On Becoming Babywise - Gary Ezzo & Robert Bucknam, M.D

Summary: Every mom and dad who have welcomed a child into the world understand the longing to find a way to teach their baby to sleep contentedly and continually, so both parents can enjoy quiet nights filled with peaceful sleep. Now moms and dads need to look no further than On Becoming Babywise: the exciting infant management plan that successfully and naturally trains children to sleep through the night before the age of eight weeks.

Find out what tens of thousands of grateful parents have already learned. Discover the positive prescription for curing sleepless nights and fussy babies--recommended by doctors across the country--in On Becoming Babywise. (Summary from book - Image from amazon.com)

My Review: When I was in my third trimester with my first child, I had this book literally thrust into my hands by a young mother who said “TAKE IT. IT WORKS!” I had no idea how to care for an infant, beyond diaper changing and the useful skill of not-dropping-them, and was grateful for any ideas that might tell me what the heck I should do. I devoured it and, when the baby was born, began dutifully implementing the steps that were suggested. I was a “single” mom at the time, since my husband was away for school, and so my daughter sleeping through the night was paramount to my sanity. Things pretty much went exactly as the book said they would. My daughter was sleeping through the night in no time and I was thanking my lucky stars for this book and the woman who had gave it to me.

On Becoming Babywise credits its success on the establishment of a flexible feed/wake/sleep routine that is supposed to help newborns distinguish between day and night, eat a full meal without “snacking” all day, and learn to fall asleep without the aid of breast, binky, or bouncing around the living room like a sleep-deprived maniac. This book does not advocate rigid scheduling but suggests approximate feeding/napping times without making things mandatory and always advocates feeding a baby when they are hungry regardless of the clock.

I particularly liked the section on common problems that a parent might encounter with napping/feeding/etc. It was nice to be able to read about the “45 minute intruder” before it sneaked into my daughters nap. Other tips about limiting “sleep props” like binkies, or letting your child cry briefly are a little bit more difficult to implement, so this plan is not without its hazards. Whenever I read this book (and we’re going on four times now) I usually take what I want from it and leave the rest behind. I suggest you do the same.

For some reason, books on child-rearing tend to polarize the masses to either love or loathe. No one likes being told how to take care of their child and NO ONE likes being told they are doing it wrong. On Becoming Babywise is quite self-aggrandizing about its alleged 97% success rate and fails to at least give credit to those parents and children who might be doing just fine with other feeding styles. The authors assert that the Babywise method is only way to have a happy, healthy child and predicts that all other attempts at child rearing will result in a self-centered, whiny, spoiled little infant (and later, adult) with impulse control issues and an inability to cope without instant gratification. I think both examples are far-fetched. I know many parents who have never heard of Babywise (or have, but choose other parenting philosophies) and who have happy, content children.

In spite of it’s occasional arrogance and stereotyping – Babywise has worked for all three of my children. I have found it invaluable in establishing a flexible, but predictable routine within the first few months and it has saved my sanity (and sleep) like few other books have. My children are healthy and well-adjusted and I am able to predict their needs with respectable accuracy – making me a much more sane, more together mom. I'm sure that others have had success without Babywise. Bottom line, we all do what works for us. This worked for me.

Sidenote: There are quite a few other books in this "series" -- Babywise II, Childwise, etc. None of them are anywhere near as useful as this one. I don't recommend them in the slightest.

My Rating: 5 Stars. I went lower at first because of all the horn-tooting that went on in this book, but decided to give it a 5 when I realized that having a baby that sleeps through the night is quite possibly the most important thing in the world (slight exaggeration).

Sum it up: If what you are doing isn't working (or you just have no clue what you are going to do when baby comes), then you might want to give this a try.