Sweet Baby : How To Soothe Your Newborn

Both of my children we colic! I have a 22 month old and a 6 month old. We lived by this book during those tought times. My kids are also patients of Dr. Weisbluth's. I can not say enough about the book about the support/guidance it gave me in probably the roughest time of our lives. Our first child cried for an average of 14 hours a day. I would do what ever I could to soothe her. After I read this book, I tweeked a few things and it really helped. Sometimes parents of colic children just need a little professional reassurance. This is it!! I would go to this book when I needed some reminders of what to do. Especially with the first. Any first time parent needs that ego boost to let you know you are doing the right things. With our second child, the crying lasted for 8 hours at its peak. I could not believe we were going through this again. And when I needed the extra guidance, this book really helped me calm down and know that I was not crazy or a bad mom. I am very lucky to have Dr. Weisbluth as my children's physician. He is the most gentle and caring person. As in his book,in person he educates you so you understand colic. For someone who has to understand and have background information to start feeling comfortable and more confident, I think his approach is perfect. He also taught me, as parents, tend to worry so about the baby and the crying.......you also need to take care of yourself to make it through the tough times. Without him, I would have just driven myself into the ground. Now we are through the colic and concentrating on sleep. I followed his programs to teach my children to sleep. My kids sleep 12 - 14 hours at night and take long, great naps. He is terrific!!!!!!!!! A must have for families!!!!!!

If you own "Sweet Baby" you need no other book, guide, or-as some refer to the "What to Expect" series-"bible" to caring for your newborn. In "Sweet Baby" you possess the history of scientific research on infant fussiness in a relatively well-organized and accessible short book. From the first book in the English language on pediatrics, "The Book of Chyldren," to contemporary studies completed at the world's top universities, Weissbluth, in the comprehensive style of the best academics, bases his conclusions on broad knowledge of the topic.What are his conclusions? I hate to give them away. In some sense his book reads like a mystery only Hercules Poirot can solve (and Dr. Weissbluth himself, refer to the photograph on the back jacket, is every bit as refined and debonair as this fine, Belgian detective). First, Weissbluth debunks the myths (11) about why babies fuss (e.g. gas, brand of formula, breast milk, drugs during labor, birth order of infant, constipation, family tension, etc.). Next he focuses on the methodological difficulties of determining degrees, rates, and instances of infant fussiness (e.g., Would a researcher ever actually spend evening hours with her/his case studies? Just as results peak, they begin to ebb, etc.). Then, Weissbluth informs us about what about infant fussiness actually can be scientifically proven (e.g., average amount of crying for normal, non-colicky babies is three hours per day; extreme fussiness usually last for three to four months; research on melatonin and seratonin levels in the brain of a newborn probably relevant to our understanding of infant fussiness and infant sleep; gestation of homo sapiens adapted from twelve months to nine months when humans began to walk on two legs, therefore first three months of infant's life actually complete gestational development which once took place in the womb, and others.). Finally, Weissbluth offers, on the basis of these firm conclusions, how parents and caretakers can effectively approach the problem of infant fussiness. He offers care, on the analogy of a teenager in adolescence, over cure. Indeed, Weissbluth's what-to-do pages are the most bland. They are not different from most other books, tapes, and places of advice to which one can go for information on infants. Rhythmic rocking, serious hugs, baby massage, sucking and so on, all, as most mothers know, usually work. Crib vibrators, hot water bottles, herbs, lamb's wool, nipple shapes, and diets for nursing mothers, all, as most mothers know, usually do not, or rather, as Weissbluth cleverly heeds, "Everything works for a while." "Sweet Baby" is, however, not for some. Perhaps the second half of the title "How To Soothe Your Newborn" is not accurate. "Sweet Baby" is an intellectual's approach to the problem of infant fussiness. As stated above it offers very little that is new in terms of ideas for soothing your child. Indeed that is Weissbluth's point!So

As a parent of two formerly colicky babies, now four years and four months old, respectively, I found this book to be deeply comforting and affirming of my experience. Most people who have a colicky infant will hear tons of (often unsolicited) advice, most of it unhelpful, some of it outright insulting. Dr. Weissbluth explains that extreme fussiness is a developmental stage that will, indeed, come to an end. That in itself is something every parent of a colicky infant needs to understand in those first trying and exhusting weeks. There are no magical cures, there is simply patience and understanding, and Dr. Weissbluth certainly gave us the prescription for these traits in this book. There is also very helpful advice about how to help your post-colicky baby emerge from extreme fussiness. I would recommend this book to any parent who is going through the torment of colick.