The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior--Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood

Good For some ideas
I bought this book three years ago after the birth of my son. I was clueless and needed some middle-of-the-Road guidance. My son fell in line with the EASY plan fairly easily. The Pic-Up/Put-down did not work for him. But I liked her approach, even if her tone was condescending.
With the birth of my daughter a few months ago, I thought she would fall in line as well, as that is what the book would have you believe. However, after 24 hrs on the 3 hr EASY plan, my daughter reacted by shortening allher naps to 45 MIN. She reacted just the opposite of what Tracy said. I re-read and kept on anyway. After two months of shushing myself hoarse I stopped when I realized that I was beginning to actually resent my baby. And she never got off the 45 min nap.
My advice to anyone who buys this book is: take this with a grain of salt. Don't beat yourself up if it does not work. Give it a few weeks, then move on to something else.
Also, I would suggest going out to the website for further clarification on some of the techniques. The book can be vague and sometimes contradictory. The people who run the website are much better at explaining the finer points.

very great info
i am pretty smart when it comes to babies, but this book threw me my P.H. D! VERY GOOD INFO

Baby Whisperer
My son and his wife received a copy from their daycare provider. They wished they'd had it sooner.
I've been buying copies for gifts the last 5 years! Parents give it great reviews!
Great service from a great seller.

As if as new parents we don't get enough guilt!
Well first off, like a few others, I'd like to give everyone a reality check. I mean really - sleeping through the night by four months? Sure some kids do that but not my baby. Feeding your four month old only ever four hours? My baby was just miserable when I tried that. That's just plain mean and a great way to reduce your milk supply. And other newsflash: NOT ALL BABIES NEED 12 hours of sleep per night! Why drive yourself nuts trying to force a "schedule" (I don't care what she calls it) when it just doesn't work for your kid. For some kids it might, but for mine it sure didn't.

This book made it sound like normal baby stuff - i.e. waking up at night, cluster feeding, growth spurts, naps at irregular intervals was all the result of YOUR bad parenting. I felt like my baby was broken and it was all my fault.

Duh. Parenting IS hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

The Baby Whisperer makes it sound like all you have to do is try a few tricks and presto, everything will be perfect and shame on your for messing your baby up in the first place. Many parenting books, even Ferber and Weissbluth actual Pediatric Sleep Specialists, make it all sound so simple.

The one piece of advice I got from reading all these books (Ferber, Weissbluth and even BW) is to make your baby's naps a priority, so no car rides or trips in the stroller near nap time. Have them nap in a quiet place for as long as they want, when they want. This means a lot of sitting around at home watching your baby for sleepy signals and getting them to sleep when you really need to go out and get some shopping done because you're sick of being stuck at home all day long. Most kids eventually find their own "schedule" (close to what all three authors suggest) and you'll be able to figure out when you can go out and do stuff.

To all you new sleep deprived mommies out there: take heart, it will get better. No matter what you do, sleep training, schedules, baby whisperer, nursing to sleep (I eventually abandoned CIO and Ferber and just started nursing my baby to sleep - the most wonderful and beautiful bonding experience ever. I have ZERO regrets, they're only this small once.) most healthy children will start sleeping through the night at some point. It won't be consistent and you'll still find yourself waking up at night to deal with teething and illness, even with a 2 year old, but you'll get enough sleep and figure out a routine in order to stay sane and finally clean the house and cook dinner and wow, even do something for yourself.

And while you're waiting for this to happen, get someone to come over and watch the baby while you nap.

Life saving sleep strategies!
THANK YOU, not only to Tracy Hogg but to those whose rave reviews inspired me to get this book!

At about two weeks my precious daughter stopped sleeping in her bed, and our pillow-top mattress isn't safe for co-sleeping so we had to hold her. From the day I began implementing Tracy's suggested routine - NOT schedule; it is about the order of activities, not exact times - my daughter, then two months, began sleeping in her bassinet for naps and at night. The key for me is finding the right window to swaddle, which I had not been able to do. Sometimes I have to unswaddle, do something else with my daughter, and then go back when she is more ready to settle down.

I've begun reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Mark Weissbluth, and I think that book complements Tracy's, with Mark countering some of the rigidity of Tracy's approach and I think better allowing for the individuality of one's child and parental instincts. It also has some good breast to bottle tips which I wish I'd had when my husband began giving our daughter a bottle.