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Harvey Karp

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The Happiest Baby on the Block; Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer Kindle Edition

by Harvey Karp (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

5,302 ratings

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Never again will you have to stand by helplessly while your little baby cries and cries. There is a way to calm most crying babies . . . usually in minutes!

Why is it so hard to get a baby to sleep? Thousands of parents, from regular moms and dads to Hollywood superstars, have come to baby expert Dr. Harvey Karp to learn his remarkable techniques for soothing babies and increasing sleep. Now his landmark book—fully revised and updated with the latest insights into infant sleep, bedsharing, breastfeeding, swaddling, and SIDS risk—can teach you too! Dr. Karp’s highly successful method is based on four revolutionary concepts:

1. The Fourth Trimester: Why babies still yearn for a womblike atmosphere . . . even after birth
2. The Calming Reflex: An “off switch” all babies are born with
3. The 5 S’s: Five easy steps to turn on your baby’s amazing calming reflex
4. The Cuddle Cure: How to combine the 5 S’s to calm even colicky babies

With Dr. Karp’s sensible advice, parents and grandparents, nurses and nannies, will be able to transform even the fussiest infant into the happiest baby on the block!

Praise for The Happiest Baby on the Block

“Dr. Karp’s book is fascinating and will guide new parents for years to come.”—Julius Richmond, M.D., Harvard Medical School, former Surgeon General of the United States

“The Happiest Baby on the Block is fun and convincing. I highly recommend it.”—Elisabeth Bing, co-founder of Lamaze International

“Will fascinate anyone who wants to know how babies experience the world, and wants to answer their cries lovingly and effectively.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

From the Publisher

WARNING: California’s Proposition 65

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Happiest Baby on the Block

“Dr. Karp’s book is fascinating and will guide new parents for years to come.”—Julius Richmond, M.D., Harvard Medical School, former Surgeon General of the United States

“The Happiest Baby on the Block is fun and convincing. I highly recommend it.”—Elisabeth Bing, co-founder of Lamaze International

“Will fascinate anyone who wants to know how babies experience the world, and wants to answer their cries lovingly and effectively.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

About the Author

Harvey Karp, M.D., is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the USC School of Medicine. He is the bestselling author of The Happiest Baby on the Block, The Happiest Toddler on the Block, and The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep: Simple Solutions for Kids from Birth to 5 Years. Dr. Karp is also a nationally renowned expert in child development, children’s environmental health, and breastfeeding. He lives with his wife in California, and his adult daughter lives in New York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Babies: A New Insight

Main Points

• All babies cry, but most new parents have little experience soothing them.

• The missing fourth trimester: Babies cry because they’re born three months too soon!

• The calming reflex: Nature’s brilliant “off switch” for your baby’s crying.

• The 5 S’s: Five simple steps to imitate the womb and turn on the calming reflex.

• The Cuddle Cure: Comforting your baby with his/her preferred mix of S’s.

Suzanne was freaking out. Her two-month-old, was a nonstop screamer. Sean could cry for hours—even through the night—and his mother was desperately exhausted. One afternoon her sister, Angie, visited to help. As soon as Angie picked Sean up, Suzanne bolted to the bathroom for a hot shower. Twenty-five minutes later, she awoke, curled in a ball on the shower’s blue tile floor being sprayed with ice-cold water.

While this was happening in California, on the plains of Botswana, Nisa nursed her baby, Chuko. Chuko was delicate and small, but she rarely cried for more than a few seconds.

Nisa carried Chuko everywhere in a leather sling. She never worried when Chuko cried, because—having cared for so many little cousins—she knew exactly how to calm her.

Why did Suzanne fail at soothing Sean’s screams? And what secrets did Nisa know that settled Chuko so quickly?

Your Baby Is Born

When perfectly dry, his flesh sweet and pure, he is the most kissable object in nature.

Marion Harland, Common Sense in the Nursery, 1886

If you’re pregnant or have a new baby, congratulations! Having a baby is a wonderful—and wonder-filled—experience that makes us laugh, cry, and stare in amazement . . . all at the same time. It’s a miraculous and profound life event that can make gamblers give up gambling, drug addicts stop getting high, and hard-core bikers buy minivans!

After giving birth, your top jobs for the next few months will be feeding your baby well and calming her cries. After thirty years as a pediatrician, I can tell you that parents who succeed at these tasks feel proud and confident. However, parents who struggle with them feel distraught and incompetent.

