I have done all these techniques together and also seperately time & time again, and have found that some of the things work some of the time, but it is NOT a cure all. If your baby is anything like mine, it will be hit or miss with a combination of Dr. Karps and some of your own.

As I said, some of this book is interesting, and some of it is very repetitive. For example, on about every third page or so, Dr. Karp reiterates over & over again that other countries have almost no instances of colicky babies. That's great if your a member of the !Kang tribe in Africa and can carry your baby every waking hour and breastfeed every 10 minutes.

Also, Dr. Karp states that colic babies go through their crying spells in the evening and that colic stops after the "fourth trimester" when your baby is 3 months old. I find fault with that, because my son is wicked from 5am to 11am, sleeps most of the afternoon, and then is inconsolable again from 4pm to about 11pm. Also, I have heard from numerous mothers that colic often lasts longer than the average 3 months. I know one mother who's daughter was colic for 8 months.

So please don't do what I did & pin all your hopes on this book, and then fall into a deep depression and feel like a bad mother when, after weeks of trying this book's techniques over & over again, your baby still screams for hours. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong until family & friends reassured me that sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop your baby from crying. Even the no-fail car ride doesn't work with my son all the time. Just keep in mind that it is hit or miss, some days one thing will calm your baby and other days it will be something totally different. What calms your baby today may totally aggravate him tomorrow, at least in my experience anyway.


Great for newborns   August 22, 2002
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Well, Dr. Karp's methods have worked well on my newborn, and I stress newborn. He presents some interesting facts about other cultures where crying babies are rare and colic doesn't exist. These cultures mostly have their babies at their sides in a sling, and unlimited access to suckle at mother's breast. With baby in a snug sling, constant body contact, the feeling of constant motion and breast milk access, Dr. Karp states this mimcs conditions in the womb: tight fit, constant movement, and lack of hunger from being fed via the umbilical cord while in utero. He goes on to say that months 0-3 of baby's life are the missing "fourth trimester", hence his methods of the following 5 S's work well since they imitate the womb environment.

The 5 S's are as follows:
1. Swaddle - he describes and illustrates an excellent swaddle technique, the tighter, the more womb-like
2. Side / Stomach - laying baby on side or stomach. He reiterates that when laying baby on stomach, baby should NEVER be left unattended. Positioning in this way is most comfortable for baby, when he's on his back, he has the sensation of free-falling, and thus feeling insecure.
3. Shush - baby was used to hearing your blood flow for those 9 months, so a loud shushing will calm baby down. Ever notice how he quiets when you turn on the vacuum? I've used a white noise machine, all the loud shushing got me blue in the face and most nearly passed out!
4. Swinging - rhythmic, jiggling motion. You don't necessarily have to use a swing for this one. He describes the motion as being a very nervous person holding a baby. You use very tiny shaky movements, movements must be tiny, other wise shaking baby with long, hard jerks may result in shaken baby syndrome. This movement imitates the constant movement he felt while in-utero.
5. Suck - sucking on a pacifier, nipple, your finger, etc...

These 5 S's will initiate the calming reflex when done in that order and in the correct way. We've all used those methods to try to calm baby, but we've likely used them as separate entities. Much like the knee-jerk reflex works only when your doctor hits your knee at the exact location, the calming reflex works only when the S's are done in an exact manner. He describes in detail how to do this.

So far it's worked for my daughter. My huge concern is, what happens after she passes her three month mark? Dr. Karp states that after three months, baby will start self-calming and will rely on the 5 S's less and less. Judging by all the "How to Get Your Baby to Calm and to Sleep" books out there, I have my doubts. He does well in calming a newborn, but beyond the newborn stage, he offers very little. He really needs to consider changing the title to "The Happiest Newborn on the Block" to better reflect the content of the book. So if your baby is less than three months, this may work for you, if your baby is older, look elsewhere.


Swaddle, swaddle and,.... oh.... swaddle   April 18, 2006
 17 out of 25 found this review helpful

As 'owner' of a fussy baby, I was inspired to buy this book upon seeing the large number of 5 star reviews here. Quite how this book is so universally regarded is a mystery to me. I think that anxious parents are judging the book by their results after following its advice, and not by the writing of the book, which is really quite dismal.

As some reviewers have said, this book could have been summarized into about 5 pages. When it comes down to it, the only content is the suggestion of the '5 S's' (suck, swaddle, shush, side position, swing) which are repeated ad nauseum throughout. And of those 5, how many are innovative and non-obvious: I would contend none of them.

An example of the frustrating nature of this book is the explanation of colic. In a chapter entitled 'what is colic', Karp tediously explains by means of his example patients, what colic is not, and incredibly never actually answers the question in the title.

Very poor. Save your money and use your instincts of swaying, shushing and pacifying your baby, that you new anyway... didn't you?


There is a better solution   November 29, 2006
 17 out of 39 found this review helpful

While the recommendations (5 s's) can be helpful, has anybody thought WHY they are helpful? They work to calm a fussy baby because your baby misses being inside of you! They miss the warm, tight, curled up feeling, and they miss your smell and the sound of your heart beat. If that is what they miss, then give it back to them! The 5 s's are "good" suggestions....but there is an answer far superior. Hold your baby. Nurse your baby on cue. Sleep with your baby. Carry your baby close to you (wrapped in a maya-wrap sling, for example, which frees your hands while keeping your baby happy and nurtured). Instead of a swing calming your baby, YOU be the one to calm your baby. Studies have shown that when a crying baby is being comforted by human touch, the crying is far less harmful to their emotional-psychological development (as opposed to a crying baby being "soothed" by a rocking swing or other non-human device).

This is how we have chosen to parent our baby. She is now 10 months old, and from the very beginning we have received numerous comments from friends and strangers about how happy she is, even as a newborn. By trusting our instincts and my natural mothering ability to hold my baby and nurture her by my own touch, we truly had the "happiest baby on the block."

I highly recommend books by Dr. Sears ("The Baby Book," "The Attachment Parenting Book," and more) as well as a book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution," if you need help with a crying baby who has trouble sleeping at night. These books are far more helpful then this one, because they build on our natural mothering ability.

Thanks for taking the time to read my input. Happy Mothering!