51st out of 74 books
—
65 voters
The Happiest Baby on the Block
Perfect for expecting parents who want to provide a soothing home for the newest member of their family, The Happiest Baby on the Block, the national bestseller by respected pediatrician and child development expert Dr. Harvey Karp, is a revolutionary method for calming a crying infant and promoting healthy sleep from day one.
In perhaps the most important parenting book of...more
In perhaps the most important parenting book of...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
May 27th 2003
by Bantam
(first published 2000)
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May 09, 2008
Ryan
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
frightened new parents
Recommended to Ryan by:
Someone who thought they were being helpful
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
All right, there really are nuggets of good advice hidden in mounds of dirt in this book. For example, I skimmed the entire first half of the book. And there are just so many darned testimonials from his patients - perhaps a fifth of the book is testimonials. Why? To make this actually book-length, I suppose. Oh, and for your mental well-being you should probably skip the section listing all the rare medical conditions that can lead to colic. So, anyway, there are just nuggets...
But what nuggets...more
But what nuggets...more
Did this topic really necessitate a book? Based on Karp's offering, the answer is a clear no.
There are some interesting nuggets (as opposed to the troughs of shit) here and there, but most of the book is too-cute filler.
Karp also has the annoying habit of presenting evolutionary theories with the qualifiers "I think" and "I believe." Look, man, either you conducted the research yourself and came to certain empirical conclusions, or other people did. Please stop presenting scientific informatio...more
There are some interesting nuggets (as opposed to the troughs of shit) here and there, but most of the book is too-cute filler.
Karp also has the annoying habit of presenting evolutionary theories with the qualifiers "I think" and "I believe." Look, man, either you conducted the research yourself and came to certain empirical conclusions, or other people did. Please stop presenting scientific informatio...more
Sep 01, 2007
Lara
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
soon-to-be parents, parents of young babies
I have to read this book to be certified in the curriculum for my job with Prevent Child Abuse Illinois, and normally I wouldn't put this type of thing on a personal book list, but it's so great! Obviously I don't have children, but some day in the future when I do, I definitely want to use these techniques! It talks of the "5 S's to Stop a Crying Baby"- swaddle, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging, and sucking! And I have the DVDs for the whole curriculum, which is amazing! The guy is a g...more
Jun 10, 2008
Lisa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Pregnant Women and their partners
Recommended to Lisa by:
Amazon.com
This book is an absolute parenting essential. In the future, I will purchase this book, along with a swaddler, for every friend/relative who has a new baby. It's the closest thing to magic I have encountered during my brief time as a parent!
We used the techniques in this book almost every day for the first 4 months of our child's life. We still swaddle our son now and he's almost six months old.
I wold strongly recommend reading it before you give birth - we actually used the entire technique ou...more
We used the techniques in this book almost every day for the first 4 months of our child's life. We still swaddle our son now and he's almost six months old.
I wold strongly recommend reading it before you give birth - we actually used the entire technique ou...more
There's quite a bit of filler in this, I think it could have been about half the length or less, and the publisher was looking for an excuse to charge the full 12.95 or whatever a book costs nowadays. That said, THIS BOOK IS MAGICAL. As a new parent, I don't know what I would do without this book.
Swaddle, Side, Sway, Shhh, Suck. There be magic in them words, and while I'm up at 1am writing this review, my baby is quiet, if not asleep enough to lay down on her own. I'd be ripping my hair out ins...more
Swaddle, Side, Sway, Shhh, Suck. There be magic in them words, and while I'm up at 1am writing this review, my baby is quiet, if not asleep enough to lay down on her own. I'd be ripping my hair out ins...more
Feb 04, 2013
Libby
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
women-family
I wanted to read this after reading Karp's "Happiest Toddler on the Block" which I really liked.