Fortunately, baby feeding is usually pretty easy. Most newborns happily gulp down the milk as if you were a five-star restaurant. And if you run into difficulties, there are many places to turn for help. Soothing crying, on the other hand, can be unexpectedly hard.

No couple expects their sweet newborn to be “difficult.” (Your friends may share horror stories about screaming babies, but most of us think, That won’t be my child!) So we’re usually shocked when our little one’s wails go on and on no matter what we do.

Now, I’m not saying crying is bad. In fact, it’s brilliant! Leave it to nature to equip helpless babies with a way to make even the most exhausted mom vault out of a warm bed—on a cold night—and hustle over to meet her little one’s needs.

Once your fusser has your attention, you’ll want to zip through a short checklist:

• If she’s hungry . . . feed her.

• If she’s wet . . . change her diaper.

• If she’s cold . . . bundle her up.

• If she’s hot . . . unwrap her.

• If she’s lonely . . . pick her up.

The trouble comes when none of these steps works.

Fifty percent of babies have bouts of inconsolable fussiness lasting two hours a day—or more. And 10–15 percent—about half a million new babies born each year—suffer three-plus hours of red-faced, eye-clenched screaming a day.

This is why new parents are such heroes!

A baby’s scream is heart-wrenching. And hours of inconsolable crying can trigger a panic of self-doubt: “Is my baby in pain?” “Does she hate me?” “Am I spoiling her?” “Does she feel abandoned?” “Am I a terrible mother?”

Distraught parents are often counseled that there’s no cure for fussy, sleepless babies. They are told they must wait a few months for their baby to “grow out of it.” Yet, it feels like torture to sit by while your baby cries and cries.

Confronted by this barrage, even the most loving parents may get pushed into waves of anxiety, depression, or the tragedies of suicide or child abuse.

Note: I’ve been told that Navy SEALS are trained to endure severe sleep deprivation and hours of infant crying blasted over loud speakers. In other words, the military prepares warriors to handle torture by exposing them to . . . a typical day in the life of a new mom or dad!

Help Wanted: Where Do Parents Turn When Their Baby Cries a Lot?

Today’s moms and dads are among the most educated parents who ever lived. But when it comes to babies, they have less experience than any generation in history! Shockingly, we’re required to have more preparation and training to get a driver’s license than to have a baby.

Of course, regardless of your training you should still expect to be the target of an onslaught of advice. Family, friends—even total strangers—shower us with their counsel. “It’s boredom.” “It’s the heat.” “Put a hat on him.” “It’s gas.” I think America’s favorite pastime isn’t baseball. . . . It’s giving new moms unsolicited advice.

And, advice is something parents of fussy babies definitely need. One in six couples takes their baby to the doctor because of persistent crying. Yet, while thousands of clinics have been created to solve feeding problems, very few are set up to help with screaming babies. In fact, most doctors have little to offer families of colicky babies, other than sympathy. “I know it’s hard, but be patient; it won’t last forever.” Or, even worse, “Just put your baby in a dark room and let her cry. She just needs to blow off steam.” (Hey, babies aren’t pressure cookers.)

Top baby experts usually confess that they have few tools to help really fussy babies:

Very often, you may not even be able to quiet the screaming.

Heidi Eisenberg Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, Sandee E. Hathaway, and Sharon Mazel, What to Expect the First Year

The whole episode goes on at least an hour and perhaps for three or four hours.

Penelope Leach, Your Baby and Child

Crying up to five hours a day is not unusual. When you begin to become very frustrated with a baby’s crying, it is time to set the infant in a safe place and walk away.

Period of PURPLE Crying program

Well, it turns out that these ideas are all obsolete. Screaming does not have to go on for hours. And what’s even more concerning, when left unchecked, nonstop crying can trigger serious problems, like postpartum depression, crib death (from unsafe sleeping practices), and failed breast-feeding.

Of course, if your patience is frayed and you fear you might hurt your child, you must put her down . . . take a break . . . and call a friend for help. But if a mom in the wilds of Africa can calm her baby in under a minute, you can bet that there’s probably a way to help unhappy babies in our culture, too.

