Baby Whisperer and breastfeeding. - Page 2

[LolaK]

She falls into the "don't hold your baby too much" camp though and I hate books written from that perspective. I thought the breastfeeding part was one of the least sucky parts of the book.

[miche28]

I read this book before I had DD and it made so much sense to me.... until I h actually had DD and realised that baby actually does know best and that I was not a failure as mother because I couldn't make her eat every three hours on the dot.

Honestly, I don't really see how her approach is that much different from Ferber's - it sounds like it's different, but for a persistent child, it's really just CIO while you stand there and watch. (which is better, I guess).

The breastfeeding advice is just as damaging and utterly not based in science or nature...

Now, it's not all useless (learning baby's different cues for example) and the EASY thing might work with some babies.... but not worth the dangerous price of admission...

Pitch it!

[Peppermint Poppies]

I hated this whole book, mostly because her breastfeeding advice set my teeth on edge. Her EASY routine sounds great, in principle, but doesn't work for every baby. In fact, even though she spends a chapter characterising babies into Angel, Textbook, Grumpy, Spirited etc, I'm sure her routines would only work with easygoing babies. And what's with slapping a label on a newborn anyway? Surely there is enough time for them to be labelled throughout the rest of their life without starting that early :

[MilkTrance]

Yeah, I was so happy to hear that my baby was the boring "textbook." Thanks, Tracy.

[Claire and Boys]

For me my ds just would not fit into her routines, I did actually try initially with #1 but he was big, big eater and would not do EASY at all...it was more like EEAEESEEY He ate every hour for weeks - and gained a llb a week!

[sweetpeppers]

My mom gave me this book when my son was a couple months old, and I really felt it undermine my confidence in my own instincts. She is very anti-co-sleeping, a couple of places it seemed like she didn't even want you to hold the baby, her b-feeding advice is lousy, etc. The problem is she weaves that stuff in with really good stuff about listening to your baby and reading his signs, etc, but you can respond to your babies signs only if it's convenient for you. Sorry, I'm very bitter about this book. It led me astray for awhile before I learned about AP (which I was doing unknowingly before I read the babywhisperer). She glorifies "independence." What really makes me mad is this one story she told about a nursing toddler...arg, I won't even get started. I think this is a very dangerous book, because she talks a good game, but then the advice she gives is totally the opposite of what she says. Frankly I don't see much difference between the pick up put down method and controlled crying it out. Except maybe that p/u, p/d is even more confusing and upsetting to the baby. Sorry, this is kind of rambling. I'm so against any parenting book that advices you to go against your instincts.

[jessjgh1]

lol, the only thing I retained from it for baby #2 was to give her the 'tour' of our house and to talk to her more about what I was doing before I did it (ie, now i'm going to take you potty/change your diaper, instead of just doing it).

I always thought that was a bit silly (the tour), but for some reason decided to do it when R was a few weeks old and seemed more alert. It still seems quite silly for a 1 day old who probably can't see a dern thing, but I guess it starts a pattern that is good.

Anyways, I guess I agree w/ pp about it being dangerous because the really good advice is set in ther with the bad advice, so it is decieving.

Jessica

[amitymama]

Originally Posted by marisa724

I know a lot of my friends have liked it, I tell them "Just staple shut the chapter on breastfeeding, please!"

Same here. I actually read and liked this book for sleep issues, it was fantastic, but for breastfeeding...not so much. I lent it to a friend and told her to ignore the feeding stuff and just focus on the settling/sleeping stuff. She's still bf'ing her 11 month old so she must've stapled those pages shut.