Product Description Gary Ezzo and pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. are two of the world's leading experts on infant management concepts. In this revised edition, they have updated their groundbreaking approach which has found favor with over six million parents in all 50 states and has been translated into 23 languages around the world.For over 30 years, On Becoming Babywise has been the de facto newborn parenting manual for naturally synchronizing your baby's feeding time, waketime and nighttime sleep cycles, so the whole family can sleep through the night.Gary Ezzo and pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. demonstrate how order and stability are mutual allies of every newborn's metabolism and how parents can take advantage of these biological propensities. Review "From a Pediatricians' perspective, this is a sigh of welcome relief for sleepless, weary parents." David Blank, M.D. Longmont, CO"Since being introduced to the principles of Babywise, I have been convinced of its effectiveness in establishing sleep patterns and in decreasing the frequency of problems associated with infant feeding." Craig Lloyd, M.D., Brisbane, Australia "Babywise provides sound parenting advice and common-sense pediatric care to many parents who are confused, frustrated, and downright sleep deprived." David Miller M. D. Superior, CO "As a pediatrician, I cannot argue with the success of On Becoming Babywise. It is such a practical approach to parenting. It provides infants with needed structure and stability and brings joy and love so needed in our homes today." Janet Dunn, M.D., Chatsworth, CA "I am a practicing pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics. Residents and new mothers I work with have found On Becoming Babywise overwhelmingly successful. My residents report a positive difference in the confidence of new mothers who work with this plan compared to those who do not. The freedom Babywise provides a new mother is so refreshing." Linda Meloy, M.D., Richmond, VA "As family physicians and husband-wife team, we are often asked questions related to parenting and the general care of children. Most of our basic responses are found in On Becoming Babywise. For answering parenting questions, it has become a practical guide, giving us a sense of competence and confidence as physicians and as parents. When the principles are put into practice, parents reap abundant rewards." Tony Burden, M.D. & Margaret Burden, M.D., Bellingham, WA "Before my second baby was born, I was introduced to the Babywise concepts. Applying the principles revolutionized my thinking." Barbara Phillips, R.N., C.L.E., Los Angeles, CA"As an obstetrician and a mother, my concern for a healthy out-come continues beyond the moment of delivery. Because the principles of On Becoming Babywise are so effective, I consider it part of my extended health care for the family. The principles are simple, yet amazing. They consistently produce babies who are healthy, content, and who sleep through the night at an early age. Feeding a baby on demand simply cannot compare to the overall healthy benefits of Babywise. The concepts take the guesswork out of early parenting and provide new moms the confidence of knowing what happens next." - Dr. Sharon Nelson, M.D. Glendale, California"I have been successfully using On Becoming Babywise in my general Pediatric practice for the last several years. I have found it to be a very helpful resource for parents. I think any negative outcomes associated with this material is due to the misapplication of the principles." - Dr. Thomas Gill, M.D., Pediatrician, Johnson City, Tennessee"My introduction to On Becoming Babywise came over 20 years ago when a discerning member in my practice noticed my frustration with the growing numbers of fatigued mothers, fussy babies, and their sleep nights. I was handed a set of audio tapes of this series. Being profoundly impressed with the insightfulness and relevance of the content, I began applying the principles in my practice. The change was dramatic, as I watched the incidence of colicky babies, sleep-disturbed and frustrated parents drop precipitously. Word of mouth among our community has helped our practice grow exponentially. I cannot imagine any pediatrician that has come in contact with this resource not making it apart of their practice." -Dr. Jim Pearson, M.D. Johnson City, Tennessee P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); From the Author Gary Ezzo and pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. have revised their #1 best selling baby sleep guide since the early 1990s when it was first released. The first version had 160 pages and today's revised Babywise has been refined and supported by more doctors and pediatricians over its incredible 30 years on the market. Today, with more than 5 million copies sold in its best selling series, Babywise is gaining momentum now translated into 23 languages around the world. On Becoming Babywise continues to gain global recognition for its common-sense approach to parenting a newborn. The infant management plan offered