BabyWise is Wise Advice

Posted by Sylvia Tessier on July 14, 2001 at 10:35:22:

In Reply to: Re: BabyWise - Not for parents who care posted by Darren Gardner on May 13, 2001 at 15:37:48:

As far as I'm concerned, if Mr. Ezzo is a parent, then he is a child development expert and I am willing to listen to what he has to say. It wouldn't matter if he were a lawyer by profession, so why does it matter if he's a minister? I find there is a lot of Christian bashing going on re. this book. The book is not about religion and the advice really works. If he were a Zen Buddhist everyone would be saying how enlightened he is but since he believes in Jesus people make him out to be a raving lunatic.

I was being influenced by all the talk that caring parents will not subject their children to this, yet I knew instinctively we needed at least a little bit of structure in our home as the baby was ruling every moment of every day. So I started trying some of the Baby Wise techniques very cautiously. My baby responded so well I just had to do more and more. The thing all the experts fail to mention is that babies LOVE routine. I am not doing this to my baby - I'm doing it for him. Now he is well rested, eats better and is more cheerful when he's awake. There is nothing strict or regimented about it - you just have a basic structure to your day with set feeding times and nap times that you work within. It's no big deal if your baby gets off the schedule. You don't have to deny your baby food when he's hungry but you don't have to be a slave to his every wim either. The concept in the book which was so radically new to me but made so much sense to me is that I as the parent might actually know more than my baby about what he needs! For instance, he was used to snacking all day long on breastmilk and never really having a full meal so he would get hungry again every 30 min. or so and demand more feeding which I would faithfully give him even in the middle of the night. I had no idea that I could have gently guided him into spreading the feedings further apart so he would eat more each time and be more satisfied.

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