The Four Principles of BABY Soothing

Botswanan moms carry their infants in leather sacks twenty-four hours a day (cuddling and bouncing as they walk). They also calm their infants by nursing them fifty to a hundred times a day . . . including all through the night! You may not be ready to adopt the Botswana lifestyle, but the key lesson of their success is that colic is not inevitable. Persistent crying is an unintended side effect of our culture. However, the good news is that, with the right techniques, we, too, can calm most screaming bouts in under one minute.

By teasing out shreds of wisdom from past cultures and weaving them with modern research, I’ve found that the key to calming crying and boosting sleep can be explained through four simple ideas:

• The missing fourth trimester

• The calming reflex

• The 5 S’s

• The Cuddle Cure

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00TCI48AE
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam; Revised, Updated edition (October 6, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 6, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 18.7 MB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 329 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #39,782 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #11 in Children's Health (Kindle Store)
- #84 in Children's Health (Books)
- #103 in Baby & Toddler Parenting

Customer Reviews:
5,302 ratings

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Harvey Karp

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One of America’s most trusted pediatricians, Harvey Karp, MD, is the founder of Happiest Baby and the inventor of the groundbreaking SNOO Smart Sleeper. After years of treating patients in Los Angeles, Dr. Karp vaulted to global prominence with his bestselling books, Happiest Baby on the Block and Happiest Toddler on the Block. These celebrated books and accompanying videos have since been translated into more than 20 languages, and his teachings on babies and toddlers have been adopted as standard pediatric practice, helping millions of parents across the globe.

Shop Dr. Karp's award-winning products and books at Happiest Baby's Amazon Store and visit happiestbaby.com to get Dr. Karp's expert parenting advice and learn more about his innovations.

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5,302 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book helpful in understanding their baby's world and appreciate its easy-to-read guide, with one customer noting it can be learned in just 5 minutes. Moreover, the book receives positive feedback for its positive sleep suggestions, with babies sleeping like champs, and the 5S method working well for many customers. However, the content is criticized for being repetitive, and opinions on value are mixed, with some saying it's worth every penny while others find it not worthwhile.

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Advice Readability Ease of read Sleep quality Functionality Pacing Value for money Repetitiveness

335 customers mention "Advice"324 positive11 negative

Customers find the book's advice helpful, saying it makes them understand their baby's world better and provides sensible strategies to soothe them.

"...her overstimulated little newborn nervous system and she calmed down in less than a minute and fell into a blissful sleep that lasted until her next..." Read more

"...this book is that it lays out a very methodical and likewise comprehensive approach to how to address fussy and upset babies step-by-step as opposed..." Read more

"This book is pretty much a lifesaver for a new mom. The techniques work. I removed one star only because it is increadibly repetative...." Read more

"...This book became my go-to resource, helping to ease my anxieties and offer practical advice that I could trust...." Read more

175 customers mention "Readability"175 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a lifesaver and the best baby book available.

"...This book was a lifesaver, I have given it as a gift at every baby shower I've attended since I first discovered it, and I'll continue to give it as..." Read more

"...It is just an excellent instruction on how doing these things together can calm the baby(and explains why)." Read more

"...This book became my go-to resource, helping to ease my anxieties and offer practical advice that I could trust...." Read more

"...There are several parts we found to be helpful and just good to have. It’s like adding more “tools”(skills) to the tool chest...." Read more

92 customers mention "Ease of read"83 positive9 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and intuitive, appreciating its concise format and clear guidelines, with one customer noting it can be learned in just 5 minutes.

"...but I think the strength of this book is that it lays out a very methodical and likewise comprehensive approach to how to address fussy and upset..." Read more

"...It is just an excellent instruction on how doing these things together can calm the baby(and explains why)." Read more

"...I found this to be an easy read that I briefly scan over until I find what I’m more curious about...." Read more

"The overall point of this book is solid and makes a ton of sense (the idea of a 4th trimester and Dr. Karp's 5 S's for calming a baby)...." Read more

54 customers mention "Sleep quality"54 positive0 negative

Customers report that their babies sleep well after using this book, with many noting their babies sleep through the night. One customer mentions their baby sleeps on her back swaddled, while another reports sleeping for 6-7 hours.

"...nervous system and she calmed down in less than a minute and fell into a blissful sleep that lasted until her next feeding, after which we repeated..." Read more

"...People were always surprised at how well our babies slept, and it continued through their toddler years. I owe it all to this book." Read more

"...He slept 5 hours straight that night - our longest stretch to-date. I could calm him quicker and our witcji g hours is now less than an hour...." Read more

"...in this book, I am happy to report our 4 week old is sleeping in 2-3 hour increments (from 9:30 pm - 6:00 am) in his bassinet (we use a rock n play)..." Read more

49 customers mention "Functionality"41 positive8 negative

Customers find the book's techniques effective, particularly noting that the 5S method works well.

