BabyWise book, I have heard it is not good in the long run, what do you think ?

Question

PLease answer ONLY IF YOU HAVE DONE RESEARCH ON IT OR ARE A PROFESSIONAL OR HAVE USED IT FOR TWO YEARS WITH A CHILD. New moms, I have researched answers from your area. Please don't be offended. I heard some not so good things about it and I see them in my 9 mo. old grand daughter, but want to do some serious research before I talk to my daughter, we struggle in our relationship a bit, so don't want to "scare her." But I think it might be serious.

Answer 1

I used babywise with both of my kids. The oldest will be 4 this summer, the youngest is 4 months old. I had never heard about any of the controversy surrounding babywise until recently. Personally, I felt that the book was a lifesaver, and I used it as my main source of new-baby information. It was given to me by my sister who had also used it with her kids. I guess the main controversy I've heard is over failure to thrive. My son was 8lbs 14oz at birth, and he continued to remain in the higher percentiles throughout his first year and is now at the 50% percentile. My daughter was born at 7lbs 13oz and has stayed at the 50% so far.

Personally, I feel that those people whose babies don't thrive on babywise are probably not reading and following the advice in the book correctly. The book encourages flexible scheduling, with cues taken from the baby. It says to always strive for full feedings and to try to avoid snacking. Its very supportive and encouraging of breastfeeding. There are growth and feeding charts located in the back of the book for parents to monitor themselves and their baby.

Over time I've been able to see the types of things they claim for children, like the ability for delayed gratification. There's really no way of telling that it was the babywise system for sure that allowed my son to be able to understand delayed gratification.

I guess the main thing for me is that babywise never says not to feed a hungry baby, nor does it give unreasonably long periods of times that babies should be able to go between feedings (in fact my doctor and the book were saying the same amounts of time based on my kids' ages).

Answer 2

I'm going to answer even though I've never used ANY books to raise a child. I think that ALL childrearing books should be burned and parents get to know WHO there children are from the very beginning and to take their cues from that.
And since you did not give any indication what the problem with your grand daughter could be that can't be addressed at this point.