by Gary Ezzo and pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. in this book helps parents successfully and naturally synchronize their baby's feeding time, waketime and nighttime cycles. The results? Happy, healthy and contented babies who sleep through the night on average between seven and nine weeks of age. The best evaluation of any parenting philosophy, including Babywise, is not found in the reasoning or the logic of the hypothesis. End results speak clearly. Let your eyes confirm what works and what doesn't. You will be most confident in your parenting when you see the desired results lived out in other families. Stage One: Birth to 5 months -- On Becoming BabywiseStage Two: 5 - 12 months -- On Becoming Babywise 2Stage Three: 12 - 18 months -- On Becoming PretoddlerwiseStage Four: 18 - 36 months -- On Becoming ToddlerwiseStage Five: 36 - 84 months -- On Becoming Childless The principles of On Becoming Babywise were first shared in 1984. Sarah was the first baby girl raised with the principles; Kenny was the first boy. Both thrived on mother's milk and a basic routine, and both slept through the night by seven weeks. It was that easy. As with previous editions, this update does not provide parents a list of do's and don'ts. We wish parenting were that easy. Rather, our larger objective is to help prepare minds for the incredible task of raising a child. We believe the preparation of the mind is far more important than the preparation of the nursery. Both can be a lot of fun. Your baby will not care if his head rests on designer sheets or beside Disney characters, nor is your success tied to his wardrobe or bedroom accessories, but rather to the beliefs and convictions that will eventually shape your parenting experience. It is our opinion that the achievements of healthy growth, contented babies, good naps, and playful wake times, as well as the gift of nighttime sleep, are too valuable to be left to chance. They need to be parent-directed and parent-managed. These are attainable conclusions, because infants are born with the capacity to achieve these outcomes and, equally important, the need to achieve them. Our goal is to demonstrate how this is done, but only after we explain why it should be done. We realize there are a number of parenting theories being marketed today, most of which come gift-wrapped with unrealistic promises and unnecessary burdens. In light of the many options, how can new parents know what approach is best of their families? Since every philosophy of parenting has a corresponding outcome unique to that philosophy, we encourage new and expectant parents to consider, evaluate, and decide which approach is best for their families. This can be accomplished by observing the end results. Spend time with relatives and friends who follow the Attachment Parenting style of infant care. Observe who practices hyper-scheduling, and certainly evaluate the outcomes associated with On Becoming Babywise. In which homes do you observe order, peace, and tranquility? Don't take any marketing plug or some strangers word for truth. Search for yourself. Consider the marriages as well as the children. Is mom in a perpetual state of exhaustion? Is she nursing every two hours or less? Is Dad sleeping on the couch? What is the family life like when a child is 6, 12, and 18 months old? Is Mom stressed, frustrated, or lacking confidence? Is the baby stressed, exhausted or insecure? When the baby is nine months old, can the parents leave the room without the baby falling apart emotionally? We believe the best evaluation of any parenting philosophy, including the one found in On Becoming Babywise, is not found in the reasoning or the logic of the hypothesis but in the end results. Let your eyes confirm what works and what does not. You will be most confident in your parenting when you see the desired results lived out in other families using the same approach. Look at the fruit and then trace it back to its seed source. The principles contained within the pages can help parents develop workable strategies that meet the needs of their babies and the rest of the family. These have worked for millions of parents, and when faithfully applied can work wonderfully for you! However, your pediatrician or family practitioner should always be consulted when questions arise about the health and welfare of your baby. Enjoy the journey of parenting! From the Inside Flap Over the 25 years and 5 million copies sold of Babywise, we have seen a common misunderstanding between the over-used phrase "cry it out" and the simple & carefully monitored allowance of "some crying" when applying a loving routine and flexible schedule that are the proper and proven sleep training methods of Babywise. Hundreds of medical professionals not only endorse the successful methods of Babywise, but also employ these wonderful methods with their own clients. Here are some more clarifying comments by 16 of the worlds leading experts on pediatric sleep when it comes to the proven methods of a flexible routine, loving schedule, and where the allowance of "some crying" can be appropriate