UPDATE;: I wrote the review below after using TCB with my son, who is now 2 1/2 (and still sleeps all night!). I just had a baby daughter, and am compelled to write again because last night, at 7 1/2 weeks, she slept through the entire night for the first time. This book is not a fluke. I will say, however, that it is VERY important that you read the entire book and not just start with the schedules. There is a method to the madness, and it is important to understand what you are trying to achieve with the schedules (fit most of child's nutritional needs in during the day, and sleep needs in during the night). Remember that Ford is writing a book for the 2 million + babies out there, so her conclusions are what GENERALLy works for MOST babies. Every baby is different. That's another reason to read the entire book carefully -- there are some very important pieces of information buried in the text, in the Q&A sections, and in the case studies, which address problems people have had with the schedule and suggestions to fix them (e.g., what if you have a "sleepy" baby, or a "hungry" baby? What if baby keeps waking up even after getting a little older? What if you get off-schedule due to outings, etc., in the early days?). I will say that there is nothing "radical" about her schedules -- I sent my son to day care at 3 months and guess what? They had a scheduled morning nap, and a scheduled afternoon nap. Babies will tend toward this routine on their own, the book just helps you to get them along a little faster. Oh, and I have had no problem bonding with my kids on this schedule -- in fact, I am so well rested I enjoy them thoroughly!
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This book was a godsend. I think it goes without saying that you will be unable to follow Ford's schedules to the minute, but by giving you a general pattern, she gives you some predicatibility to your day. I honestly am very puzzled by the people who claim that this book somehow suggests that you starve your baby. Did they read the book? She gives you target feeding times, and suggests that you feed when he's hungry, but slowly stretch out the feeding times (by 5 minutes a day) until you are at the suggested times. In effect, she is supporting the "feeding on demand" theory -- she's just helping you to structure your child's day so that he is "demanding" to be fed at certain times. Put it this way: I followed this schedule while breastfeeding and my son was (and is) consistently in the 90th percentile for height and weight!
I put my son on the schedule at 5 weeks. We had to work hard to keep him awake for the first few weeks so that he would nap at the proper times and at night. Almost immediately he started sleeping from 7-10:30pm very easily, giving me and my husband a real evening back -- we could eat dinner, watch movies, and email, like the old days. He continued to wake up once at night (around 3:30) after the 10:30pm feeding until about 10 weeks, but after that he began sleeping from 11pm to 7am. Best of all, thanks to Ford's suggestions we never got him hooked on a pacifier, or rocking, or any other sleep association -- we put him in the crib wide awake and he babbles to himself until he falls asleep (and plays quietly in his crib in the morning until we come get him)!
One note -- heed Ford's warning about trying to put this plan into effect only with a supportive environment. It does take focus and work, and my mother, who was staying with me at the time, was a total naysayer and constantly tried to sabotage me. However, I stuck with it, and after about a month even she had to admit that the schedule was working both for my son and everyone else. But it would have been A LOT easier if she had gotten on board from the beginning.
Everyone we meet comments on what a happy baby we have, and I tell every pregnant friend I have to get this book. I watch my sister, who has three children who eat at different times of day and stay up to all hours -- she or her husband have to drive their youngest around in a car seat to get him asleep, and he still has a pacifier at 2 1/2 years old -- what a nightmare. She, like many of the other reviewers here, is convinced that this is just how my son "is," and her children would never be amenable to a schedule. Guess she'll never find out...her loss!
