Baby Whisperer vs Happiest baby

A few weeks back, after a few particularly fussy days ( say, crying from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. one fine Sunday, with his only breaks for feedings and two 20 min naps), I reached out to a few friends who had kids for suggestions of baby literature. I needed something, anything I could get my hands on to make.this.crying.stop!

The two most popular suggestions were "The Baby Whisperer", which was a book, and available instantly thanks to itunes..and a DVD called " The Happiest Baby on the Block". I read the Baby Whisperer the first day I bought it--she had some good points that I hadn't thought of, and so I tried her E.A.S.Y method the next day.

EASY stands for: Eat, Activity, Sleep, You.

So, theoretically, you feed baby, give him some activity, then put him to sleep, and then you have time for yourself.

So, instead of just feeding him, burping him and trying to put him back down, I adopted her method for a couple of days, by putting him down for some tummy time or putting him in a swing as an "activity" before "sleep". It worked 50% of the time. But truthfully, when feeding in the middle of the night, the last thing I wanted to do was let him have "activity" time. I wanted him back to bed ASAP!

I liked that she sees the baby as a person, and makes a point to say that we should talk to babies as  humans--talking to them through diaper changes etc. No baby talk or coochie coos. Hallelujah!

But in the end, I either didn't understand her method clearly, or it simply didn't suit our parent-baby relationship. I adopted a few methods and ideas, and kept searching for something to help me better understand and soothe our son.

This is where the DVD " Happiest Baby on the Block" comes in to play. I had youtubed a video when I initially heard of Dr. Karp and his ability to get a screaming baby to turn to jello in a matter of moments. It seemed too good to be true--there are multiple videos on youtube of parents proving this method successful. After seeing the testimonials, I was S-O-L-D!

(click here for a clip from Dr. Karp's appearance on "The View")

Our DVD arrived this past week, and NZ and I sat and watched it last night.

This morning, as Sal fussed a bit after breakfast, NZ swaddled him, shook him ( gently, like the video--I promise no shaken baby syndrome here), shhhhsh'd him, and soothed him. He did 4 of the 5 S's as outlined in the video demonstration, and wouldn't you know--Sal was lights out within just minutes.

I have had success with it two more times today, and I am starting to believe in magic!

Either that or Dr. Karp is a genius!

I do believe we have the Happiest Baby on the Block today.