Happiest Baby on the Block, the

"I ordered Dr Karp's book for my daughter who had just given birth to an adorable but fussy baby boy. The techniques described in the book definitely worked for her. She started using them when he was two weeks old and saw instant results.

It has been rightly suggested that the methods do not work on babies over three or four months old,which is a definite downer. Not all babies mature sufficiently to self calm by that age.

The book has a common sense, calm approach to difficulties that arise in the first few months. The arguments against the existence of'colic'in the traditional sense, are interesting and informative.

Dr Karp takes all the odd bits of knowledge and experience many of us parents and grand parents have and consolidates it.

In my opinion, the 5s technique should be taught at ante natal classes. "
~ Written on 2006-09-26

"Our first child suffered terribly from colic in the early weeks and it was exhausting, distressing and frustrating. My wife saw Harvey Karp demonstrate his techniques on TV and bought this prior to the arrival of our second baby.

It should be called `The Happiest Newborn Baby on the Block', because it does only apply to the first twelve weeks. Experts agree that human babies are born after nine months because that is as long as they can go without risking the big human brain getting stuck in the pelvis on delivery. Harvey Karp's central idea is that, because of this, we need to create a "fourth trimester" outside the womb to comfort our babies until they are finally `ready to be born' at birth plus three months (what he charmingly describes as 'womb service').

Karp's own research led him to identify what he calls `The Calming Reflex' in unborn babies. It is a certain combination of sensations that instantly calms a baby and prevents it from harming itself (or the mother) inside the womb by getting caught in the umbilical cord or flailing limbs about in distress.

Karp's 5S technique recreates these sensations, causing the Calming Reflex to kick in and soothe a screaming, colicky baby. His theory is further backed up by anecdotes from several `primitive' cultures that don't experience colic in their babies because they don't adhere to modern western parenting techniques.

The ideas stacked up for me in theory and they certainly work like magic in practice. By systematically doing Swaddle, Side, Shhh, Swinging and Sucking I can calm our baby, when he's in full blown convulsing, screaming colic mode in about 15-30 seconds. As Karp predicted, it took a couple of minutes initially, but, as our son has got used to the routine, a kind of Pavolvian response means it now works virtually instantly.

For Dads especially, Karp's techniques are great. They require "vigour", which he recognises Dads tend to be able to do more confidently than Mums (eg: Shhh-ing loudly like the most irritated librarian rather than like a Grandmother).

As a committed follower of Gina Ford's `Contented Little Baby' routines (which worked brilliantly for us first time and second time), I really liked how this book complemented Gina Ford's approach and encouraged me to cuddle and soothe my son to sleep, rather than let him settle himself in his cot.

Harvey Karp's book is simple advice, based on thousands of years of child-rearing folklore that works wonders.
"
~ Written on 2006-08-08

"We found this book extremely useful. When we first brought our baby home he was extremely fussy and we had no idea how do stop him crying. Some friends got us this book and the 5 S's instantly worked.
The book was simple to follow and you didn't need to read the whole book to get the information that you needed. (I have found with some books that you need to read the whole thing, which isn't very helpful when you are new parent and have no time for reading!).
My only concern is that I think it is going to be difficult to get our baby off a couple of the S's. I don't think that there was enough information on how to wean the baby off the S's. Although Dr. Karp does explain how to wean them off, I would have like to have more detail, explaining what to expect, how long it should take etc.
On the whole though, it is a great book and very helpful."
~ Written on 2004-11-24

"We found this book extremely useful. When we first brought our baby home he was extremely fussy and we had no idea how do stop him crying. Some friends got us this book and the 5 S's instantly worked.
The book was simple to follow and you didn't need to read the whole book to get the information that you needed. (I have found with some books that you need to read the whole thing, which isn't very helpful when you are new parent and have no time for reading!).
My only concern is that I think it is going to be difficult to get our baby off a couple of the S's. I don't think that there was enough information on how to wean the baby off the S's. Although Dr. Karp does explain how to wean them off, I would have like to have more detail, explaining what to expect, how long it should take etc.
On the whole though, it is a great book and very helpful."
~ Written on 2004-11-24

"This book was extremely helpful. I skipped the 1st half of the book andwent straight to the 5 S's. I found the techniques so easy and the bookwas a pleasure to read. My baby responded so well to the techniques thatshe hardly ever cried, and she started sleeping through the night by thetime she was 3 weeks old. I shared these techniques with all of myfriends with newborns. I have found that no baby can resist a goodswaddle combined with a bit of a jiggle. It always takes less than 10seconds to stop the crying. It's truely amazing. My friends are all soshocked and thankful when I show them the techniques on their own babies.
If you don't get any other book, get this one. It's a life saver and itreally gives your baby everything she needs to transition from womb toroom and truely be the happiest baby on the block."
~ Written on 2004-04-28