Secrets of the baby whisperer

Author – Tracy Hogg

Age Range – pre-birth to new-born

Key words – Post natal issues

Expectant, new and more experienced parents of babies could use this book to help them understand their baby, and work out how they want to integrate the baby into family life. In the book, the author suggests that it is crucial to set up a routine from the time the baby is born. She asks parents to think about their own attitudes towards planning and how this might affect routines. She also encourages parents to observe the different responses that their baby makes and offers ideas about how to make sense of these.

The main body of the book is set out within the framework of ‘Eating, Sleeping, Activity and You’ (‘EASY’), which the author suggests should form the basis of family routine. Within this framework, some of the main challenges for new parents are covered, including, style of feeding, activities to encourage development, bathing, managing sleep, post natal depression, the role of dads and negotiating adult relationships following birth. This book could be demanding for parents who feel uncomfortable with setting routines, or those who read the book once their baby has been born, having already negotiated a way of being with their baby that doesn’t fit with that prescribed by the author. However, it is written in a flexible style, and those parents who are able to read it and take from those bits that they find useful, will find it an excellent resource.