This book is nicely structured into chapters about the usual parenting bugbears (sleep, crying, breastfeeding, etc). I had hoped to pick up some tips about how to structure my daughter's day, without the rigidity of Gina Ford. However, I found this book contained hugely conflicting advice to many NHS leaflets, particularly around breastfeeding, and I actually became quite upset. There is no way I can persuade my baby to be active for 45 minutes, as per the EASY routine in this book, and my baby feeds for 5 minutes, rather than the 25-40 minutes detailed here. Rather than trusting my own instincts I allowed myself to be stressed by a routine that just isn't for me.

There is quite a cute section about identifying what sort of baby you have (Angel, Textbook, Spirited, and so on). To complete the quiz and realise you have a "grumpy" baby is a little disheartening so these labels should be taken with a pinch of salt.

There are some genuinely useful sections to read, such as how to assess what babies crying means, and ideas for sleep routines, but for a hormonal and tired mother, this book just wasn't for me.