I thought his theory about the "4th trimester" sounds plausible, which is basically that humans evolved to be born a semester early because our brains are so big, if we continued developing inside we wouldn't be able to get out, so trying to mimic the womb conditions for the first 3 months after the due date will greatly help calm your baby if they are crying for no apparent reason. He gives lots of e...more
I thought his theory about the "4th trimester" sounds plausible, which is basically that humans evolved to be born a semester early because our brains are so big, if we continued developing inside we wouldn't be able to get out, so trying to mimic the womb conditions for the first 3 months after the due date will greatly help calm your baby if they are crying for no apparent reason. He gives lots of e...more
The book's general premise is that human infants are simply evicted from the womb earlier than they would like, namely because their heads after 9 months would be too big to pass through the birth canal. Thus, the first thee months of a baby's life is what Karp calls "the fourth trimester" and accordingly, babies are happiest when the conditions around them are made to replicate those they encountered in the womb. Karp's recommendation to new parents is thus to use the 5 s's, swaddling, side-lyi...more
Well, the final evaluation is going to have to wait for a few months until I have someone to try the technique out on. But the book came very highly recommended, both from mothers I personally know and from various experts whose opinions I respect, so we're going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. His theories, as he lays them out, certainly do make sense, and jive up well with information I have from other sources. (Although there's plenty of theories in every generation that subsequ...more
This book was recommended to us in the hospital by one of the labor and delivery nurses. It makes a very compelling case for understanding and appropriately reacting to an infant's behavior, particularly in light of the first three months after birth. It starts with the argument that human babies physiologically need a fourth trimester of development before they are able to interact with their environment in the way most other mammal babies already do at birth. (This is also supported by Brain R...more
I think a better title for this would be 'how to make a baby shut up'
or 'what to do with a crying infant' (my previous response to that one was 'hand it back to it's mother').
We're pre-baby at the moment, but I'm going on the basis of others' comments that the techniques described are effective. This isn't a long book, and it certainly doesn't cover comprehensive infant care, but it sticks to its thesis, and explains the techniques well, including a satisfying amount of theory and justification...more
or 'what to do with a crying infant' (my previous response to that one was 'hand it back to it's mother').
We're pre-baby at the moment, but I'm going on the basis of others' comments that the techniques described are effective. This isn't a long book, and it certainly doesn't cover comprehensive infant care, but it sticks to its thesis, and explains the techniques well, including a satisfying amount of theory and justification...more
I wish I had gotten this book sooner. It was recommended to me by a friend with a 4 year old. I had great reservations about the efficacy of the techniques and frankly, put off reading it because I'm a Doubting Thomas.
My daughter is 8 weeks and has recently started fussing and resisting bedtime, leading to a 3-4 hour wailing battle with me almost every night. I was worried it was colic, or reflux, and dreaded considering putting her on GERD medicines.
I read this book last night and tried the S t...more
My daughter is 8 weeks and has recently started fussing and resisting bedtime, leading to a 3-4 hour wailing battle with me almost every night. I was worried it was colic, or reflux, and dreaded considering putting her on GERD medicines.
I read this book last night and tried the S t...more
I have to say that in the beginning this book was a life saver. But once my body stopped producing milk for some unknown reason and we went on to formula she developed severe colic. The techniques did work to an extent and made life a little more manageable. However I do not agree with constantly holding a baby, as a result of continually holding a baby our daughter is now use to it and at 8 months of age while awake we can not set her down without her screaming bloody murder unless we are right...more
Jul 27, 2011
Jasmin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
pregnancy-and-parenting,
guides
This book primarily deals with how to take care of a baby during the first three months of life. My husband recommended that I read this book before the other infant care books we have and I am glad that I did. We are expecting any day now (I was due two days ago) and I feel like this book has lifted away some of my worries about newborn care. Harvey Karp basically says that for the first three months of life, a newborn is still a fetus. This means the baby is not really in a position to be lear...more
This is the perfect book if you baby has colic and/or is your first or second child. Useful information, but stuff I learned by accident along the way with all my babies!
Talks about the 5 S's for a happy baby (swing, swaddle, shush, suck, can't remember the last one) and refers to first three months of baby's life as the last trimester. (it is nice to put a name to it)
I am glad I don't have to feel guilty anymore about nursing my babies on demand, holding them a lot, and even sleeping with them...more
Talks about the 5 S's for a happy baby (swing, swaddle, shush, suck, can't remember the last one) and refers to first three months of baby's life as the last trimester. (it is nice to put a name to it)
I am glad I don't have to feel guilty anymore about nursing my babies on demand, holding them a lot, and even sleeping with them...more
Well, I think boo to the apps on the phone. I had a very thorough review posted on here, and it got erased while I was using the Goodreads app on my Droid (I was putting baby to sleep and needed something to do while I was waiting to put her down).
But I digress... 4 stars to this book. Yes there is a lot of fluff, but it really helps you understand why baby is crying and why they need what the author is saying they need. I think this book is better read PRIOR to baby being born. I could imagine...more
But I digress... 4 stars to this book. Yes there is a lot of fluff, but it really helps you understand why baby is crying and why they need what the author is saying they need. I think this book is better read PRIOR to baby being born. I could imagine...more
This book saved my daughter and myself from going insane! My granddaughter was born in February and within days proved to be the most challenging of infants: she screamed for what felt like hours and hardly slept. We rarely ever saw the baby contented. Then a friend loaned my daughter this book (I swear there are angels on high looking after us!) and, thanks to what we learned from the book, the situation improved dramatically.
We learned from Harvey Karp, a doctor, that some babies are unable to...more
We learned from Harvey Karp, a doctor, that some babies are unable to...more
Hopefully the techniques are more effective than the style
There's a lot of unnecessary fluff trying to convince you of the 'calming reflex' and the 'fourth trimester' idea. Skip the first 75 pages.
VERY repetitive (how many times must he remind us that "he had this type of stimulation 24 hours a day IN the womb, what you're doing now is a big decrease"?--apparently, this is written in the context of a society that is afraid of spoiling 3 month-olds by soothing them, which was news to me.
Off...more
There's a lot of unnecessary fluff trying to convince you of the 'calming reflex' and the 'fourth trimester' idea. Skip the first 75 pages.
VERY repetitive (how many times must he remind us that "he had this type of stimulation 24 hours a day IN the womb, what you're doing now is a big decrease"?--apparently, this is written in the context of a society that is afraid of spoiling 3 month-olds by soothing them, which was news to me.
Off...more
Good information for the lay person about a newborn baby's sensory needs. As someone who works with kids with sensory processing disorders, I've seen the disregulation that can occur when a child's sensory needs are not being met. I've bought this book for friends of mine who are new mothers. I like how Karp teaches new parents exactly how to swaddle their babies.
The reason I only gave it 3 stars is that the book is extremeley repetitive and is written in fairly simplistic terms. I think most pe...more
The reason I only gave it 3 stars is that the book is extremeley repetitive and is written in fairly simplistic terms. I think most pe...more
I'd recommend getting the DVD instead of this book. It's just as repetitious, but it's much shorter to get through, and you don't miss anything from the book.
10,000 stars for the ideas contained within the book, 2 stars for presentation. The author is really repetitious with his ideas, so I ended up skimming most of it. However, the ideas work wonders for my baby!
The 5 S's were things that I naturally tried, either from instinct to comfort the baby or from experience/watching other mothers. But...more
10,000 stars for the ideas contained within the book, 2 stars for presentation. The author is really repetitious with his ideas, so I ended up skimming most of it. However, the ideas work wonders for my baby!
The 5 S's were things that I naturally tried, either from instinct to comfort the baby or from experience/watching other mothers. But...more
I found this book and the accompanying DVD useful in better understanding why my second and third children were so much more difficult to soothe than my first. It also helped me to not take it so personally! I like his concept of the "fourth trimester," that creating a womb-like environment helps the fussier baby transition into the world. Many of these tricks (the four s's) were ones I already knew or used in my own ways, but it was helpful to think of putting it all together for maximum effect...more
I read this book during the last few weeks of my pregnancy and the first few weeks of Adeline's life. I recommend this as a must read to any future parent. I think it was really helpful in knowing how to keep Adeline calm - and might be one reason she was not terribly fussy during her first few months of life.
Dr. Karp takes what he believes are the 'myths' surrounding a colicky baby, explains their origins, and then debunks each myth. I thought it was marvelous. He then explains his basic theory...more
Dr. Karp takes what he believes are the 'myths' surrounding a colicky baby, explains their origins, and then debunks each myth. I thought it was marvelous. He then explains his basic theory...more
Let me preface my review by acknowledging that the tips and tricks described in this book will probably be of great use in calming my baby when I have a newborn. And, if this book were, say, a seven-page article in a magazine, I would rip it out, keep it for reference, and recommend it to friends.
