Shhh! Don't Wake The Royal Baby by Martha Mumford

Rating 4 out of 5
Title: Shhh! Dont Wake The Royal Baby
Author: Martha Mumford
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens (August 6, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140884463X
ISBN-13: 978-1408844632
Age Range: 2-5 years

Ok so I would be lying if I didn't say upfront I was dubious about this book. I thought it would be a silly cash in on the royal baby. I wouldn't have purchased this book for myself, doubtful I would have even borrowed it from the library. So here is a big lesson in don't judge a book by its cover or title/theme, because this book is actually really good.

The books summary is "It’s chaos at the Royal Palace – the Royal Baby just won’t go to sleep. Waaaaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaah! The Royal Family has tried everything to pacify the little bundle of joy – from proferring the golden royal dummy to death-defying parachute jumps with the Queen. But, just when the little one seems to be settling, another disturbance is just around the corner. From yip-yapping corgis to marching guards and noisy party planning, the palace is awash with noise. Will it ever be peaceful enough to lull the baby off to sleep?"

There is a lot going on in this book without you even realising. Firstly I found this a great story for my toddler to highlight that babies can be difficult to get to sleep, and the impact a baby has on a household.

There is repetition and silliness in the text which is fun to read especially the "waaaaah waaaaah!" parts which master 4 found funny. He also got really into the "shhhh baby is sleeping" and would say it with me in a whisper.

The illustrations really make the book. They are so cute and fun I mean who wouldn't smile at seeing The Queen jumping out of a plane and parachuting with her corgi's in tow? and yes it is relevant to the story.

While the pictures clearly represent the current British royal monarchy the text is quite generic so it really is a story about a family coping with a new baby (ok a royal family coping unless in your family you call people the Duke, Duchess, Prince and Queen).

Counting, not sure if this was intentional or not but my son had great fun counting all the corgis on each page as there was usually one or two.

If you took the royal aspect out of the story, it is just a cute, fun story about a family dealing with a newborn baby. Would be good to read for soon to be older siblings so they can start to understand what having a baby around is like.

Your Baby and Child by Penelope Leach

Rating: 5 out of 5

This book by Penelope Leach is intended to be a baby bible. A one stop book that covers virtually everything that is baby related from birth to five years old. This book covers everything from sleeping to development, feeding to playing, health to crying, and may more subjects.

Your Baby and Child has been a international best seller for twenty years. The book has been kept up to date and across the latest research, theories, and advice for raising children and babies. Penelope Leach is a research psychologist who specializes in child development. She is also president of the National Childminding Association, research advisor to National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, founding committee member of UK branch World Association for Infant Mental Health, and a mother and grandmother. Needles to say Penelope Leach has lots of experience in the art of raising children.

Ms Leach breaks the book into age groups which makes it easy to read and find the section you need when you come across individual problems (such as teething). At each stage she covers everything you will need to know and expect to find at the stage your child is going through. There is a comprehensive table of contents at the start of the book which assists you in finding the information you require.

The advice is practical and none judgemental. Penelope Leach presents both sides of an issue and has advice on what to do no matter what you decide, for instance she handles the issue of breastfeeding or bottle feeding with compassion and facts. She does not tell you what you should do or make you feel guilty. The information is presented clearly and in plain English. It is also based on the latest research and statistics.

This is an excellent beginners guide. If you have very little experience with babies and children this is the book for you. The book goes through nearly everything you need to know about caring for a child. I would recommend this book for all new parents and even experienced parents.

Sleeping Like A Baby by Pinky McKay

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pinky McKay is an Australian parenting expert. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Certified Infant Massage Instructor. Pinky is also a mother to five children.

In her book Sleeping Like a Baby, she provides down to earth, realistic advice which is based on scientific evidence. She advocates a more natural and intuitive way of raising children such as co-sleeping, and breast feeding. Her advice goes against current trends of raising babies, which seems to advocate going against your instincts, and forcing the baby to do what you want (like the crying it out method). Her advice to me makes sense and seems right. However at no time do you feel lectured or pressured.

