![\"Secrets](\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/cover.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHogg’s book clearly is promoting this image. Anything that claims to tell you about “secrets” surely wants you to think that they have all the answers. I have found a lot of interesting ideas in this book, but I don’t know if Tracy Hogg has cornered the market by having all the secrets to baby care in her possession.<\/p>\n
Things I liked:
\n* Hogg starts off by telling parents to respect their baby by talking to her, introducing her to new people and activities, and letting her know what is going on. I like the idea of treating your baby like an actual human, as if they can understand you.
\n* She recommends separating food from sleep in a pattern she describes with the acronym EASY (eat, activity, sleep, your time). Other books recommend this too, but this was the first book I had encountered it. She describes this as a “predictable routine” as opposed to a rigid, timed schedule.
\n* She explains that babies sometimes cry for reasons other than hunger or a dirty diaper, and she gives a list of physical cues you can look for in your baby to identify these. It makes sense to me that babies would sometimes cry when they become overstimulated — I do this myself sometimes! And I like having ideas of how to soothe a baby in this state.
\n* She encourages new moms to have a big nap from 2-5pm everyday or three 1-hour naps in the first 6 weeks. I am all about getting some sleep, and I love having an idea of how I’ll get it once baby comes!<\/p>\n
Things I didn’t like:
\n* Hogg is always calling us “luv”\u009d and “ducky,” apparently in an attempt to communicate her British heritage. But it seems gimmicky.
\n* She seems to think she has all the answers. But does she? Probably not.
\n* She doesn’t really address co-sleeping, and especially as it reduces SIDS. Can you follow her sleep patterns while co-sleeping? (We recently purchased an “ArmsReach co-sleeper”:http:\/\/armsreach.com\/ and feel excited about using it.)
\n* While she is very supportive of breastfeeding, she gives a lot of reasons why it might not work — which could backfire if a woman really _wants_ to breastfeed but is just having some troubles due to lack of support and unexpected challenges.
\n* She assumes that parents should start helping a baby to be independent right away by teaching them to fall asleep on their own, but this is so arbitrary! Why not wait a few weeks or months to help the newborn adjust to our unpredictable world? She even says no one can answer this question, but she chooses to start at birth.
\n* The subtitle has a grammatical error. (Can you find it?)<\/p>\n
Again, I’m so curious to see what works with our baby! I hope she doesn’t mind being our guinea pig. We’ll just explain everything we are doing to her and maybe that will bore her enough that she’ll just go to sleep. :)<\/p>\n
Update: See some of my later thoughts about “Why I Am Mad at Tracy Hogg”:http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2006\/why-i-am-mad-at-tracy-hogg\/. <\/i><\/p>\n
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Considered in this review: “_Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby_”:http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0345440900\/octothorppr-20, by Tracy Hogg with Melinda Blau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Baby books are so alluring to me: they often purport to have *the answer* to solving all of your baby’s sleeping or eating or crying problems. What new mom doesn’t want to have all the answers? So, I arm myself with as many theories as I can hold, but all the time I’m wondering: Do … <\/p>\n