in helping your infant to self-soothe:"The most important aspect of getting a baby to sleep through the night is to have your baby learn to soothe herself to sleep. Babies need to be able to put themselves to sleep without your intervention. The reason is that all babies, as well as all adults, wake during the night. This is normal. What is problematic is not the nighttime wakings but the inability to return to sleep. Your baby needs to learn to soothe herself to sleep so that when she wakes for a moment in the middle of the night, she can immediately put herself back to sleep.""Sleep is a natural process and we all know how to sleep. However, good sleeping habits need to be developed. Bad sleeping habits, especially when trying to fall asleep, are what become problematic for many babies and toddlers.""Start establishing a sleep schedule. This schedule should include a set bedtime, a set wake time, and set nap times. (either following the clock or using the two-hour rule). A consistent feeding schedule will also help set a more general daily routine.""The more practice that your baby gets putting himself to sleep, the quicker the process works.""During the night, when you hear your baby begin to stir, walk, don't run to him. You will be surprised how often he'll fall back to sleep on his own. Remember, all babies naturally wake up throughout the night. Your baby may simply be stirring, ready to return right back to sleep. By going to him too quickly, you may actually be waking him up.""Every night your baby should be going to bed at about the same time.""Babies and children love routines and relish schedules. They like to know what is going to happen next. They are also better behaved when things follow a known pattern. Routines provide your child with a sense of security, and they enable your child to have a sense of control in a world governed by adult demands. Routines also give a framework in which to learn new skills.""All babies and adults wake throughout the night, anywhere from two to six times. There doesn't have to be any particular reason other than going from one sleep stage to another."Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D. - Associate Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and also Professor of Psychology at Saint Joseph's University."A lot of parents nowadays cringe at the word routine, but by routine I don't mean a rigid, minute by minute regimen. I mean a commonsense framework with time mapped out for eating, napping, sleeping, playing, and wake time-- a framework that you can adapt as you grow more adept at reading your baby's signals and cues.""If you aren't consistent, you aren't just making it harder for yourself. You are making it harder for your child.""Setting limits does not mean that we don't give our children some choices or autonomy. It means giving age-appropriate choices within healthy boundaries."Kim West, LCSW-C; she has helped thousands of tired parents gently and effectively teach their babies how to sleep. She has appeared on Dr. Phil, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and Good Morning America."Every day I get phone calls from parents who are anxious, confused, overwhelmed, and, most of all, sleep-deprived. They bombard me with questions and beg me for solutions because the quality of their family life is suffering. No matter what the specific problem, I always suggest the same remedy: a structured routine.""Crying is your baby's language. This moment of hesitation is not to suggest that you should let your baby cry. Rather, listen to what he's saying to you.""Stand back and wait a heartbeat; you don't have to swoop down and pick up your baby the moment she cries. Take three deep breaths to center yourself and improve your own perception. It will also help you clear your mind of other people's voices and advice, which often make it hard for you to be objective.""You need to foster your baby'e self-soothing skills."Tracy Hogg was a British nurse. Her experiences as a nurse at St. Catherine's Hospital for the Mentally Handicapped and other hospitals led to a long career as a child care expert."And while it is normal for a child (or an adult) to wake briefly a few times during the night, these arousals should last only a few seconds or minutes and the child should go back to sleep easily on his own.""...if you are in the habit of rocking your child to sleep (or rubbing his back, or any similar custom) for twenty to thirty minutes each night, and you need to repeat the ritual once or twice in the middle of the night to get him back to sleep, you may actually be interfering with his sleep and delaying his ability to sleep through the night.""