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

Tracy Hogg (Author), Melinda Blau (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 3, 2006

The third book in the bestselling Baby Whisperer series -- the most comprehensive, up-close, and personal to date!

Thousands of parents have asked the Baby Whisperer to help them solve their problems. With this book you too can take advantage of the advice, insights, and parenting techniques from beloved child expert Tracy Hogg. "A problem is nothing more than a situation calling for a creative solution," she reminds us. "Ask the right questions and you'll come up with the right answers."

Once you learn how to translate banguage, the "baby-language" your infant uses to communicate needs, feelings, and opinions, you can see your child for who he or she really is -- an understanding that will serve you well as your child blossoms into the toddler years. By helping you establish a daily routine and tailor your parenting strategies according to your child's unique personality and stage of development, Tracy will teach you how to:

• Ask the Twelve Essential Questions to recognize potential problems and employ the Twelve Principles of Problem Solving -- simple troubleshooting techniques for everyday situations

• Avoid, or remedy, accidental parenting -- inadvertent adult behavior that often leads to such common parenting challenges as sleep problems, poor eating habits, separation anxiety, and tantrums

• Be a P.C. parent -- patient and conscious -- who knows how to detect prime times -- windows of opportunity for teaching babies how to get to sleep on their own, introducing bottles to breast-fed babies, toilet training, and other growth issues

• Inhibit runaway emotions and foster his or her emotional fitness -- the ability to understand and manage feelings

...and so much more. For Tracy's fans, this book will be a welcome addition to the Hogg library; for readers unfamiliar with her philosophy of care, it will open a new world of understanding and insight.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The high-spirited Hogg is humorous yet relentless in her quest to help parents find out why their baby acts a certain way.... [her] followers will no doubt be delighted."

-- Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Tracy Hogg, RNMH, considered a "modern-day Mary Poppins" by the many whose lives she touched, died in 2004. Her legacy lives on in her bestselling books -- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers, which she also coauthored with Melinda Blau -- as well as her television series, consulting enterprise, and website. Visit www.babywhisperer.com to learn more.

Melinda Blau is an award-winning journalist and author of twelve books. Known for her writing about families and children, she lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; Reprint edition (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743488946
• ISBN-13: 978-0743488945
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (217 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Parenting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 119 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It worked for me... September 20, 2007

By Hanh Richards

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

GENERAL COMMENT: Like every baby book I read, I try to keep an open mind. You will NOT find a book that will work for ALL babies but this book worked for mine, who I think is a text book baby.

SITUATION: I was going back to work and my baby was super needy at 6 weeks-- wanted to be helded all the time. He won't nap if I wasn't holding him. And at night, I would rock him to sleep and put him into his crib very very gently when he has fallen into DEEP sleep. Otherwise, he would CRY. But that was my fault because I HELD him alot. This would be fine if I was a stay at home mom...but if even I was, I think it would have taken it's toll on me at some point.

LIKE: I like this book because it helped with getting my baby on a good routine, nap longer, sleep on his own, and sleep longer through the night. I made my own version of the EASY plan, customize it to my baby and what worked for me...this book afterall is not the BIBLE.

RESULTS: By about 8-10 weeks, he was sleeping from 7:30-8 pm to about 4:30 am (with 1 dream feed). Now at 5 months, he sleeps from 8pm to about 7am (with 1 dream feed). He use to nap about 30 minutes at a time. After the plan, he started napping for 2 hours (slightly shorter now since he is older). He LIKES his crib and falls to sleep in about 20-30 minutes of laying down...without ANY fuss. And he is a happy healthy little boy who is 50% for weight and 80% for height.

TRANSITION PERIOD: This didn't happen overnight. I would try for a week or two and revisit the book about a thousand time to make sure I wasn't doing it wrong. He would progess and go back to his old self and progress some more. After about 2 weeks, I customize the plan. You WILL be glad to get some time for yourself and hubby when the baby goes down to sleep in the evening instead of at night. He sleeping pattern gradually falls into place. I don't believe in cry it out so the SHH/PAT worked for me. It was hard and I gave up several times. But it worked before you know it. Just give it your best try and be PATIENT AND CONSISTENT. Even now when he takes a little longer to get to sleep, I still PAT/SHH and he is out.

DON'T LIKE: The tone of the author can be a bit annoying (KNOW IT ALL) but after all, she is a super nanny and have worked with THOUSANDS of babies. This book made me PARANOID as a parent--thinking that I would just ruin my child if I made any wrong moves. But we all turned out okay and our parents didn't have this book.

