Book Review: Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect and Communicate with Your Baby by Tracy Hogg.
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer is a book about tuning into your baby’s needs. It was written by Tracy Hogg in 2001 and went on to become a New York Times best seller.
I enjoyed the quiz about what kind of baby you have and imagine it would be very reassuring for parents who found themselves with a more ‘difficult’ baby. I also liked her suggestions about talking to your baby about what is happening or going to happen to him. But the most interesting sections were the ones describing EASY and SLOW.
EASY stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep and Your time, describing the routine for babies that the author recommends. Although I believe this is a good idea in principle, I would have welcomed more in depth hints and tips as to how to get ones baby into the routine. SLOW stands for Stop, Listen, Observe and What’s Up, offering a useful way of trying to work out what your baby is telling you.
One downside of the book for me was that Hogg gave me the impression that she was more against breastfeeding that for it. However despite this, she did quote some interesting points about breastfeeding that even other breastfeeding books I have read seem to miss.
Overall I found Secrets of The Baby Whisperer enjoyable and easy to read, and a book that can be read from cover to cover or be used to dip in and out of at one’s leisure.
Breastfed Babies Have A Higher IQ
Its official – breastfed babies have a higher IQ on average than bottle fed babies (well tell us something we didn’t know!). You can read further details in this article from The Daily Mail.
Baby Expert Is No Expert
I was horrified and shocked to read numerous articles that claim that Claire Verity, a maternity nurse featured on the recent C4 Bringing Up Baby series is a fraud.
On the programme Claire Verity used some extreme measures; she repeatedly claimed that all babies needed was a strict routine. Her methods included putting the baby out in the garden for hours on end, restricting the amount of cuddling allowed, strict 4 hourly feeds and leaving babies to cry.
Many mothers (and fathers) I recently spoke to about the series were upset and horrified by the way the babies were treated by her in the programme. There has been also an outcry from some of Britain’s leading child related organisations, including the NCT (National Childbirth Trust) and the NSPCC.
Despite never having children herself Verity promoted herself as a maternity nurse with years of experience in dealing with hundreds of babies. She claimed to hold diplomas in childcare and pre-school practice, which the universities claim to have no record of.
You can read more in this article.
