On Becoming Baby Wise- The Controversy

Recently this book, On Becoming Baby Wise, has come up in more baby shower conversatios than any other topic. I have heard every extreme opinion you can imagine and found that it's readers either praise the book with two thumbs up or are ready to throw it in the trash after the first few weeks of trying. Here is a summary on the book's contents: "This book is the first of a six part series that has gained national and international recognition for its immensely sensible approach to parenting a newborn. On Becoming Babywise provides a prescription for responsible parenting. The infant management plan offered by Ezzo and Bucknam successfully and naturally helps infants synchronize their feeding/waketime and nighttime sleep cycles. The results? You parent a happy, healthy and contented baby who will begin sleeping through the night on average between seven and nine weeks of age." I've read the book twice. Once before Jonny came and again after he arrived. I've found concepts in the book to be helpful and others that seem too unbending for a newborn. My opinoins: I agree with the "feed/wake/sleep" concept. Jonny does the following in this order. He eats, then we play for a while, and he eventually falls asleep. When he wakes up he knows it's time to eat, then play, and so on. I've found that if I let him sleep immediately after eating he often wakes up cranky, sometimes even with a tummy ache because he didn't wiggle and burp enough before falling asleep. I didn't agree with the negativity placed on "demand-feeding" moms. Yes it's important to not treat every cry as an "I'm hungry" cry. But there are times when Jonny needs to eat earlier than his three hour schedule and I rely more on mother instinct than a set routine. I loved the concept of making sure that baby receives a full feeding every time he eats. This is not an easy one to abide, but it leads to great habits for baby. The book mentions that a lot of babies will fall asleep at the breast and as a result will not get in a full meal. They then wake up a short time after hungry and ready to eat again. This is called "snack feeding". I have seen a lot of mom's fall into this trap. They end up having to feed their baby every hour or sooner. If for nothing else the book was worth reading for this concept alone. On the other hand, the book seemed rigid and in some ways impossible to follow, especially with a fussy baby. There was a week when Jonny cried every day for the entire day. During that week I threw the book out the window (figuratively speaking), forgot about the suggested schedule and took care of my son's needs as best I could. After several doctor's visits we discovered the problem, did our best to take care of it, and got Jonny back on a schedule. There was no way during that week that I could have lived by Baby Wise rules. I've said too much! So, would I recommend this book to new moms?... Yes, but with this advice... Read it with an open mind. Find out which concepts work for you and baby and throw out the ones that don't. There is no one that knows what's best for baby better than mom herself.