Take a photo of a barcode or cover
110 reviews for:
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
Melinda Blau, Tracy Hogg
3.54 AVERAGE
110 reviews for:
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
Melinda Blau, Tracy Hogg
3.54 AVERAGE
There was a lot of good advice, but a lot of not-so-good advice. I wouldn't recommend the book to a new mom, even though there is good advice. Good advice can always be found elsewhere when bad advice is damaging.
Good quick read which discusses how to create a flexible routine for baby and parent although sometimes I thought the writer was a bit kooky. We'll see how well the methods work once the baby is out, but it seemed to have useful tips on how to care for the baby in the first few weeks.
This wasn't a bad parenting book, but it definitely wasn't for me. I did get some useful tips out of it, but for the most part I didn't get many new ideas or even motivation. I didn't love the voice of the author (the way some of her tips and ideas felt like "the only right way", such as when she talked about bathing the baby every day) and I also thought some of her ideas of respecting the baby were a little hokey and unrealistic and the examples she uses with it are ridiculous most of the time. I won't be keeping or recommending this book, as there are others I found a lot more useful.
I got two chapters into this book, and I was going to read the third to give it a chance, but after I flipped through and saw what she thought of co-sleeping I immediately decided to DNF. If you're a co-sleeping or breastfeeding mama, stay far away from this book.
I didn't think it was as good as I'd heard from others, but it was okay.
I really liked a lot of what Hogg has to say, and I think her plan of putting babies on a solid routine from day one is a great idea. I also like the idea of talking your baby through everything you're doing and why.
I do not, however, have the physical or emotional strength to follow through on her pick-up/put-down sleep training method. Maybe it's just my kid, but after two hours, he was spending more time in my arms calming down than he was in the crib.
Also, she exclusively discusses hetero couples becoming parents, and while she does have a chapter on adoption and surrogacy, it's solely through the lens of infertility. I'm willing to give a little bit of leeway because this book was written almost twenty years ago and she may have never worked with a same sex couple, but I'm pretty sure gay people were having and adopting babies even then, so a mention of them would have been nice. It just feels so ... icky, almost, in 2019 to read something like this with zero mention of gay parents.
I do not, however, have the physical or emotional strength to follow through on her pick-up/put-down sleep training method. Maybe it's just my kid, but after two hours, he was spending more time in my arms calming down than he was in the crib.
Also, she exclusively discusses hetero couples becoming parents, and while she does have a chapter on adoption and surrogacy, it's solely through the lens of infertility. I'm willing to give a little bit of leeway because this book was written almost twenty years ago and she may have never worked with a same sex couple, but I'm pretty sure gay people were having and adopting babies even then, so a mention of them would have been nice. It just feels so ... icky, almost, in 2019 to read something like this with zero mention of gay parents.
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
I read this book before my baby was born, thought it was great, and foolishly thought myself well-prepared to handle my baby. Fast forward a few months to after my baby was born--nothing in the book was helping at all. I thought, surely I was remembering the book wrong, or not applying her ideas correctly, so I read it again. Completely useless. I bet that if you have a very easygoing, laid-back baby who isn't very needy or fussy, this book might be helpful. But for me and my extremely fussy baby, it did nothing more than make me feel like a bad mom. And looking back now, I'm laughing at some of the ideas in this book. Ask your baby's permission before picking him up? Always refer to him by his name rather than "the baby?" Please. That's EXACTLY what every new mom needs to know. When your baby is shrieking at you, make sure to ask him if it's okay to pick him up first! Remember to wait for a response before you act!
Oh! Also! We get that you're British. You don't need to continue saying things like "duckie" and "luv" every other sentence. I figured it out the first time.
Oh! Also! We get that you're British. You don't need to continue saying things like "duckie" and "luv" every other sentence. I figured it out the first time.
This book seems like it would be a great resource for parents who haven't yet had their newborns. While it suggests that the final chapter will help parents with "accidental parenting," it's only left me wanting to call the author and hire her for help. I wish I'd had this book before my baby was born, instead of finding it 6mos later.