The problem is that this is not a seven-page article. It is a 260-page book. 260 pages of fluff, filler, and drawings. 260 pages to essentially inform the reader that calming a newborn takes "the 5 S's...more
The problem is that this is not a seven-page article. It is a 260-page book. 260 pages of fluff, filler, and drawings. 260 pages to essentially inform the reader that calming a newborn takes "the 5 S's...more
While I can't yet attest to the results this book claims, it seems like it has good suggestions for the first 3-4 months of your child's life. There is a LOT of repetition, and it could've been a much shorter book.
The author believes that babies are missing a fourth trimester in the womb and thinks the best way to calm a fussy baby is to recreate their experience in the womb. The main points are the 5 s's, which need to be done in order:
1. Swaddle- to stop your baby from flailing. Make sure arm...more
The author believes that babies are missing a fourth trimester in the womb and thinks the best way to calm a fussy baby is to recreate their experience in the womb. The main points are the 5 s's, which need to be done in order:
1. Swaddle- to stop your baby from flailing. Make sure arm...more
Dec 30, 2007
Amelia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
every new mother
How can I say this?... If you want to never hear your baby cry for longer than 5 seconds and have them sleep through the night for their first three months, read this book and get the instructional DVD. I read it twice and perfected the technique before my baby boy was born and I seriously LOVED having a newborn and NEVER felt like I couldn't console him. It worked EVERY TIME. I really don't know how people do it without knowing this technique. It's a must for every mom.
I saw this doctor on Oprah YEARS ago... I remember that the audience was full of QUIET, contented babies and I wondered if they were all sedated.
The premise is that human babies are born 3 months BEFORE they are really developed because of the size of their heads. Therefore, the fist 100 days of their life is virtually a "fourth trimester" in which the baby needs constant vigilance and caring.
He offers "cuddle cure"... 5 steps done in sequence to calm a baby and simulate life in the womb: Swaddl...more
The premise is that human babies are born 3 months BEFORE they are really developed because of the size of their heads. Therefore, the fist 100 days of their life is virtually a "fourth trimester" in which the baby needs constant vigilance and caring.
He offers "cuddle cure"... 5 steps done in sequence to calm a baby and simulate life in the womb: Swaddl...more
Jul 07, 2011
Cindy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
parents of colicky babies
We would have gone insane without this book. For four months, our baby was on the verge of crying, crying, or screaming nearly every minute she was awake. We felt totally alone and isolated, not to mention exhausted and hopeless.
Many critical reviews of this book are written by non-parents who have never needed the kind of support this book offers. I'm glad it was long. I'm glad it was simple. Each page gave me hope that our baby's behavior wasn't totally uncommon, even though all other babies...more
Many critical reviews of this book are written by non-parents who have never needed the kind of support this book offers. I'm glad it was long. I'm glad it was simple. Each page gave me hope that our baby's behavior wasn't totally uncommon, even though all other babies...more
Pretty much what everyone else said. The writing is idiotic and the whole book could be summed up in a page (as one reviewer mentioned, pages 95-99 tell you everything you need to know). But, the one page worth of stuff is pretty miraculous. Once our daughter sort of "woke up" from the daze of the first few weeks and realized how difficult and weird and uncomfortable her new world was, she had a few days of being really unhappy and frustrated. She would cry and fuss and the most we could do was...more
In the last couple of years, I have read - or at least tried to read - more "self-help" type books than probably the rest of my life combined. I am noticing a common problem: the author has a good or even great idea, piece of advice, research, or insight into the human condition. This idea can be adequately communicated in, say, 5 or 10 pages. But, the author would like to make some money off this idea, and therefore goes shopping for a book deal. The publishers would like to sell a hardback at...more
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| Review | 4 | 32 | Aug 26, 2012 09:25am |
Dr. Harvey Karp is a nationally renowned pediatrician and child development specialist. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. Over the past 30 years, he has taught thousands of parents, from working moms to superstars like Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer and Pierce Brosnan his secrets for making children happy.
Dr. Karp has committed his full-time efforts to writing,...more
More about Harvey Karp...
Dr. Karp has committed his full-time efforts to writing,...more
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