Which Baby Whisperer book should I get?

invisiblecircus

Wed, Jan 30 2013, 3:47 pm

I have seen the following three books on Amazon and am wondering which to get:

Secrets Of The Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect and Communicate with your Baby

Top Tips from the Baby Whisperer: Sleep: Secrets to Getting Your Baby to Sleep through the Night

The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems (By Teaching You How to Ask the Right Questions): Sleeping, feeding and behaviour - beyond the basics through infancy and toddlerdom

I am mainly looking for help with sleep issues but the third book looks interesting because it covers many topics up til the age of three. Has anyone read all the books? If I get the third one do I also need to get the second one or is all of that material covered in the third book?

I am happy to get all three but want to make sure I'm not paying twice for the same thing like I did with the Annabel Karmel weaning books I was suggested.

busydev

Wed, Jan 30 2013, 3:57 pm

see if you can get it from the library so you dont have to pay.

If you can only get one I would recommend the third book. She goes more in depth then in her first book (never read the second one) and explains a lot of the concepts that people had problems with after her first book. Most of the info in the first book is in the third book. she covers eating, sleeping, behavior and more. the first book is an easier read, but the third is much more informative.

invisiblecircus

Thu, Jan 31 2013, 4:58 pm

Thanks for the link to the other thread and thanks for your insight, busydev!

I'm happy to get all three books - I'm desperate! - I just want to avoid paying for a book which contains exacty the same information as one of the others.

The OP of the other thread asked if the third book is OK without the details of the first. That is my concern too. I'm leaning towards getting al three books since the first two aren't too expensive.

busydev

Thu, Jan 31 2013, 5:47 pm

I would (again) recommend getting the first book from the library and buying the third as a keeper. unless you really are ok with spending money. the third has way more details and "how to-s" and it has all the concepts of the first just not as expounded on in one place (tho it is all there over the whole book) the third book will be the one you keep going back to recheck things up. once you read the first, its been read.

Hope you enjoy!!

(also I recommend getting almost any baby book from the library or a friend first. Just because I love it doesnt mean you will and you may not connect with her methods and a different author may speak to you more. I did (do) like BW but I did not do all of her methods. I got some other sleep books once I was ready to fully sleep train and did a mishmash of a few diff methods.)

invisiblecircus

Sun, Feb 03 2013, 5:01 pm

busydev wrote:

I would (again) recommend getting the first book from the library and buying the third as a keeper.

(also I recommend getting almost any baby book from the library or a friend first. Just because I love it doesnt mean you will and you may not connect with her methods and a different author may speak to you more.

Thanks. I usually would but I'm not living in a place where I have access to books written in English otherwise I would definitely be heading to the library!

I have been using "The No Cry Sleep Solution" for a month or so. We have made some progress but I'm looking for new ideas.

morahmommy1, was the first book the first one you read and did you find it helpful?

busydev

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 12:17 pm

I have to say that I didnt love her sleep techniques for older kids. (Pick up put down for instance) I used some of them but not all of them. I kind of made up my own sleep training by combining her ideas that I felt would work for me with no cry sleep solution and sleep easy solution and my own intuition. but if your baby is still young (under 6 mo) then I would still use her routine/scheduling ideas.

I liked the rest of her ideas (EASY etc) but if sleep is your only issue I wouldnt nec go for it (tho everything is all intertwined really and she shows how many sleep problems are really eating problems etc)

also if sleep is your main concern I would get the answers all your questions and forget about the first book.

And I thought her toddler book was pretty good. gave a nice perspective. I did get it from the library tho and after reading it once returned it. the answers all your questions had a lot more info for dealing with toddlers I felt.

invisiblecircus

Tue, Feb 05 2013, 4:59 pm

sarlal wrote:

get 12 hours sleep by 12 weeks old -- MUCH better book Smile

I wish I had got this book earlier as I have seen it mentioned several times here but my baby is 10 months old now, is there anything in it that will help me?

