What a relief!
After 2 other children, the third time's a charm, in large part because of this book! I'd like to think I know a lot about children and babies, but with my first two babies I struggled. My first had "colic" and never slept more than 30 minutes at a time! I'm totally serious. My second was a bit easier, but I still found myself frustrated a lot, not always knowing what he needed.
This book gives you specific clues as to what your baby needs when he/she cries. It's' easy to think every cry's a hungry cry. That's the mistake I made and I was wrong. It makes a tremendous difference in my sanity level, my baby's comfort, and my family's well-being to know with confidence why my baby's crying and what to do about it. For example, when a baby flicks her tongue like a snake, it means she has gas. I sure didn't know that. I thought it meant she was hungry. If I'd known that with my first, I wouldn't have fed him every hour or less! I believe strongly now that he never did have colic - I just wasn't reading him right.
Also this book does not force you to go against your instincts. It doesn't tell you to not answer your baby's cries, or to ignore them. In fact, its whole premise is about tuning into your baby - but stresses the importance of reading their needs correctly. At the same time, it does not suggest that you let the baby run the household either. For me, it was the most practical, sensitive, loving, and balanced way to approach parenting an infant.
This book is making my and my family's life as easy as it can be with a newborn in the house. Instead of being tired, worn out and frustrated (only sometimes), we are truly truly enjoying our new addition and actually having fun! And this baby actually sleeps for more than 30 minutes - she's already reached 5 hours overnight and 2-4 hours for naps. I don't even know what to do with my time... I'm not used to it!!
I can't say enough good things about it. I only wish I would have read it (instead of all those other books) with my first one. It's only now that I KNOW what I'm doing is right and I don't question whether some new "theory" is correct or not, and what damage I might be doing my child.
Having an education and profession in child development, there are just a couple of things I don't entirely agree with, but it doesn't matter. That's what's great about this book - you really can take a lot from it without having to follow it 100%, in my opinion. I will tell you that it still takes a few weeks to really get it and to see that it does work. It's only in the last 10 days or so that it finally came together for us, and she's 5 weeks old. But stick with it!!
Angela in AZ (AKA: one sane mommy!)Read full review