... it is very important for some children to be put down awake so that they can learn to settle themselves and fall asleep alone both at bedtime and after nighttime wakings.""Consistent schedules are especially important in treating sleep disorders."Richard Ferber, M.D. Director, Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders, Children's Hospital- Boston AND Associate Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School"Everyone should have a sleep routine- adults included.""There are a variety of ways to approach sleep training, and it really depends on what you as the caregiver are comfortable doing. No matter what anyone tells you, there is no "right"way to sleep train your child. Since every parenting style and every child is different, the key is picking the solution that you can stick to. The two most important aspects to picking a solution are: determining how comfortable you are with crying and how quickly you want the problem solved.""Caregiver guilt is a common reason why sleep training fails. If a child is crying, the natural response would be to console him or her. But remember, sleep training is not for you. Although you will benefit as well, the main reason to sleep train is for the health and well-being of your child. Not being able to self-soothe and go to sleep independently can be a burden for the child.""I DON'T WANT MY CHILD TO HATE ME-- This is a fear for many parents. We worry that our child will feel abandoned and therefore become distant from us. You can rest assured that studies show this is not true. In fact, the exact opposite may be true: an infant's level of security can actually be better after going through sleep training, not worse. And remember, children don't start forming long-term memories until around the age of three, so they will not remember anything from this process.""Sleep training calls for a level of authority and rigidity that may feel uncomfortable. However, you care capable of making it through this process. Persistence is the key. If your persistence can outlast that of your child, you will successfully sleep train your child.""Consistency is critical to success. Once you start sleep training, don't turn back. The process can take several days to weeks. Don't give up on sleep training after just a few nights. The most effective and proven sleep training solutions do involve some crying. But remember that it is for the health and well-being of your child."Sugar Kansagra, M.D. Director, Duke Pediatric Neurology Sleep Medicine Program From the Back Cover "Sleep training is harder on parents then kids.""Most kids are good sleepers, an the ones who are not can usually be made into good sleepers with training.""Many parents worry that letting their kids cry it out will cause some type of irreversible damage to their psyche and the parent-child bond, but there won't be any long term damage."Lewis J Kass, M.D., FAAP Yale-trained Board Certified Pediatric Pulmonoligist and Specialist in Sleep Medicine and Sleep Disorders"I personally believe that the majority of babies thrive and are happier in a routine.""I would typically arrive at a home a few days after the birth and live with the family 24/7 for periods of 3-5 days, or sometimes several weeks to six months.""The aim of the routine is not to push your baby through the night without a feeding but to ensure that structuring his eating and sleeping during the day will keep his nighttime waking at a minimum.""If the baby is fed every time he cries, mothers tend not to look for other reasons as to why the baby may be crying-- overstimulation or over tiredness, for example.""Of course, all babies must be fed if they are genuinely hungry; no baby should have to cry to be fed or should be kept on a strict timetable if he is genuinely hungry. But in my experience, and if research on sleeping problems is anything to go by, a huge number of demand-fed babies do not automatically fall into a healthy sleeping pattern months down the line."Gina Ford, Child Care Expert in Great Britain, helped 300 babies in home as a Maternity Nurse"The process of falling asleep is learned."Dr. Christian Guilleminault & Dr. William C. Dement, Founding Editor of the world's leading journal of sleep research."The truth is that some parents swing back and forth between firmness and permissiveness so often, they cannot make any cure stick.""Sleep problems not only disrupt a child's nights, they disrupt his days, too, by making him less mentally alert, more inattentive, unable to concentrate, and easily distracted."Marc Weissbluth, M.D. - 43 year Pediatrician; Founded Sleep Disorders Center at Childrens' Memorial Hospital in Chicago and is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Northwestern University School of Medicine."Every day I get phone calls from parents who are anxious, confused, overwhelmed, and, most of all, sleep-deprived. They bombard me with questions and beg me for solutions because the quality of their family life is suffering. No matter what the specific problem, I always suggest the same remedy: a structured routine.""Stand back and wait a heartbeat; you don't have to swoop down and pick up your baby the moment she cries. Take three deep breaths to center yourself and improve your own perception. It will also help you clear your mind of other people's voices and advice, which often make it hard for you to be objective.""Crying is your baby's language. This moment of hesitation is not to suggest that you should let your baby cry. Rather, listen to what he's saying to you.""You need