How to calm, connect and communicate with your baby (Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect and Communicate with Your Baby - Tracy Hogg)

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect and Communicate with Your Baby - Tracy Hogg
Date:	31/10/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good principles, easy to understand

Disadvantages: Not for everyone

How to calm, connect and communicate with your baby.

As a new expectant mother I am trying to read a few books to help me with my impending arrival. That said, I am trying to not read too much and become bogged down by the vast array of information, both good and bad out there. I know from experience that everyone has a different way of approaching just about every situation and not every way will suit everyone.

For example I think there are two schools of thought when it comes to setting a routine or a schedule for your baby. Some people believe a strict, same time, familiarity routine is the best way to go whereas others tend to think that it's best to "wing it" and just see how it goes. I am somewhere in the middle (I think, at least for now, maybe all that will change when Junior arrives), but I definitely feel that some sort of regular routine is the way to go otherwise you are faced with a little baby who has no idea what's going on from day to day and parents that don't have a clue either.

The book that I have been reading that helps me to establish this school of thought and also gives a detailed way of putting that plan into action is Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg. I was actually given this by a neighbour and have really found it very useful.

Tracy Hogg, the author obtained her nursing degree in England and then went on to forge a career for herself in America in baby care. According to the back of the book in 1997 she founded Baby Technique through which she consults parents individually, organises and teaches group classes and provides nanny training and referrals. She published this book in the year 2001 and unfortunately in 2004 passed away after an illness of cancer.

The main theme of her book is the discussion of her acronym E.A.S.Y which is the structured routine she aims to put all her babies on, basically from birth.

It stands for:

E- Eat
A - Activity
S - Sleep
Y - Yourself.

She goes onto explain each letter in good detail. Basically if we take the first E to eat, she talks about feeding a child and the different feeding methods. With A, activity, she cites a bath, looking out of their car seat, etc as all examples of activity for a small baby and not actually playing with all the toys, listening to music etc that we might use to keep a baby entertained otherwise they risk being over-stimulated. S is for sleep and she writes about sensing when a baby is tired, ways to get them to sleep and healthy sleep patterns. The last letter Y concerns us as parents. If we aren't making time for ourselves then how can we hope to be good parents to our babies and I definitely think this is a very good point and one I hope to adhere to. It doesn't me we get to go out on the town every night but it shows us ways to make time with our partner, take time to heal and calm ourselves as well.

What I like about her is that she makes her point very simply and to me it makes sense. Most of what she says I think is common sense but sometimes it might not be something you have actively thought about and by bringing it to your attention, Tracy makes it seem easy and possible. For example, she really values small babies as individuals right from day one, with feelings and concerns just like us but this is something perhaps we are guilty of not doing. She emphasises the importance of showing respect to your baby: "Just try to remember that this is a little human being in your arms, a person whose senses are alive, a tiny being who already knows your voice and even what you smell like." For example, she talks about how to pick up a baby either from it cots or seat. She says to firstly greet the baby and tell them that you are now going to pick them up rather than just swooping down and lifting them away from what was a comfortable position. If we did this to an adult with no warning they would be very distressed, so why is it any different for a baby. I totally see her point but this might perhaps not have been something I first thought of when going to pick up a baby.

I can appreciate that this book is not for everyone but I have found it very useful and intend to put it into practice. I would definitely call it a very middle of the road book when it comes to baby care in terms of controversy but if you want some good bits of advice I think it's well worth a read.

Summary: The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer