On Becoming Baby Wise: A Guide to Helping Your Infant Get a Good Night's Sleep - Paperback Edition

Kandall Diaco: Used this myself years ago and bought it for ever expecting mom and dad since. It’s the Bible for new parents. Stick to the plan and your baby is sleeping through the night Like a dream!

United States on Dec 03, 2023

Michele Bazemore: Great book

United States on Nov 29, 2023

Lisa: Shame on me for writing this review not sooner.
I have three grown daughters and incorporated this with all of them. Even with nursing, and no strict schedule, I was able to get them to sleep through the night extremely early on in their lives. They were much happier babies with comfortable and nourished tummies, and so well rested. I was able to have some normalcy in life because of knowing when their naps were and for other reasons.
Not only that, the author had so many other wonderful concepts, that we incorporated: such as couch time for the mom/parents, playpen time for the baby,... So many other great things. I even found a babyWise consultant whom I would email on occasion, giving me insights when it was time to change their schedule and more.

Nursing Moms, please resist from trying to get so much done while baby is sleeping. Your milk supply will get so low by the end of the day. Your mothers milk tea will do what closing your eyes and resting will do, to keep your milk supply up. And drink tons of water.

God bless you and your baby! Also, don’t forget to get babyWise 2 6-12mo), toddler, wise, etc. I have nothing connected to author of book. Just been...

United States on Oct 25, 2023

Jennifer N: At 10 weeks old my baby was waking every 2 hrs at night. I had enough. I came across this book in my search for something to implement to get us some sleep. This book focuses on parent directed feeding (not feeding for comfort, but for hunger) and an eat-awake-sleep cycle. It got us on a schedule and my little guy was so happy with this. Naps improved and so did night time sleep. He is now sleeping through the night consistently since 14 weeks.
I was very focused on staying on schedule when we first started to get him into routine. But now at 5 months we can be a little flexible knowing that it won't affect his night time sleep (because let's face it, I love a full night's sleep).

These principles aren't for every parent. They worked for us and we have a very happy baby who falls asleep independently.

Canada on Jun 26, 2020

B. Elliott: We first read & used this book 18 years ago. Two wonderful, well-adjusted, well-nourished daughters later, I can tell you that it definitely works (and all of our friends that have used it rave about it, too). I just bought another copy to give to a newly-expecting friend and felt the need to post this review after reading some of the other reviews.

"It's nothing but common sense." -- Maybe for a few, but there are a number of things in the book that go against what might seem natural (how to get your baby to sleep without constant soothing; to get your baby to sleep in their own room instead of having them in your room or even in your bed; the proper sleep, eat, play cycle).

"It's dangerous!" -- Not in the least, although we didn't follow every last thing in the book.

"Your baby will be malnourished; they need to eat at night." -- Yes, infants do need to eat at night. Babywise is NOT about attempting to get your baby to sleep through the night, but rather to get to sleep by themselves (with the reassurance that you're there if they really need something -- process described in the book). When it's developmentally appropriate for your baby to sleep through...

United States on Jul 20, 2019

Kate: I purchased this book as I heard a few success stories from friends of how it had worked for them. I raced through the book when our little one was 9 weeks in the hope of being able to sleep better at night. Applying the principles immediately – no snacking, sleep – feed – wake cycle, our little one slept 8 hours straight the first night and then 7 the following night. I’m not sure how much of the success I could attribute to the book as I really tried and invested a whole week in trying to establish a consistent schedule however was faced with a lot of crying because sometimes she would wake early from a nap, throwing off her routine; her awake time was very short. So I had to develop being able to read my baby better and hold the scheduling loosely. One thing I will say is that the book is not comprehensive enough, it makes sense theoretically but there are so many what ifs, that the book doesn’t address, so for the most part you’re trying to read between the lines if you don’t want to be dogmatic. I personally believe that it is far more important to read your baby and I would attribute our sleep success to teaching our baby how to self sooth. Our LO started...

Canada on Aug 04, 2018

IT: I have an 18month old, and have just bought this for a friend, as I wanted to share the joys on sleep filled nights with her. Amazing book. Through pure determination and the confidence that this book gave me, DD slept 8 hours a night at 8 weeks and 12 hours at 12 weeks. Completely breastfed. The book gives you confidence in your own mind. Helps you plan for how you want your children to act in a years time. You don't start habits that become engrained (like sleepless nights or 4am wake ups, or children who refuse to go to bed), as it helps you make sensible decisions from the beginning(because you are not completely knackered). If you read it before the baby is born all the better, as you will be reading it in the context of person with certain expectations (8hours sleep a night, decent relationship, time for friends, cooking, reading etc), and you will then expect that of your child.

I have lent the book to friend who have also had good experiences. Including a boy with silent reflux, that slept 8 hours a night at 12 weeks.

The premise is feed the baby at regular intervals (stuff her full!) during the day and she won't need to feed at night. My baby was born pretty...

United Kingdom on Dec 07, 2014

brio: as a mother of two children, I would first like to say that I believe routine is key for babies! that may be why i enjoyed this book for the most part. i did not use it with my first child, and actually didn't use any book for my first child (who is a fun-loving and typical 3-year old with great sleep habits!) but did know that having a routine was wise and implemented one when she was about 6 weeks old. she was 7 weeks premature and was sleeping through the night (8+ hrs) by 3 months, and i would most definitely credit that to feeding her enough during the day (flexible scheduled feedings), getting a good nap and play/talk time routine down, and a nightly bedtime ritual. she continued to do well with routine and started sleeping 12 hours (8p-8a) by 4-5 months, and has ever since. now at 3 years old she sleeps from 8:30-9p to 8a and still takes one 1.5-2 hr afternoon nap. my second child, a boy, is 9 weeks old and is also doing well with routine. i did read babywise when he was about 6 weeks old and started implementing some of the things (i take everything with a grain of salt - ezzo isn't God nor does he claim to be) in the book and it has been very helpful for us and our baby....

United States on Sep 29, 2013

Sherwood Pictures Fan: When I bought this book from amazon, I saw a number of harsh reviews against it. Having now read most of the book, my opinion is that the harsh criticism was unfair. The authors do NOT advocate strict schedules which ignore the baby's needs. Rather, they provide guidelines to follow and advise parents to use discretion and take into consideration different factors when assessing what the baby's needs are. My advice is to read the book for yourselves and then judge.

I am expecting my third, and having read the book I realized that I had already been partially following the principles of the Parent Directed Feeding method (PDF) with my first two babies. Just as the authors predicted, my first two babies were more-or-less happy and content little fellows, good sleepers and good feeders. My sister-in-law remarked that my second baby was "as happy and content as the baby Jesus must have been!" Give the Ezzos' method a fair try, and you probably won't be disappointed!

Canada on Jan 22, 2013

viewpoint101: When my first baby was born, I followed the currently accepted practice of breastfeeding on demand. During a 5-week period, my baby became increasingly unsettled and her sleep schedule, rather than normalizing itself as many said it would, went increasingly haywire. I had friends who followed this book and its scheduling methodology, with no problems - their babies were all happy and healthy, while my previously happy baby was becoming more unhappy and not getting her needs met. Finally, I read the book in one day out of desperation and implemented it the next day. Immediately my daughter became more settled and happy. It took a few days for her to settle into her nap schedule, and after that we were home free. This was the most incredible book for us, partly I think because my daughter loves structure and this methodology gave her structure - she knew when she'd be fed, she knew when she'd go to sleep, she knew when she'd play/ interact.

My second baby came unexpectedly soon (17 months apart). Without this methodology we would have been sunk. On Becoming Babywise made the transition easy, and he automatically took to the napping schedule (no crying). The babies were happy,...

Canada on Jan 03, 2013