Harvey Karp

Review of The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block.

Karp "discovered" the toddler approach. He "discovered" the infant calming reflex. Oh please! He named things (rocking babies, swaddling, saying shush; talking to toddlers on their level) and made a brand. I might note that his claims to have "discovered" what has been known and practiced by most of the world for most of human history eerily echo the claims of many other "discoverers" of lands and knowledge show more possessed only by natives, women, and other non-important people.

Oh, and also? In Happiest Toddler his whole premise is based on the idea that "toddlers are little cavepeople", and he has articulated it by assigning stages of human evolution to stages of infancy. This, he tells us, is based on the scientific principle that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" -- apparently, his genius was to see that toddlers are still developing! So they are ontologizing too! or something. Anyway Haeckel's recapitulation theory is wrong. It seems intuitive to people first learning about development and/or evolution, but it was refuted numerous times in the 20th century. One would have hoped that in the years Karp claims to have spent researching anthropology, biology, and so forth, he would have come across some of the literature actually discussing why it was wrong, and why educational vogues based on these ideas a hundred years ago are also wrong.

And his artfully posed author picture kills me.

Never mind. If you can get beyond the lame theorizing, and the pompous gasbaggery (carefully disguised in a patronizingly playful tone), and the painful politics of white male professionals claiming to have "discovered" historical parenting techniques -- if you can get past all that, then there are some nuggets in the books. For the most part these nuggets can be garnered by skimming through the book in half an hour. The videos are more useful, as they show actual parent-child interactions.

In summary: Check out of the library; do not buy. show less

Review of The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block.

He 'discovered' the infant calming reflex. Karp 'discovered' the toddler approach. Oh please! He named things (rocking babies, swaddling, saying shush; talking to toddlers on their level) and made a brand. I might note that his claims to have 'discovered' what has been known and practiced by most of the world for most of human history eerily echo the claims of many other 'discoverers' of lands and knowledge show more possessed only by natives, women, and other non-important people.

Oh, and also? In Happiest Toddler his whole premise is based on the idea that 'toddlers are little cavepeople', and he has articulated it by assigning stages of human evolution to stages of infancy. This, he tells us, is based on the scientific principle that 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny' -- apparently, his genius was to see that toddlers are still developing! So they are ontologizing too! or something. Anyway Haeckel's recapitulation theory is wrong. It seems intuitive to people first learning about development and/or evolution, but it was refuted numerous times in the 20th century. One would have hoped that in the years Karp claims to have spent researching anthropology, biology, and so forth, he would have come across some of the literature actually discussing why it was wrong, and why educational vogues based on these ideas a hundred years ago are also wrong.

And his artfully posed author picture kills me.

Never mind. If you can get beyond the lame theorizing, and the pompous gasbaggery (carefully disguised in a patronizingly playful tone), and the painful politics of white male professionals claiming to have 'discovered' historical parenting techniques -- if you can get past all that, then there are some nuggets in the books. For the most part these nuggets can be garnered by skimming through the book in half an hour. The videos are more useful, as they show actual parent-child interactions.

In summary: Check out of the library; do not buy. show less

The Good: Really helpful and specific technical advice on how to calm a crying newborn. Also, a couple of interesting chapters on diagnosing colic and also on newborn sleep patterns.

The Bad: This could have easily been a pamphlet about 30 pages long instead of a 250 page book. I don't really need to know what the 5 S's are a dozen different times in a dozen different ways.

The Ugly: I'm sure Dr. Karp is a very nice man but his writing style makes him sound a little conceited. There are also show more a lot of "arguments from antiquity" fallacies being employed. It's great that the !Kung San tribes like to breast feed their babies 120 times a day, but that doesn't mean that their "ancient" knowledge is especially relevant or even helpful.

Overall though, his advice is helpful, even though his arguments for its importance are silly. I understand he wants to sell books and get publicity, but one can easily get everything important from this book in a dozen pages. In fact, there is a really handy two page chart near the center that gives you pretty much everything you need to know. show less

The Happiest Baby on the Block (2004) is a self-help book for new parents to help soothe fussy babies recommended to us by several of our fellow new parents. Harvey Karp, M.D., whom our pediatrician calls a "goofy genius," puts together a package of skills to help calm even the fussiest of babies. While he often refers to his methods as a "new way" they are rooted in ancient human traditions and the physiological needs of the infant. The cumulative effect is to make the baby experience the show more feeling of a safe and comfortable womb. This is due to the fact that due to evolutionary changes in the birth canal and the size of the baby's head, human infants are actually born three months earlier than the ideal period of gestation (read Thumbs, Toes, and Tears to find out why). Dr. Karp refers to the baby's first three months as "the fourth trimester."

The means of inducing the calming reflex in a fussy baby are the 5 S's:

• Swaddling - tightly wrapping the baby to replicate the womb and prevent him from upsetting himself.


• Side/Stomach position - while holding the baby, not when putting the baby to bed.


• Shushing sounds - a natural talent for a librarian that recreates the constant white noise in the womb.


• Swinging - steady but vigorous jiggling that creates a soothing motion for the baby.


• Sucking - on a pacifier or a parent's finger, soothing in the same way that he feeds.

I've found this book very helpful with our baby, although sometimes you have to do the 5 S's for a long time to prevent fussiness from returning. While the content of the book is useful, the presentation needs work. A lot of the book reads like an infomercial ("soon you'll find out the NEW method that will calm your baby!") complete with testimonials from happy customers ("I can't believe our baby calmed down right away. Thank you Dr. Karp!"). While some of the parents' comments are useful as case studies much of that and the infomercial set up could be cut out and the whole thing could be made into more of a workbooks with lots of illustrations on how swaddle, swing, and otherwise soothe your baby. We also have the DVD of Happiest Baby on the Block which is useful for seeing how to do it, but I think a workbook version of the book would be a great resource. show less