Product Description

The infant management concepts presented in this book have found favor with over two million parents and twice as many contented babies. On Becoming Babywise brings hope to the tired and bewildered parents looking for an alternative to sleepless nights and fussy babies. The Babywise Parent Directed Feeding concept has enough structure to bring security and order to your baby's world, yet enough flexibility to give mom freedom to respond to any need at any time. It teaches parents how to lovingly guide their baby's day rather than be guided or enslaved to the infant's unknown needs. The information contained within On Becoming Babywise is loaded with success. Comprehensive breast-feeding follow-up surveys spanning three countries, of mothers using the PDF method verify that as a result of the PDF concepts, 88% breast-feed, compared to the national average of only 54% (from the National Center for Health Statistics). Of these breast-feeding mothers, 80% of them breast-feed exclusively without a formula complement. And while 70% of our mothers are still breast-feeding after six months, the national average encourage to follow demand feeding without any guidelines is only 20%. The mean average time of breast-feeding for PDF moms is 33 1/2 weeks, well above the national average. Over 50% of PDF mothers extend their breast-feeding toward and well into the first year. Added to these statistics is another critical factor. The average breast-fed PDF baby sleeps continuously through night seven to eight hours between weeks seven and nine. Healthy sleep in infants is analogous to healthy growth and development. Find out for yourself why a world of parents and pediatricians utilize the concepts found in On Becoming Babywise.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #312 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 252 pages

Customer Reviews

NOT for everyone...do your research first!
While reading this book, the tone comes across that the authors are trying to sell you something--and after reading the entire book, I ultimately, with some struggle, didn't buy the advice. As a new mom, I'm not yet aligned with any one style of parenting (other than what I feel is best for myself, my baby, and my family)--but struggling to apply the advice suggested in this book certainly pushed me in the opposite direction from what they recommend.

If you are a proponent of Dr. Sears or La Leche League Int'l., then this book is definitely NOT for you! I think LLLI is a bit extreme at points, but I find most of Dr. Sears advice to be sound, believable, and entirely applicable. That said, I just didn't buy the advice given in this book!

I highly recommend it
I am a mom of 5, and I used this book with all my children, and they all started sleeping about 6-7 hours at night at around 2 months old, with breast feeding. This book is a wonderful guide, and will bring a lot of peace to the family. The common mistake people infer from this book is that it is too rigid - it's not the book - it's the people who read it. Ezzo NEVER says to let your baby cry FOREVER (one review said they let their baby cry for 1 1/2 hours - that's their fault, not the book's). He also says to feed your baby when she's hungry - the FLEXIBLE ROUTINE is merely a guideline - Ezzo constantly tells you to listen to your babies cues, feed when hungry, breastfeed more often if your milk supply is low, etc. Ezzo also says to LISTEN to your pediatrician if your baby is not thriving, or see a lactation consultant if your having trouble. Ezzo himself says to use the routine as a guide and be flexible. Anyone who is to rigid with the clock either has not read the book, or is not using their brain. This book has been a sanity saving resource for me!

Combined with commen sense, this is an amazing book!
I think some of the people who don't like this book have missed the point! The authors take pains to say that Parent Directed Feeding (PDF) should ONLY be used as a guideline.... they say that if your baby is hungry, feed them. They don't advocate that babies are left to "cry it out" although they do say there is no harm letting them cry for 10/15 minutes to see if they will re-settle (I lasted about 5 minutes!)
I devoured this book as a first time Mum, with no idea of how to start scheduling my little one. I used their method of Eat-Activity-Sleep as a guideline and it totally transformed my life. However, I didn't stress if we missed the odd nap or fed a little earlier or later. If you use this method as a framework to base your own instinct on, then you can get fabulous results. Our girl still wakes once in the night, but she's only 4 months old and that's fine by me! She is a totally happy little soul and I'm convinved that much of that has to do with the confidence that this book gave me!