Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby

by Melinda Blau and Tracy Hogg

Book Overview

"TRACY HOGG HAS GIVEN PARENTS A GREAT GIFT-the ability to develop early insight into their child's temperament." -Los Angeles Family When Tracy Hogg's Secrets of the Baby Whisperer was first published, it soared onto bestseller lists across the country. Parents everywhere became "whisperers" to their newborns, amazed that they could actually communicate with their baby within weeks of their child's birth. Tracy gave parents what for some amounted...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345440900
• ISBN13: 9780345440907
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Terrible!

I didn't like this book at all. It was recommended to me by our very trusted, very well known, pediatrician before my first baby was due. The EASY method may have sounded nice but it wasn't something I liked at all. It's probably a fantastic book if you aren't wanting to do any type of attachment parenting, but for those that are they is NOT the book for you.

A life saver!

I bought this book whilst pregnant with twins. When they arrived, the reality of caring for 2 newborns was quite overwhelming. This book saved my life though it is written for having one baby but you can still apply the methods easily for twins. I used it as more of a guide but, thanks to Tracy Hogg, my twins starting sleeping through the night for 12 hours once they were 4.5 months old! Her key is routine so if you prefer to feed-on-demand, this book isnt really for you. If you're like me, and like to know what's coming, then I really recommend getting this book. She advocates a 3 hour routine of E.A.S.Y which is Eat, Activity, Sleep, You. This means the baby eats, plays for a little time, then goes to sleep and that means you get some 'you' time. I started this method when my twins were just 2 weeks old and it didn't take too long for them to settle into the routine. Sure, we had teething problems along the way and the routine would go out of the window, but it was easy to go back to it. As the babies got older, they knew what to expect and it made things easier for them and for us. I should also point out that I formula fed my twins so those of you who breastfeed will have a slightly different routine as babies who breastfeed tend to eat more often than formula fed babies. On the down side, the author can come across as being a little condescending at times but when you're dealing with a newborn, or newborns in my case, you'll grab anything that may help!! Well worth the money!

Very helpful book!

A friend recently recommended this book to me. I'm expecting my third baby after a six-year gap, so I was looking for a quick refresher. I wish I had had this book with my firstborn. I think my son would have been sleeping through the night much sooner. The author takes a very common sense approach to caring for babies and dealing with any problems that may arise due to inexperience. A great book for new (and experienced) mothers!

The only way to fly...

As a mom who read MANY different baby books (including those recommended by my OB, my OB friends, other mothers, pediatricians, etc), this one was the most helpful to me. The chapter on interpreting cries was very helpful as was the gentle feeding guidance. As a mom who had a GREAT deal of difficulty with breastfeeding, despite extensive effort, Tracy was a voice of sanity that I needed. Breastfeeding IS best, but she also helps those of us who had trouble. Easy to pick up and read at any stage in the first year, but especially helpful in the first few months. The problem that I seem to find in reading others' reviews is that they disagreed with one or two points in the book and discarded the whole thing. I got a great deal out of this book, and also got advice that I utilized from other books. I am not an advocate of "cry it out" and found that sticking to a basic routine (that was flexible when needed!) made my house a whole lot more sane. Did I follow EVERY bit of advice? No - because it didn't work for me. Use your head and take what you can in the way of advice - trying to be a perfectionist and doing everything that ANYONE tells you is crazy. There is such a thing as moderation, which is what I appreciated about this book.

A Real Find

I am very surprised at the spotlight reviewers who had trouble with this book. As a mom of a 3yr old, a 2yr old, a 1yr old, and one more on the way, I have to say that Tracy Hogg's book is the best one on newborns in my library. It is a refreshing middle-of-the-road read, somewhere between the 1920s way of authority-centered parenting and the 2000s way of child-centered or attachment parenting. She really recommends a balance between both--VERY difficult to find in a normal American baby book these days--where both mom and baby have their unique needs met at this tender time. Specifically, Hogg recommends not letting your baby cry it out or go hungry, but not to assume that all cries mean hunger. From experience, you soon find out that nursing or sticking a bottle in a crying infant's mouth works well only for mall trips and doctor's offices. There is much more to raising a baby and beginning a relationship than feeding. Hogg does NOT give breastfeeding the short thrift--she simply focuses on trying to lift the guilt burden which is placed on most American mothers these days. Her book is not a lactation consultant lesson. Hogg also gives great advice on how to get your baby to nap and sleep at night, again taking the middle-of-the-road approach between not letting a child cry it out but not accepting it as normal either (and rearranging your life permanently in order to pacify your baby-toddler-preschooler through the night). After four straight years of baby-raising, and talking with many many mothers on the subject, I can say that any parent who does not welcome this straight-forward type of advice if they are having trouble in this area--any mother who considers helping their child nap and sleep well in their crib to be "cruel" or "demanding"--is way off target. No psychological damage will be done if Hogg's advice is followed... in fact, some sanity may be reclaimed! Her input on baby personality types is great. Helpful, if not perfect, especially in retrospect. And yet the one thing I agree that could have been addressed better is the discussion of the earliest newborn days. After nursing three tiny ones of my own and adopting a more parent-centered approach to their young years, I still find that the first week or two of having a new infant is up for grabs. There should be no pressure to begin a routine until mom feels capable and perceives the baby to be ready. Obviously one can be started, but I think it is worth strongly mentioning in a newborn book that some parents find the transition to bringing their little one to be very difficult--for any number of reasons, including just normal recovery. And the implementation (or not) of a routine does not affect the baby much in those first days. Overall, however, I find Hogg's book to be so much more encouraging than Sears, Ezzo, or even the AAP's book on the first year. She's upbeat and experienced, and so common sensical that it is difficult to believe that there have b

If only we'd read this book sooner . . .

This book is great! It has helped us understand our baby's body language and cues much better than we did. At almost 11 months, our baby was not going to sleep on his own, nor could he sleep through the night. With Tracy Hogg's tips and techniques, we now have a baby who can fall asleep without nursing, rocking, patting, walking, etc. My husband read this book and now he understands that our baby does not need milk every time he cries.There is a very helpful table that shows what different cries and movements indicate. For example, a baby that arches his back and pulls away from the person who is holding him or her is a very tired baby. There is also a chapter for those parents (like us) who were doing all of the wrong things at bedtime and how to correct mistakes.There were a couple of points on which I disagreed with the author, including her views on when babies should start eating solids and/or be weaned. But, overall, I found this book enlightening and a huge help.