Busydev, in addition to the sleep issue I also need to stop nursing her asap. Giving up nursing is more important than the sleep issue but I'm working on the sleep issue first in an effort to make the weaning easier (hopefully!)

busydev

Tue, Feb 05 2013, 5:09 pm

invisiblecircus wrote:

sarlal wrote:

get 12 hours sleep by 12 weeks old -- MUCH better book Smile

she has good ideas for feeding and changing feeding schedules.

For my son (who granted was pretty good at falling asleep most of the time) I weaned him and then the sleep issues I had resolved themselves. He was waking 3 times a night to eat at 1 year. so I cut the night feeds and after about 3 nights he was sleeping through the night. I did have him cry- but with me in my bed once he woke during the night. baby whisperer sleep ideas are not no cry- but cry with parent there at all times in the childs crib. my ds was ok sleeping in his crib and would transfer back to his crib after a night nursing no problem (I just usually wasnt up to doing the transfer so he usually stayed with me for half the night) so I didnt have to work on getting him ok with the crib. just on stopping to wake up at night. and the only reason he did that was cause he was hungry.

what are your child's sleep issues? (you may have said this in other threads recently. dont remember tho) is it night wakings? not staying asleep more then 45min/1hr? not going to sleep? that could help with knowing if a book is a good fit.

invisiblecircus

Tue, Feb 05 2013, 6:28 pm

Basically, on a normal night she has been waking up every two hours and will only go back to sleep being nursed. Sometimes she will wake up when being transferred to her crib and we have to go through the whole thing again. A couple of times a week she would wake up every hour. She was also going to sleep for the night really late (sometimes at 11pm) after having a nap in the evening.

A month or so ago I read "No Cry Sleep solution" and within 3 days the evening nap was eliminated and she was getting to bed at a decent time.

Now, she is waking around every three hours, I can rock her back to sleep without feeding if less than three hours have passed since the last feed and several times I have put her back in her crib awake and she has gone to sleep herself after moaning for a few seconds.

This is a massive improvement but I want to work on stopping nursing completely (she wont take formula from a bottle or cup, that's a different issue though) as well as cutting the night wakings down.

After much work, she now has two decent naps per day totally 2.5- 3 hours but ONLY if she is in the stroller. The stroller doesn't have to be moving, I can just put here there and she'll go to sleep, but if I put her in bed she will wake after 20 mins. That is what she had been doing before I started putting her in the stroller. So... I also want to get her to nap in her crib, or at last somewhere other than the stroller!

Phew! That's a lot. Yes, I know it is going to be a long haul but at least we have made some progress in the last few weeks.

busydev

Wed, Feb 06 2013, 10:39 am

ok so then I would say the baby whisperer should have some good ideas for you. getting to bed on a regular bed time (between 6:30 and 8), napping in the crib, going back to sleep (wake to sleep would possibly work).

I also read no cry and also easy sleep solution (which is a CIO method) and picked the points I liked.

when my son was 10 months (and 11 and 12) he was also waking every 3 hours for feeds at night. (and in the day was going 4 hours between feeds!! go figure!!) Usually once I brought him to my bed I just kept him with me since I was sleeping before he finished nursing.

finally at 12 months (after reading all the books and after his 1 yr checkup when he had gained under .5lb in 3 months) I went ahead with my plan. originally I was going to cut down the feeds (took him about 10 minutes so was going to go a minute less/night) but the dr said I should just stop. So I did. when he first woke we gave him a paci and rocked him etc. but after an hour or so of doing that every 15 minutes we were ready for bed so just took him to my bed and kept giving him the paci, rubbing his back, holding his hand etc. around 3 he started getting annoyed at me and hitting me to nurse so I passed him to dh who did the paci, rubbing, holding. after 3 nights he was sleeping through. but he had been a pretty decent sleeper in general- my biggest issue was the night feeds (he also started eating a TON more during the day and at his 15mo appt he had gained over a lb in 3 months so that was good)

and re: her taking a sippy cup (I think I said this before on another thread) just keep offering. It took my son a couple months to get it. also the baby whisperer as opposed to the other books will show how all the "issues" are related and how fixing one can often help the others.

hatzlocha!! sounds like you have a lot on your plate!!