Dr. Harvey Karp

[JTheuriet]

What do you think of Dr. Karp's book Happiest Baby on the Block? Has anyone read it? I know Baby 411 endorses Brazelston but the Touchpoints book was published so long ago I was looking for something more current. Any thoughts?

[animalanne]

I thought Dr Karp's book was fantastic. I heard him at a conference and he is very good about not only explaining his methods but the reasoning behind them. This book is geared for the 1st 3 months but in my opinion, that was the most difficult time for us. Touchpoints has useful information but yes, some of it is dated. The Baby Book by Sears is also good. Has lots of useful info about a baby's development. You just has to realize it is a bit touchy feely.

Anne

Baby 411 is also a great reference. Lots of good info and very easy to access.

[jhrabosk]

Love love love Happiest Baby, but agree with the pp that it's really geared toward the early months. I give it as a gift to pregnant friends though!

[jillc]

I think everyone should read the Happiest Baby on the Block!!! It is so great. This was recommended to me by several friends & pediatricians & I really found the information to be invaluable! I recommend it to all of my pregnant friends!

[farleygirl]

I liked it for some real hands-on techniques. Seemed actionable, not lots of babble about the importance of sleep. Yes, we know sleep is important!

Agree with previous posters that it's for first 3 months.

[Bean606]

I didn't read Karp's book, but my friend lent me the video by the same name, which features Karp demonstrating the techniques he advocates. It didn't work for us. He has four steps to calming the baby, and step 1 is swaddling. Well, our DS HATED to be swaddled, so we couldn't get past step 1 - it just made everything worse. And, I was a little nervous about the head-jiggling step - it seemed a little too close to shaken baby syndrome for me. We are having a lot of sleep issues with our baby (he will be 5 months on Monday). I borrowed and read Ferber's new book, Brazelton, and Mindell's "Sleeping through the Night" from the library. I am waiting for the "No-Cry Sleep Solution" to come in. So far, the book that I have found to be the most helpful is Mindell's. We started using the techniques a few days ago, and our little one has slept through the night (8:30 to 6:00 a.m.) for two days in a row now. I can't say we are out of the woods yet, but we are very pleased with this progress, because before then, he was waking up every 2-3 hours. Mindell's approach is a little gentler than Ferber or Brazelton, IMO, but they all recommend similar strategies - a consistent night time routine, and consistent waking and napping schedules. We haven't been able to get DS to nap regularly, but I am counting my blessings that we are getting a few hours of sleep at night!

[Momof3Labs]

I think that HBOTB is a must-read for all parents-to-be! But it's not a technique that you can do halfway; for some babies, you must do all of the steps in order to soothe the baby. Other babies, like my easy DS2, are fine with a few of the steps.