|
|
 - Happiest baby on the blockEvery new parent, especially ones with fussy babies should see this and put these simple techniques into practice. Rating:  - This worked for us but was it necessary? Did we end up creating a baby that depended on these techniques?My husband and I watched this DVD shortly before our son was born and we started using the 5 S's on day 1. They worked and our baby seemed happy and we told everyone how great the 5 S's were. However, after a few weeks we realized that our son absolutely could not go to sleep without swaddling and shaking (and he needing shushing frequently, too). He was 5 months old when we were finally able to stop swaddling him and 6 months old when we trained him to go to sleep without the shaking. Some friends of ours had a baby when our son was 3 1/2 months old and we loaned them the DVD but they never watched it. They've never swaddled their daughter or shook her and she seems perfectly happy and goes to sleep without a problem. I wonder...did we create a baby that was dependent on swaddling and shaking because of our obsessiveness and desire to do everything right? Or, was he just more needy than our friends' daughter? My opinion: these techniques really do work but it may be best to wait and see if your baby needs them. You don't want to create a situation where your baby is unnecessarily dependent on them. Rating: - MUST HAVE for new parents!Thankfully I saw part of the DVD is a newborn care class that I took. I immediately went out and got it for myself so I could watch the entire thing. AMAZING! It worked. All of it. Friends, family, and other mothers were amazed at how quickly we could soothe my baby boy if he got upset. We rarely got past the 3rd "S". I now buy the book and DVD for everyone I know who is having a baby! This is a great way to eliminate the frustration of a crying baby. This should be REQUIRED for all parents of new babies! Rating: - It really works!My wife gave birth to our twins in March. Thanks to the nurses at the hospital, we've been swaddling them from day one. But, we quickly learned that swaddling alone is not always enough to calm a crying baby. As a first time father, I had no idea how to soothe our babies. And, during the first couple of weeks at home, there were quite a few very frustrating nights of what seemed like endless crying (even though it was probably only 5 minutes!). I wanted desperately to help my child. But, I lacked the knowledge to effectively soothe my crying baby. This DVD changed that. Dr. Karp's calming techniques work. And, his presentation (while a bit repetitive and simplistic) is an effective way to learn the techniques. I highly recommend this DVD to all parents of newborns - but especially to first time parents. Without it, I'd still be tearing my hair out trying to calm my twins. Instead, my children, my wife and I are all a lot calmer and a lot happier. Rating: - It actually worksI was really skeptical about this whole 5 "s"'s thing, but when I actually had my son and got a chance to apply the techniques I was blown away with the results! This was wonderful to have around especially when I forgot how the hospital taught me how to swaddle, I could watch the movie and do it. Eventually I was able to apply the techniques enough to get my son into a regular sleeping pattern and eventually he made a smooth transition into sleeping longer. It's funny, people are so quick to assume their kid is "colicky" just because they cry a lot. Babies cry, it's what they use to communicate. Harvey Karp gives parents a way to help us sooth babies when they do cry, and when the techniques don't work then we can effectively start running down a list of other solutions (are they hungry? do they need a diaper? etc.) until we can get them to stop crying. The book and/or movie is worth it. I've been sharing it with my pregnant friends ever since.
|
