The Self-Calmed Baby [Mass Market Paperback]

William A. H. Sammons (Author), T. Berry Brazelton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1991

Sammons, a practicing pediatrician who trained with T. Berry Brazelton, has developed a theory of infant self-calming, a technique in which "the baby settles herself down without assistance from anyone." Sammons offers sound advice for new parents coping with feeding and quieting an infant, encouraging them to observe and communicate with the new baby. He warns parents against overstimulation, often the result of reacting too quickly to a baby's crying, and describes the different types of crying. He stresses teaching the infant to calm itself by sucking, visual focusing, or positioning, a process that can take weeks, but will result in improved family life. Highly recommended. - Debra Berlanstein, Towson State Univ., Baltimore Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; Mass Production Paperback edition (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312924682
• ISBN-13: 978-0312924683
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.7 x 4.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not very helpful, February 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Self-Calmed Baby (Mass Market Paperback)

This book desperately needs to be updated. The out-of-date information on breastfeeding alone was enough to put me off (eg, that breast feeding has not been proven to be useful immunologically, etc). I did learn some new techniques my baby uses to self-soothe (sucking fists, etc) and I am relying on the pacifier a lot less, but overall the book was a big disappointment. I can't believe T Berry Brazelton has his name on this! Really just another person in the cry it out camp.

33 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is terrible!, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Self-Calmed Baby (Mass Market Paperback)

As a first-time mother, I bought this book thinking it may provide some advice on how to "teach" my 6 week old infant ways to calm himself. My son refused a pacifier and often cried inconsolably. I tried several of the techniques that were rather vaguely outlined in the book, and the bottom line was that they didn't work. As my son got older, as with most babies, the crying significantly decreased. I think it's unrealistic to expect an infant under 2-months old to self-calm. Infants need the love of their parents to feel secure. As they get older all babies learn, in some way, to self-calm WITHOUT parental intervention. I was also deeply offended by the negativity and UNTRUE information the author included on the subject of breastfeeding. I decided to breastfeed my son because I felt that it was the best thing for him (also very economical). I didn't have some alterior motive or "romantic fantasy" about doing so. The most ridiculous claim from Dr. Sammons is that some women are using breastfeeding as an "orgasmic outlet." I had a good laugh over that one!! After reading this book, I immediately threw it in the trash. Don't waste your money on this one!!

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a terrible book!, April 23, 1999

By 

"junglelove" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Self-Calmed Baby (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is poorly organized, vague, and counteracts all of my natural instincts as a parent. I don't understand how Brazelton could have written a foreword for it. None of my experiences with my child are reflected in here. In my opinion, the reason why Sammons' patients began to sleep better in the few weeks before they came back to see him is precisely because they waited a few weeks before they came back to see him. In other words, the infants got older, and their abilities naturally improved. Yes, babies can learn to self-calm, but it is not a reliable method of getting a very young infant, say, younger than two months, to sleep.

Sammons never clearly answers the key question in this dilemma: While trying to teach your child to put himself/herself to sleep, what do you do when your child starts to scream? Not fuss, but actually scream. How long should you let your child cry at one month, at two months, at three months? These very basic and important questions are not really addressed by the author.

The author doesn't want you to schedule your child's day time sleeping, but says that if you are "communicating" with your baby, you will naturally fall into a schedule. I don't agree that this is necessarily true for all parents.

Also, his writings indicate that putting your child in a swing, or rocking him/her to sleep is somehow cheating the baby out of the opportunity to learn to self-calm. This goes against every instinct in my body, and all of my experience with my (7-week old) child.

I hope the author responds and tries to address these issues, and I hope that he realizes how vague his book is on these topics.

The problem of learning to sleep is an important one, and it deserves a clear, comprehensive answer, preferably one that does not guilt the parents into thinking that if their baby is awake it is necessarily because they did something wrong.