to foster your baby'e self-soothing skills.""Babies come into the world as a blank state, and they depend on you to teach them routine."Nina Vaid Raoji, RN; MSN, APN"The core of any baby sleep training method is routine." "Myth: Letting a child cry at night leads to resentment and psychological damage. Truth: This myth is rooted in visceral emotion and has absolutely no medical or scientific basis. Granted, no parent likes to hear his or her child cry. Even understanding that crying is a newborn's only mode of communication, it understandably can still be very tough to hear. But the reality is that crying in and of itself does no harm to baby. Understanding why exactly your baby may be crying-- and having a levelheaded response to it- is far more productive than going to great lengths to avoid it altogether.""The longer a baby goes between feedings, the longer she'll be able to sleep.""We want to train your baby to be an efficient feeder-- allowing for a comfortable amount of time between feedings-- and not to be a grazer. Grazers have a much harder time when we try to get them to sleep through the night."Drs. Lewis Jassey & Jonathan Jassey, who have treated over 15,000 patients in their 35 years as active Pediatricians in private practice in Long Island, New York."Four Foundations of Baby Sleep Success:1. A baby must adapt to the existing family; the existing family does not adapt to a baby.2. You must feel empowered as a parent.3. Sleeping is a learned skill that you need to teach your baby.4. Sleep training requires commitment and hard work on the part of the parents.""Six Benefits of Baby Sleep Success:1. There is little crying involved.2. You will have happier, more cooperative children.3. You will be using proactive parenting.4. You will have a predictable schedule.5. You will be able to deal with more than one child effectively.6. You can follow this plan on your own.""Babies need to eat every three hours because steady weight gain is very important in the first few weeks of life. You will need to wake up your baby to feed him if he is sleeping past the three-hour mark. In addition, you do not want your baby to get int the habit of sleeping for long stretches of five to six hours during the day. You want these stretches to occur at night.""It is also important not to feed your baby more frequently than every two and a half hours during the first six weeks, unless there is a medical reason and your pediatrician advises you follow a more frequent feeding schedule. Your baby's digestive system needs time to process the food."Suzy Giordano, "The Baby Coach" Suzy is the mother of 5 children and has been implementing her baby sleep methods with thousands of Washington D.C. families as a baby sleep consultant for the last 25 years. She has been in Parents Magazine and on ABC News; while the Washington Post calls her the 'underground legend'.""How do you establish a baby's routine that is predictable, yet 'flexible,' enough to meet a baby's growing and changing feed-wake-sleep needs? Part of the answer comes from understanding the meaning of flexibility. The root word, 'flexible,' means 'the ability to bend or be pliable'." " 'Just listen to your baby's cues' is good advice. You know what to listen and look for. As a baby nearing the end of a sleep cycle, he will often make little suckle sounds and may even bring his hand towards his mouth and begin sucking. Then the parents may hear a slight whimpering, which can grow into a full cry. Those are all cues that it is time to eat, but there is no need to wait until the baby is in a full cry before feeding him, especially if the other signs are present. The hunger cues should always trump the time on the clock.""What if your baby is hungry sooner than 2 1/2 hours? Even when Mom has been working to make sure her baby is receiving full feedings, additional feeding times are sometimes necessary. This usually occurs during a growth spurt.""When attempting to establish a feed-wake-sleep plan, parents must determine the first feeding of the day and try to stay as consistent as they can. Without a consistent first-morning feeding, a mother can and will be feeding every 3 hours, but each day has a different rhythm. That will work against stabilizing the baby's hunger metabolism and will eventually affect the length of baby's nap time.""Enslavement to the clock is almost as great an evil as a mother who is in bondage to thoughtless emotions. Another side to the problem of infrequency (on feeding) is that some demand-fed babies demand too little food." Gary Ezzo, MA & Pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. (authors On Becoming Babywise) About the Author Robert Bucknam, M.D. is the Founder of Cornerstone Pediatrics in Louisville, Colorado, where he resides with his wife, Gayle, and their four sons. With a targeted interest in preterm and high-risk newborns, and more than 30 years as a pediatrician, Dr. Bucknam is highly respected within the pediatric community. His work on Parent Directed Feeding has helped over 6 million parents worldwide. See more
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