingly. My daughter born at 39 weeks weight 7 pounds 3 ounces. I breast fed her exclusively. I followed the book like it was the bible, highlighting important points and re-reading and re-reading till I was comfortable.
The first two weeks you don't put your baby on a schedule you just make sure he or she takes a full feeding, by doing this you need to keep the baby awake. after 2 weeks you can move to a 2 1/2 to 3 hour schedule whatever suits your schedule. You select a wake up time which is the same time every morning, and every day follows the same pattern. Its great! you know what to expect and the baby knows what to expect. The main key is keeping your baby awake after the feeding for at least 1.5 hours total including feeding time and then they nap for 1.5 hours if on a 3 hour schedule. My daughter was not dehydrated nor has she suffered any physcological effects. She is the happiest baby in the world, she is now 5 months old and on a 4 hour schedule and weighs 17 pounds, she is in the 95% tile. Everyone always comments on how happy she is. When nap time comes she goes right down without a fuss. Sometimes she is crankier and cries for a few minutes but then falls right to sleep. Many of my girlfriends demand fed their babies and their babies became obese and didn't sleep through the night until they were 1 and half years old. I am sorry I could not live my life like that. All you people that say this book is horrible do not know what they are talking about. You obviously haven't read the book and really didn't follow it. My husband and I can't wait to have another child and we will for sure be using the principles of Babywise. This is not cruel or insane. all Babywise is doing is teaching a infant a schedule, infants know no better. The parent is the one that should take control, not the baby, it doesn't know how. Thank you Babywise, for showing me the light to a wonderful being that came into our lives. I don't know what I would have done without you. ********* 10 Stars!
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Summary: This is a great tool!
Review: I am expecting my first child and reading Babywise already after my sister gave me a copy. (I'm not yet finished with it.) She used it with her first baby and then with her second birth - of triplets! All four of her children are a delight! Of course they fuss a bit; this is no guarantee of perfect children! But both with her first and with her triplets, she gets complimented regularly on how happy her babies are. The triplets (now 6 1/2 months) were born prematurely at 3 1/2 pounds, are all doing beautifully, and have been sleeping through the night for about 3 months. As you can imagine, that's heaven-sent for a mother of a toddler and 3 infants, and she is happy and loving with all four children. I am an atheist, and am surprised to hear that this book is supposedly 'Christian'. Nothing about it suggested anything religious to me. (For example, it discusses the practice of 'co-sleeping' or 'bed-sharing', sometimes used for religious reasions (the 'family bed'), and points out that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NOT sleeping with your child because of evidence of an increase in SIDS when sleeping this way.) There is also nothing "punitive" about this book. It never says not to feed your child; it emphasizes loving your child; it is very careful to leave the choice of breast-feeding or bottle-feeding up to you. (My sister bottle-feeds her triplets, with formula and as much breast milk as she can manage to pump! It's worth noting here that the babies will take the bottle from strangers, too, another crucial need for a parent of multiples.) It is in part a method designed to correct the impression we've all gotten over the years that babies know exactly when they need to eat, and a parent's duty is to respond. As other reviewers have said, the book DOES tell you that you may have to make adjustments depending on your individual case, including feeding more often, or using a 'sleep-prop' in some cases. (My sister uses a pacifier sometimes with 2 of her 3 triplets when they are resistant to falling asleep.) I was also surprised to hear that the American Academy of Pediatrics "condemned" this method, so I did some research. For a comparison of AAP recommendations and Babywise recommendations, go to this web site, but note that it is partisan towards the Babywise method (nevertheless, you can check the quotes yourself in the book and the AAP website): www.gfi.org/pdf/AAP_BWise.pdf. What I was able to find suggested that the AAP at some point (I can't tell when) decided to evaluate Babywise and other methods. (See http://depts.washington.edu/nutrpeds/faq/general/babywise.htm) But it looks like this was based on a couple of reports of failure to thrive or excessive crying. It's easy to imagine an over-regimented parent taking the guidelines too literally, DESPITE the fact that the book often says you MUST make adjustments based on your own case. (p. 148: "If your baby cries longer than 15 minutes, check on the baby. Pat him or her on the back, possibly holding the child for a moment. Then put the baby back down. Remember, you aren't training your child not to cry, but training him or her in the skill of sleep.") Finally, it looks like there is a lot of controversy surrounding Ezzo and Bucknam personally: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/009/12.20.html. But a lot of this looks like it centers around other issues, not the baby feeding schedule discussed in this book, or on previous editions of the book: http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/08/cov_06feature5.html) Here's my summary: the guys may be crooks, some of their other methods may be suspect, and they may be causing controversy in some churches. And in fact, it looks like they had some pretty crazy things to say in their earlier editions - see the salon.com article above - or in other books about raising toddlers. I don't much care about any of those things. I've seen the work, yielding very healthy, happy babies and a happy, loving, gentle mother. I'm planning on using it myself. With the guidelines (common to Babywise and the AAP) on how to determine whether your baby is getting enough nutrition, I'll evaluate for myself whether it's working. If not, I'll dump it and try something else. As long as the baby is healthy and happy, it seems the height of stupidity not to try to create a dependable pattern that will let me and my husband be rested and happy!
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