Tracy Hogg (1960–2004)

This book stresses me out. Tracy Hogg might be fun in person, but in print she comes across as very condescending ("you might think that's a good idea but it's not, love" — okay, that's not an actual quote but it pretty much summarizes her tone). The main thrust of the book is her EASY method (eat, activity, sleep, you time), which isn't all that innovative given that Baby Wise had already been pushing the feed-wake-sleep pattern for years.

There's a lot of fearmongering here about show more "accidental parenting," which is defined as falling into bad habits because they seem to work initially. Hogg warns parents of the awful things that will happen if they do something crazy like, say, rock their baby to sleep. Her patronizing tone comes through here, too, as she informs us clueless parents that it's all our fault our baby is having problems and we can, by dint of excruciating effort, break the bad habits WE created. Nothing like a load of guilt and a mountain of work to encourage and motivate you, right? Especially when you are running on two or three (non-consecutive) hours of sleep.

Oh, and speaking of guilt, Hogg lays it on thick for parents considering the cry-it-out method. Leaving a baby to cry alone for as much as five minutes "makes her hair stand on end." I have to wonder if Hogg has even worked with babies. Crying comes with the territory.

Hogg's approach to discipline also leaves something to be desired. She describes a scenario where your child consistently fails to get along with your friend's child, and says you might need to have playdates with another child instead, "even if you don't fancy her mum as much." So basically, don't discipline your child, don't teach him to deal with different personalities, don't help him understand his own heart and responsibility. No, just remove the offending factor and make things easy. Because that's how real life works, right?

I tried Hogg's suggestions about sleep and they failed abysmally. My "spirited" baby would have no truck with her shush-pat method. It might have worked better when babies were being put down to sleep on their bellies, but not now that we lay them on their backs. He simply looked up at me, wide awake and getting awaker, every time I tried her suggestions.

Maybe she just caught me at a sensitive time, but I can't think of this book without a mental shudder and it's going to Goodwill. Or perhaps the garbage. Thank goodness for the sensible and experienced moms around me who gave me common-sense advice that helped us navigate some of the rougher patches of early babyhood. The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems seemed to actually create more problems than it solved... most definitely not recommended. show less

At first the advice in this book seemed so logical that I was excited to have a plan for how to be a mom for the first time. Once my son arrived, I decided that this book was evil.Hogg's basic idea isn't terrible - it's the guilt she assigns to anyone who doesn't use or can't follow her method. I was in tears more than once because I felt like a failure when her advice wasn't working. One day I literally threw the book against a wall with frustration. I think that action surprised enough to show more see how ridiculous it was to call myself a failure because her method wasn't working for my son and me.I found other methods and other sources of advice that didn't heap on so much guilt and my son and I are enjoying each other very much now. show less

*Checked out from the Arlington Public Library*I found this on the shelf in the "parenting section". Odd for me to be able to look there still. This was recommended to me a couple months back as being pretty useful. Well, what do you know almost three months into parenting and I have already ruined my daughter's life and completely warped her sense of view and the world is going to end. I read this book last night. I cannot believe I read so many pages at once, but I had to. I needed to know show more how to fix what I had set into motion in the downward spiral that is my AppleBlossom's life. I read the book and found some great tidbits and advice. I went to sleep, dreampt about it all night long, and woke up agonizing over the schedule that I had never thought to follow. About half way through the day I realized that it was ridiculous. My daughter is perfect. She is different from all other babies and needs her own. My schedule with her does not have to be check check check. We are stay-at- home folks, and for now, we can go at a pace that works for us. One of the points in the book is that a baby just got here and does not know how to schedule when they need what that it is up to the parents to provide that organization. In retrospect, my baby knows when she's hungry and she tells me with various signs and cues. She knows when she's sleepy too. I fretted and freaked at first, but now realize this may work for someone that really needs the structure, but for us, it's just silly. God gave her natural sense to do what she needs when she needs it. With the move (moving at two weeks notice from GA to TN with a 2-1/2 month old) we have been out and about all the time and she sleeps when she's tired and "cry-ne-aches" (that's a Margaret-ism) when she's hungry until she's fed. It works and we're happy. show less

I really loved the first Baby Whisperer book. (So much so, that during the first 3 weeks of the kiddo's life, I tried to track down Tracy Hogg to hire her, but discovered that she was dead.) This one is more of the same, but in greater depth, and covering a wider range of ages/problems. She's not for everybody, and not all of her solutions are solutions for everybody (even for her fans), but she has a steady, reassuring, common-sense voice. Her years of experience (as what--a nannny? a show more visiting nurse? a baby counselor?) help me believe what she says, and trust her generalizations about babies. For those looking to implement routines, understand their babies' tempraments, or handle major transitions (breaking bad sleep habits, potty-training, etc.), she is a good voice to have in your ear, even if you choose another path. show less