"...BUT that doesn't change the fact that his techniques genuinely do work amazingly and we've found them to be a major help in knowing how..." Read more

"This book is pretty much a lifesaver for a new mom. The techniques work. I removed one star only because it is increadibly repetative...." Read more

"...Some have worked really well. Looks like Dr Karp took the baton from Dr Brazelton who was last generation’s baby guru...." Read more

"...book is I guess intended to give you a history and an explanation as to why the method works, but multiple times even the author suggests skipping..." Read more

20 customers mention "Pacing"17 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing, with one mentioning it provides real strategies to help stop crying babies.

"...This book could just as easily be called Happiest Parents on the Block - I am so very grateful that I found it when I did!" Read more

"...infants is not just a technique but a revelation, providing a compassionate and effective toolkit for calming even the most colicky babies...." Read more

"...The 5 S's are a must for a calm, contented baby. Forget everything you think you learned in all the other books...." Read more

"...Gives tangible steps to take to help your baby be calm, happy, and sleep well! (Which lets parents sleep well!)" Read more

31 customers mention "Value for money"14 positive17 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's value for money, with some finding it worth every penny and considering it a must-buy, while others find it not worthwhile and lose interest quickly.

"...to read and reread and reread about each S. It’s super drawn out, not to the point, and not what a new parent needs to spend time reading...." Read more

"...parent feeling daunted by the journey ahead, this book is a treasure worth having." Read more

"This book was a waste of time and money for me personally...." Read more

"...Low risk, high reward. Best of luck to all the new parents out there and congrats to your growing families. 🤙..." Read more

48 customers mention "Repetitiveness"9 positive39 negative

Customers find the book repetitive and obnoxious.

"...(there' a LOT of repeated information and sometimes he either bounces around to much between topics..." Read more

"...The techniques work. I removed one star only because it is increadibly repetative...." Read more

"...If I could dock half a star I would. I felt that the first few chapters are extremely repetitive...." Read more

"...book a try - the length was perfect, thank you Harvey for getting straight to the point and telling us exactly what we needed to know!..." Read more

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B. Stephens
SAVED MY SANITY!!!
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2020
Verified Purchase

I don't know why I didn't leave a review on this book as soon as I finished reading it! My daughter was quiet for the first week home from the hospital, but along came week two and around 8 pm one night she began to cry, and this time it was different, we literally could not get her to stop. She cried until around 4 am, and I was terrified that we had a year of colic crying ahead of us, but prayed it was just a fluke and that the next night things would be different. However, 8 pm rolled around, the crying began, and we had a repeat of a night full of inconsolable crying. I had never felt such all encompassing exhaustion in my entire life and I just prayed that there was a book that would have answers for me. So the next morning I took to Amazon and began my search. After reading reviews I decided to give this book a try - the length was perfect, thank you Harvey for getting straight to the point and telling us exactly what we needed to know! I was able to implement the S's the following evening at 8 pm when the crying began and I believed with every fiber of my being that it was going to work - AND IT DID!!! Simulating the womb experience was exactly what my daughter needed to soothe her overstimulated little newborn nervous system and she calmed down in less than a minute and fell into a blissful sleep that lasted until her next feeding, after which we repeated the process and she was asleep again. She was sleeping through the night after a couple of months, and we continued to use Harvey's method until eventually she didn't seem to need it anymore. This book was a lifesaver, I have given it as a gift at every baby shower I've attended since I first discovered it, and I'll continue to give it as long as I live!! This book could just as easily be called Happiest Parents on the Block - I am so very grateful that I found it when I did!

