The Fussy Baby: How to Bring Out the Best in Your High-Need Child (Signet) (Paperback)

~ William Sears (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With warmth and wisdom, Dr. Sears, an eminent pediatrician and father of six, offers timeless advice that will show parents how to help their high-need child enjoy a more contented start in life. Includes information on how high-need babies, properly attended to, can give parents the best return on their investment of time and energy. TP: Plume.

About the Author

William Sears, one of America’s most renowned pediatricians, is the father of eight children, ages 8 to 33 years, author of 30 books on childcare and Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. A pediatrician for 28 years, he currently lives and practices along with his two oldest sons, Dr. Jim and Dr. Bob, in San Clemente, California. Dr. Sears received his pediatric training at Harvard Medical School’s Children’s Hospital in Boston and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, the largest children’s hospital in the world, where he served as Associate Ward Chief of the newborn nursery and Associate Professor of Pediatrics. In addition to writing many books and scientific articles, Dr. Sears is a medical and parenting consultant to Baby Talk and Parenting magazines. Dr. Sears is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a fellow of the Royal college of Pediatricians.

"Dr. Bill" (as his little patients call him) has been a guest on over 100 television shows including: "20/20," "Donahue," "Good Morning America," "Oprah Winfrey," "CBS This Morning," "CNN," "Today Show," and "Dateline." Dr. Bill and Martha Sears host a one-hour, twice a month on-line show for Time Warner at Parenting.com. William and Martha are best known for their seven most recent books published by Little Brown: THE PREGNANCY BOOK, THE BIRTH BOOK, THE BABY BOOK, THE DISCIPLINE BOOK, THE BREASTFEEDING BOOK, THE FUSSY BABY BOOK, THE A.D.D. BOOK, and THE FAMILY HEALTH AND NUTRITION BOOK, and have just given birth to their new website AskDrSears.com. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Signet (December 5, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451163273
• ISBN-13: 978-0451163271
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,278,291 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #66 in

  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Authors, A-Z > Sears, Dr. William

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surviving the first year of baby's life, August 5, 2000

By	Kathryn (Santa Clara, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Even though my child was past six months by the time I had the energy to read this book, it validated the various strategies that I had attempted in order to have some relief from the screaming. My child screamed 95% of the time when we first brought her home and slept less than 8 hours a day. Many of these strategies provided me with at least temporary relief. Therefore I highly recommend the book, especially for the chapter on creative ways to soothe a fussy baby. Also, validation of the feelings of shared by parents of similar babies helps one feel understood at a time when perfect strangers constantly offer useless advice. The chapter on hidden causes of fussiness in infants is one that is still of interest to me as we as parents continue our search for answers to our struggle. I read other reviews that were not as complementary, however as a parent of one of the most difficult children that I have ever met (professionally, I deal with parents and children) this book was especially helpful to me in looking at our struggle from many different angles and feel encouraged that we will survive. Some are opposed to the idea of the "family bed" however if a child is truly difficult, parents are willing to try "ANYTHING". The "ANYTHING" is what I believe the Sears have willing explored and shared. The only thing that would have been better for me was if this book would have been on videotape or audiotape so that my arms would not have been free to consume the information contained.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful & Supportive, December 19, 1999

By A Customer

I found this book very useful - as the mother of a very fussy baby (now a very high need 2 and a half year old) I was at wit's end trying to figure out how to calm my baby and why she just didn't sleep like my friends' babies. The book reinforced the fact that my daughter was born very sensitive and I would have to work on bonding with her, creating security and consistency in her environment, and most of all to understand her and myself.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars supportive, a must read for the parent of a colicky baby, June 13, 2002

By	"campka98" (New Jersey/NY) - See all my reviews

My daughter was colicky for about 4-5 months. I was really glad to have found this book when she was 4 months old. (Wish I had read this when she was a newborn.) I almost cried when I read it. All those months I had struggled with this screaming little baby and wondered if I was doing the right thing. Other people told me I was spoiling my baby and I should change the way I was dealing with her crying, but I couldn't bear to let her suffer alone in her crib.

This book is very supportive for parents who want to nurture and calm their fussy, colicky babies. I thought that the Sears' provided nice tips for handling baby and I also found there advice on breastfeeding helpful.

My baby is now 10 months. She is trusting, good humored, smiley, and very sociable. I feel like all my hard work has paid off. I don't think that I would have been able to do it without this book.