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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

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Authors: Tracy Hogg, Melinda Blau
Publisher: Vermilion
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł10.99~~
Buy New: Ł5.65
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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

49 reviews
Sales Rank: 1115

Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.3

ISBN: 0091902517
Dewey Decimal Number: 618
EAN: 9780091902513
ASIN: 0091902517

Publication Date: January 6, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book dispatched from stock in the UK

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Customer Reviews: Read 44 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Saving sanity with structure but not for new borns! July 24, 2008
Ok Ok so there ARE flaws in this book and i'm not about to say that her tone and habit of referring to her readers as "duckie" and "luv" isn't annoying but i work in child psychiatry/psychology and it taught me a few new tricks!

I started off instinctively as a mother and went with attachment parenting...which i whole heartedly believe is the best thing for a new born baby. I co-slept, slinged and demand fed.

When a baby is new to the world trying to instill structure and seperation on a teenie tiny person who actually doesn't know or comprehend that they are seperate from the world around them is just cruel and potentially damaging on a psychological level...so i really wouldn't recommend this book for neonates. However, after 8 weeks or so (whenever YOU feel your baby might be ready) then i think this book is fantastic. Once babies begin to interact and take in the world around them, structure is a really positive thing, helping them to feel safe and contained.

I started my first with a slightly adapted baby whisperer routine after a few months and within a few nights my cherub was sleeping through the night and our whole family was settled into happy, predictable bliss.

Noone should take ANY book as written in stone or allow someones opinion (who has never even met your child) to overwrite your own maternal/paternal instintcs....for crying out loud...surely that's common sense????...so if you can read a book OBJECTIVELY and interpret what would be helpful for your family then you will find this book an absolute godsend.

This book recommends teaching your child how to self soothe, which again, on a psychological level, is really positive. Tracey Hogg advocates dummies, but if you or your baby doesn't use dummies then there are plenty of other ways to self soothe. My little girl sucks her thumb and i have never introduced a dummy but she is still able to self soothe. She also advocates you helping your baby learn how to fall asleep independently, (as you would help them learn so many other skills) but she doesn't advocate "crying it out". Which is great for most parents...after all who can bear hearing their beloved little bub crying till they either fall asleep from exhaution of just give up because they learn that no one comes when they cry?

I found it actually increased my connectedness, intuition and confidence with my little 'un.
However, a word of warning...Tracey Hogg uses a silly phrase of "accidental parenting" a lot during the book...which could feel quite critical to the more sensitive among us, or to those that are inclined to take guide books literally. What she means by "accidental parenting" is really just that she's agrees with the psychological theories on conditioning and that babies get into the habits their parents give them (DUH!! thanks for pointing out the obvious there Tracey)....so if you feed your baby to sleep, they will come to expect it...until you condition them into another method....which is what Tracey's book is all about...conditioning your child into a routine, where both you and your babies lives are structured and predictable. The way she goes about explaining it, isn't ideal at times but her basic idea is great. If you are a new parent and have just been through those first few months of crazy, sleep deprived cookoo land with a new born then this book is straightforward, easy to read and offers some sensible advise on structure.....but please please please take this and any other book with a pinch of salt...no one can know you own child like their own parent!!!!!

1 out of 5 stars

Tracey Hogg hasn't solved my problems April 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

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!

5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant! April 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

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.

1 out of 5 stars

Undermines your parenting confidence April 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

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

5 out of 5 stars

The sensible, sensitive approach February 29, 2008
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.