CONCLUSION: Your instinct as a mom is truly the best guide but sometimes, it does get you into situations that are difficult to overcome. This book helped me better manage my baby's sleep/eating which are the biggest parts of his life. Life is so much less HECTIC for MOM, BABY and DAD.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you just can't or won't do cry it out, but want your baby to sleep through the night quickly this is the book for you!!! July 30, 2009

By N. Ziegler

Format:Paperback

I bought this book after doing MUCH research and reading. At the time my daughter was 9 months old and I had managed to get in the habit of nursing her to sleep. She had to nurse to sleep for every nap and bedtime and every night waking and if, God forbid, she woke up as I lowered her into the crib, we would have to start all over again. She was up every 1.5 hours EVERY night for months, and finally I just had it. I had read books that reccommend cry it out, or controlled crying but even the ones where you went in every 5 to 10 minutes and soothed the baby seemed so cruel to me, and she would get soooo upset. I have even heard of babies vomiting from this. Plus I had more than one person who did "cry it out" tell me that 1. There baby became more clingy during the day and feared/hated his/her crib and bedtime and 2. When they went on vacation or the baby got sick they would have to start CIO all over again when they got home or the baby was well again. There was no way I was going to do that more than once! So I looked for other options, one is the "No-cry sleep solution" I loved the idea, but I didn't like how long it was going to take. I tried it for a while, but I wasn't seeing improvement quick enough (for me), I needed something that worked faster, since I was a walking zombie!! I found this book and thought I would give it a shot, I decided to give it a week and if I didn't see improvement I probably would have given up. The first night was hard (but way easier than the first night of cry it out would have been). The second night my daughter who had never slept more than 2 hours at a time at night, went 4 hours without waking to eat. On the third night she put herself to sleep all by herself with NO crying (just a little fussing) and slept for 4 hours again each stretch. In less that a week she was putting herself to sleep for every nap and bedtime with NO CRYING at all!! She would babble and play and then fall asleep! And she was only getting up once or twice a night (a vast improvement from 7-8!) Within 3 weeks she slept through the night for the first time and has been ever since (with the exception of when she gets sick, however she gets right back to sleeping after she is better, no crying! yay!

We are now using this book with my son. I started right away with him and at 2 weeks old he put himself to sleep all on his own for naps and bedtimes and at 8 weeks he slept through the night. Then he was diagnosed with severe reflux at 3 months and he would wake up in pain at night and the only thing that would soothe him was to feed him. So now at 8 months we are using the book to get him to sleep through the night again now that his meds for reflux are finally right. He had been getting up ever 2 hours at night because of the pain and then it just became a habit once his meds starting working. I started the book 2 days ago. Last night he only got up ONCE to eat. He slept from 7pm-1:20 and then 1:20 till 7 AM! 3 days ago he got up 7 times in one night.

This book WORKS! If you follow it for two days you will see VAST improvement. Your baby most likely won't be sleeping through the night on the 2nd day but usually by 2 weeks they will be. And after the 2nd night you will see such improvement that I guarantee you will be encouraged to continue and it feels so good too because you have saved your baby (AND YOU!) the emotional stress of crying it out!

Basically you get your baby on a routine, NOT A STRICT SCHEDULE. You CAN fluxuate from it, I did with both my kids and it still works/worked for them. You basically just want the baby to get to the point where he/she knows what's coming next. Eat, activity (awake time), sleep.

The only con I found with this book is that she does sound condescending at times, she calls you Luv, and sometimes makes it sound like you are a little kid who doesn't know what you are doing. But, honestly, WHO CARES? So long as it's working I don't care what she calls me! lol

Some people claim she sounds like she is against breastfeeding, but I did not get that impression at all.I think she is just trying to say, breastfeeding or formula, whatever you decide is right for you is best. I BF my daughter for 13 months and this book worked perfectly for me and I plan to do the same with my son.

To the people who are considering doing cry it out but looking for an alternative. Give this book 3 days, just 3 days, if you are not convinced that it is the better choice than crying it out, then go ahead and do cry it out. I pass no judgement on people who do choose to do CIO, it is better to do that and have a happy parent than to have a sleepless unhappy parent IMO. But if you are on the fence and feel guilty about having or deciding to do CIO, just try this first! It's just 3 days, and if it doesn't work, you can always do CIO afterwards. I have reccommended this book to 4 people already and ALL FOUR of them said it worked for them, and 2 of them give it as a shower gift they loved it so much.

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, depending on your parenting philosophy September 30, 2006

By Jennifer

Format:Paperback

Most baby parenting books fall into one of two categories: the old-school, "get the baby on a schedule" philosophy or the pro-co-sleeping, child-led "attachment parenting" philosophy.

This book is clearly in the former category, and I think it's the best of its kind. Tracy Hogg is a big believer in getting your baby on a schedule as soon as possible, but she clearly loves babies and advocates for doing so gently, paying attention to your baby's needs and cues.

Her tone can be bit unforgiving (e.g. you kind of feel like a failure if you don't have your five-month-old in a consistent routine) and I disagree with some of her suggestions (e.g. her "Pick Up/Put Down" soothing method just upset my baby further) but, overall, I found the book to be full of helpful suggestions and information.

In particular, the detailed charts of what quantity and types of foods babies should eat at various stages and sample routines and schedules were invaluable. (A few women I know bought the book just to have those charts!) Even though I didn't follow them exactly, it helped to have detailed, specific examples rather than the vague suggestions that most baby books offer.

Bottom line: if you are opposed to the idea of getting your baby on a schedule and directing her routine (as many of the people who gave it a low rating seem to be), you will not enjoy this book. If, however, you're open to that philosophy, this book is a must-have.