Lots of subjects regarding babies are covered in this book such as communication, sleep, feeding, and sleep environments. It talks about issues from newborn to toddler. The focus is on sleep and the factors that can effect sleeping habits.

Pinky discusses baby body language and the different stages of sleep and wakefulness. Each stage is fully discussed and some basic indicators of each stage are provided. She also gives advice on what you should do with your baby in these stages. For instance Quiet Alert stage is the best time to play with your baby. Some basic signs your baby is quiet alert are wide, bright eyes, looking at you directly, and 'cooing' noises. This section to me was very helpful in fully understanding a babies body language which is one of the few ways they can communicate.

Another point covered is sleep issues. She breaks down by age what can cause a baby to wake in the night, such as new development milestones or teething. This section was interesting to read as she explains what are the main causes of sleeplessness in that age bracket. She also suggests strategies to combat it. Though she points out that a baby is constantly growing and changing and so too is it's sleep patterns, and this is perfectly natural.

Pinky has clearly done a lot of research and has many studies to back up her advice. The end of her book also has lots of useful Internet sites and contact numbers for organisations that deal with various subjects like breastfeeding, SIDS, Depression, and Safety.

The biggest thing Pinky teaches in her book is that it's ok to let baby set the routine. It also teaches you that all those things we find natural to do with a baby (such as rocking to sleep) feel natural for a reason, they are natural. Also, finally, that we as parents can not completely control their babies sleeping habits. That while he might sleep perfectly now, in a week, fortnight, or months time it could all change again, and it is perfectly normal for this to happen. Her approach certainly helps you drop the guilt and stress about doing things "wrong".

I will definitely be purchasing her book Toddler Tactics.

Save Our Sleep by Tizzie Hall

Rating: 2 out of 5

Save Our Sleep is for anyone who is having sleeping issues with their baby. It is written by Tizzie Hall who is an internationally renowned baby whisperer and has spent 18 years working with parents resolving issues with their babies.

I had heard about this book through various people and was a little dubious about it. From what I had seen and heard Tizzie Hall's advice sounded very harsh and rigid. I bought the book thinking I should at least see what Tizzie Hall has to say as some people raved over it. But I did not really believe it would be of much help and definitely not for us. So I was rather surprised to find the book was no where near as bad as I thought.

Tizzie Hall's greatest tip for a settled baby is routine. She has various examples for different stages of a babies life in her book. Tizzie states that the routines are flexible and should be tailored to suit your life (for example if you have other children to work around etc).

Tizzie's other big point is learning the difference between a complaining cry and an emotional cry. She doesn't believe in the "crying out" method and firmly advises against it. Her belief is there are two main cries a baby does, and you can safely ignore one (the complaining cry) and absolutely not ignore the other (emotional cry). Which to me sounds like a variation of controlled crying, which we do not agree with.

Save our sleep also touches on other common sleep problems. These includes things like starting solids, teething, and health issues. It also discusses SIDS and safe sleeping arrangements. But there is no real depth to these issues or strategies to deal with them.

I can see how this book would appeal to distressed sleep deprived parents with the promise of a baby sleeping through from 7pm - 7am. I know far to many people it didn't work for then those who it did work for. Also I had a problem with the lack of scientific evidence in this book, all of Tizzie's advice is based purely on her beliefs and observations not on actual studies or facts. One piece of advice even flies in the face of advice given by the World Health Organisation (Tizzie believes babies should start solids at 4 months not the recommended 6 months).

Overall I would not recommend this book to other parents. I think it sets expectations to high that you can force a baby to sleep from 7pm-7am. The books focus is on routines, not really sleep problems. In the end I feel this book could cause more stress to parents if their baby failed to conform to the routine and was not "normal". The thing this book was good for was making us realise this method really was not for us, and we can set a routine that suits us.