Book of Hope!

I am a new mother of now a 3 month old daughter. From the beginning people would always remark how alert she was being that she is so young. Ava was a very restless sleeper, so I started to sleep with her on my stomach. Now she sleeps 8-9 hours a night. Everyone tells me that I am spoiling her and that is why she always needs to be held and I should put her in her crib to sleep. YOu start to doubt what is best for your child. This book really helped to reassure that I am doing what I FEEL is best for my daughter. Never doubt your instincts is a good message this book delievers. I suggest this book to anyone, regardless if they have a high needs baby or not!

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supportive, a must read for the parent of a colicky baby

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.

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Surviving the first year of baby's life

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.

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