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Rick F.
Would Highly Recommend!
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
I'll preface by saying this book could probably be reduced by about 1/3 of it's length (there' a LOT of repeated information and sometimes he either bounces around to much between topics and/or takes too long to get to the point) BUT that doesn't change the fact that his techniques genuinely do work amazingly and we've found them to be a major help in knowing how to almost instantly calm our newborn son down when he's upset. There's probably nothing in here that's necessarily groundbreaking, but I think the strength of this book is that it lays out a very methodical and likewise comprehensive approach to how to address fussy and upset babies step-by-step as opposed to just trying random techniques you read/heard about from scattered sources until you find something that maybe works... We learned of the book from my brother who suggested just skipping over the the beginning segments and getting right to the 5 S's (a suggestion the book likewise makes if you're time-crunched and/or already have a fussy baby to contend with), but I read this book before our son was born (hence had a lot of time!) and I decided to read the whole thing and don't regret it. You won't really learn much outside of the chapters on the 5 S's that you can actually use to help your baby, but nonetheless I found it kind of interesting just to learn some of the history/context/info on the mindset of babies and why they do some of the things they do. I find it comical to read some of the Amazon reviews from people saying the book is a waste of time pointing out that you could just read about the 5 S's via a short article online - of course you could, but that kind of defeats the point of reading a comprehensive book and source of information on the particular topic that's much more thorough than a 1 page article can be. If you want to get the most out of the book and be well-prepared, take the time too read the book in my opinion, it's not that long and even for a slow reader like myself I got through it very quickly. Have definitely already recommended this book to several friends that are expecting!

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23 people found this helpful

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Edwin Colon
A must read for all new moms and dad
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2025
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I bought this book years ago when all other methods had failed me in helping calm my severely disabled child in his earliest months, this book provided the help I needed

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Sean and Heather Gilliland
New mom must read
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2016
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This book is pretty much a lifesaver for a new mom. The techniques work. I removed one star only because it is increadibly repetative. By the time I finished I am pretty sure it explained the 5 S's 5 times. That aside, the technique works. My husband hasnt read the book and he just cannot always get our daughter to calm down. I told him the technique, but it is different than reading HOW to use the techniques properly. For example my husband will do the 5 S's but not at the same time. He will fly from one to the next frustrated the baby is still crying. I feel every new Mom should read this. It is nothing controvercial and nothing we have never heard before. It is just an excellent instruction on how doing these things together can calm the baby(and explains why).

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2 people found this helpful

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Cliente Amazon
A Lifesaver for New Parents
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
As a first-time mom, navigating the initial stages of motherhood felt overwhelming—until I found this book. It provided me with much-needed guidance and peace of mind at a time when I felt utterly lost. Motherhood is challenging, especially in the beginning when everything is new and you’re still getting to know your own child. This book became my go-to resource, helping to ease my anxieties and offer practical advice that I could trust. Because of how much it helped me, I now give this book as a gift to all my pregnant friends, confident that it will serve as a great guide for them as well. For any new parent feeling daunted by the journey ahead, this book is a treasure worth having.

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Ottimo
Reviewed in Italy on March 15, 2019
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L'ho comprato per fare un regalo, l'avevo già letto prima della nascita di mia figlia, lo straconsiglio

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Janine
Couldn’t have done the first few months without this book
Reviewed in Germany on July 3, 2023
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Life saver! All the advice worked like a charm and saved our sanity during the first few months of parenthood. Ever since every friend who is expecting for the first time gets this book as a baby shower gift from me.

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Little Miss Opinionated
Good- but,
Reviewed in Japan on October 10, 2023
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So far it’s a very good and entertaining book abt babycare but it’s not as hands on as other baby books. I think it’s a good read but I wouldn’t recommend this as the first go to book. If you intend on buying only one or two baby books, this isn’t the one.

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Layla
Awesome book
Reviewed in Spain on April 30, 2021
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This is the magic trick every new parent needs. Definitely helped me through the first few months.

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Taylor
I must read for any new parents completely changed my life
Reviewed in Canada on July 9, 2023
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I must read for any new parent. I was struggling a lot with the newborn phase and this book completely changed my whole experience. I’m so grateful I found it. My baby was so much happier and I followed the practices in this book and my husband and I were so relieved.

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The Happiest Baby on the Block; Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer Kindle Edition

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5.0 out of 5 stars SAVED MY SANITY!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Would Highly Recommend!

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all new moms and dad

4.0 out of 5 stars New mom must read

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lifesaver for New Parents

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn’t have done the first few months without this book

4.0 out of 5 stars Good- but,

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book

5.0 out of 5 stars I must read for any new parents completely changed my life

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SAVED MY SANITY!!!

Would Highly Recommend!

A must read for all new moms and dad

New mom must read

A Lifesaver for New Parents

Ottimo

Couldn’t have done the first few months without this book

Good- but,

Awesome book

I must read for any new parents completely changed my life