The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems (By Teaching You How to Ask the Right Questions): Sleeping, feeding and behaviour - beyond the basics through infancy and toddlerdom

"After the recent birth of my first child, I bought this book in the hope that it might give me a better idea of how to develop a routine for my son, as well as giving me some confidence in my ability to be a good parent. Unfortunately, although some of the things Tracey Hogg talks about in this book make sense, I could not see how I could make her routines work for me and my son. For example, Tracey aserts that babies should not feed any more frequently than 3 hourly. However, I am breast feeding my son and in the early weeks he sometimes wanted to feed every hour. Tracey suggests that in this situation your baby is either not getting enough milk, or is comfort sucking (and should therefore be given a dummy). I knew my son was getting enough milk as he was putting on weight very well, but despite trying to give him a dummy on several occasions he just would not take it. Tracey states that if your baby will not take a dummy, then you are giving up too easily and should keep trying. However, the whole premise of this book is that the parent needs to learn to listen to their child, and my son was clearly telling me that he did not want a dummy!
The author states that if her methods do not work for you, then you are at fault and either you are just not doing it right, or not trying hard enough. This approach left me feeling inadequate as a mother, at a time when I needed to feel understood and supported as a new parent. My negative feelings about this book are compounded by Tracey Hogg's insistence on calling the reader 'duckie' and 'luv' throughout, which I found incredibly patronising.
I have since realised that being a good enough parent means trusting your instincts and dipping in and out of various parenting texts, using the bits that work for you, and ignoring the bits that don't.
Oh, and my son is now able to go for 3 hours between feeds without me having to shove a dummy in his mouth!"
~ Written on 2008-04-27

"This book is the best thing I ever bought I think. Especially for first time parents it is such a help. We only found it when our daughter was already 3 months old, if we had had it from the beginning it would have saved us a lot of worrying and sleepless nights! However, once we got it, we had her sleeping 11 to 12 hours through the night in just 2 weeks. From day 1 our life became a lot easier and more structured. I highly recommend this, even for parents with older babies who have sleeping or eating issues."
~ Written on 2008-04-20

"Like many other 1-3 star reviewers I felt that Tracy's constant referral to accidental parenting caused more problems because I started to constantly doubt myself.

Her avoidance of applying the advice to age made it difficult to understand and I ended up using techniques that were not appropriate to my baby's age. IE - as a newborn it is absolutely appropriate to rock, cuddle, pick up counter to Tracy's advice to start as you mean to go.

Tracy's basic structure/routine was helpful for a total novice but it took a lot of reading to get to the nuance & age appropriate bits of it. After many months of struggling I found that Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Paediatrician Mar Weissbluth to be far more helpful in terms of helping me to understand the science of sleep and child development - without all the judgement and knuckle-wrapping. I also liked The No Cry Sleep Solution which was far more empowering.

Good luck"
~ Written on 2008-04-04

"I read this book just after the Gina Ford book. Having tried Ford's methods, albiet briefly, and finding them to be against my own instincts I read this book and found it much more in line with my views. There is no controlled crying, instead a calm and effective way of getting your baby to sleep. The guidelines for routines are flexible to suit you and your child and are easy to follow...literally!
I would whole-heartedly recommend this book if you are at all uneasy with other approaches so popular at the moment."
~ Written on 2008-02-29

"This book is a great companion to the Baby Whisperer book, and really works for me. The example guides in this book are simple to follow, and my baby seems to follow EASY to a t. I highly recommend this book as my baby is far more contented!"
~ Written on 2007-12-14