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Original poster

The Effing Baby Whisperer

79 replies

storminateacup10 · 05/05/2011 22:37

DD now 3 and was, in retrospect, bloody easy first baby (tho didn't realise it at the time, being swamped in typical new motherhood crises). Am remembering some of the cringeworthy crap I read when she was crying/not feeding/not sleeping etc, in desperate hope to find the answer.
I think if I had to ceremoniously burn one particular book, it would have to be The Secrets of the Effing Baby Whisperer (spent a whole week agonising that my baby was a Grumpy, whilst up-her-own neighbour's opposite was Angelic- what a crock of shite. Which book would you tear up from those early newborn moments?

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Original poster
storminateacup10 · 07/05/2011 20:05

mummyberryjuice definitely- we all have intuition but these books mask it completely and make us feel reliant on such drivel in the first place- panic-reading, in the early hours, snatched between feeds, sleep-deprived- who needs it?
yawningbear lol!!! wish I had too- but it wasn't my copy to burn, sadly Wink
zayla- the womanly art of bfing??? what an absolutely boak inducing title!!! art my arse- it's rewarding for many, not for others and often very demanding and tiring for most...and agree about the attachment parenting bollocks too...
annawinter so true.

OP posts:
skybluepearl · 07/05/2011 20:12

gina ford - load of rubbish

BellaBearisWideAwake · 07/05/2011 20:17

Is that that crap book with types of babies? I HATED HATED HATED it. MY baby was not any of the types. Agree with poster above, it didn't CAUSE my pnd but it certainly didn't help. Grrrrrrrr. God, I'd completely repressed any memory of that book till this thread, and now I have a five week old again, and we are going with the flow and it is SO MUCH BETTER.

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Original poster
storminateacup10 · 07/05/2011 22:10

good for you bella and yes, it is the baby-type wank book!

OP posts:
ladycath · 08/05/2011 08:53

Forget The Baby Whisperer. This is the best parenting advice I've come across. Supernanny has nothing on Martha White. I particularly like the nose picking advice.

MummyBerryJuice · 08/05/2011 11:39

Brilliant Grin

Original poster
storminateacup10 · 08/05/2011 12:16

so funny I put a link on my FB page- brilliant indeed ladycath - thanks!

OP posts:
SnuffleTurtle153 · 08/05/2011 15:23

The Baby Whisperer's sleep guide, definitely. Present from the SIL which I didn't open til DS was 10 days old and seemingly hadn't slept for about 30 hours. I remember being sat on the loo squinting at it at 4am with a towel stuffed in one ear to block the screams and not understanding a f*cking word it said but getting the definite impression that the fact he wasn't sleeping was all my fault. Dropped it next to the loo and the DH sheepishly apologised that he may have 'splashed' it a couple of days letter. Best thing for it - into the bin it went!!

StealthPolarBear · 08/05/2011 15:34

Toddler Taming by Baby Hater Green
the one where smacking is recommended

  • think it's been toned down in later editions
Original poster
storminateacup10 · 08/05/2011 15:34

Wine I'll drink to splashing The Effing baby Whisperer any day

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 08/05/2011 15:36

love Martha :o

especially POOP

Positive Optimistic Onest Parenting!! And the way she keeps adjusting her boobs between shots!

ladycath · 08/05/2011 19:56

P.O.O.P. is the way forward. Better than the E.A.S.Y. technique.

Goldrill · 09/05/2011 13:39

baby whisperer for all the "love" bits - wtf?!
and for being very insidiously anti BFing: I wasn't even slightly militant on the subject befoehand but she seriously wound me up by seeming to suggest that weirdos who breastfed would eventually get over it and realise the benefits of formula for a good night's sleep.

Octaviapink · 10/05/2011 19:27

I'm so glad - I thought I was the only one who hated the Baby Whisperer! The thing that bugged the snot out of me was her wakeup-feed-play-nap thing. Went through weeks of DS only sleeping for 20 minutes at a time because he'd wake up starving. Switched to feeding-to-sleep as I'd done with DD and bingo - two-hour naps! Poor little soul was probably knackered for the first month of his life.

pineapple70 · 10/05/2011 22:39

Oh BLLOCKS, BGGER, F*CK
I just ordered it on Amazon yesterday!!!
Was recommended it - well, will have to remember this board when I read it so I don't fall into too many pieces, mind you I'm on day seven with a crying baby so everything sends me to pieces and floods of tears anyway. Should have got a Jackie Collins instead!

ledkr · 10/05/2011 23:01

im sooooo suprised,i swear the baby whisperer has helped me loadswith dd 14 wks,i must admit i only picked out the bits that suited me but the easy routine is great for a reflux baby. The thing with books is you should adapt them imo which is not easy with your first.

titferbrains · 10/05/2011 23:11

will have to whisper this but I thought that the home birth book by N Wesson was utterly depressing. I soldiered on and then found lots of positive accounts of HB, but NW has a special way of making HB seem impossible and that it will entail many battles with doctors, MW etc and I wondered why she'd bothered writing the book at all.

moflee57 · 11/05/2011 09:02

My baby whisperer book went in the bin. I would have sent it to a charity shop but couldn't bear the idea that some other poor sod might end up with it. horrible self satisfied head bothering rubbish that it is!

cokefloat · 11/05/2011 09:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Livinginoz · 11/05/2011 09:36

Titferbrains, I agree. I bought it after my MW suggested a homebirth and three quarters of the bloody thing was all about how to convince health professionals that you want a homebirth.

BW was a waste of time, along with Mylene Klass's "I'm such a smug self congratulating cow" book - luckily I got them from my limited parenting section in the library!

Francagoestohollywood · 11/05/2011 09:56

When my first was nearly 6 months and almost ready for weaning, I found SWMNBN: The contented baby weaning book. Unaware of her principles I bought it, thinking that, yeah, a contented baby was what I would have liked.

From page one I discovered that according to her baby should have been sleeping for 12 hrs without waking (hahahahahah!!!!) and into a solid routine that clashed entirely with my cultural background. For example: I am Italian and humans here don't go to bed at 6.30/7, hens do.

Therefore, I parted with the manual without a second thought.

BrainSurgeon · 11/05/2011 10:08

pineapple don't worry it may have its uses

I have bought both SWMNBN and the Baby whisperer books but only took from them what resonated with me

I would never follow any book by the letter anyway, so didn't get too passionate about the bits I disagreed with..... just felt glad when some things (in both books) validated some of my thinking

IM(humble)O it's the thing to do - skim through both parenting advice "extremes" and then choose you own way, but feeling a bit more informed about what's out there...

BrainSurgeon · 11/05/2011 10:10

What I would burn though, is the Annabbel Karmel books...
I have real issues with DS' feeding and AK books only made me more frustrated - spent a fortune but none of it works :( Angry

JumpJockey · 11/05/2011 10:12

I loved the bit in BabyWhisperer (kindly given to me by a mate I hasten to add) that you must never feed to sleep "becasue who would want to sleep with a big meal in their tummy?"

erm, everyone, viz siestas, falling asleep at your desk at 3pm etc.

Rusty06 · 11/05/2011 19:20

Gosh you have all confimed what I was thinking, I felt like an absolute failure and could not understand why my gorgeous little boy was not following GF and then Baby Whisper routines he is now 12 weeks old and has his own little routine and I have decded I love cuddling him to sleep so will do what suits us when we feel like it. Those flipping women are probaly millionaires on the back of new parents anxieties