Due for release on February 1, Baby Bliss is a new Australian book which promises to help parents with sleeping, settling and that old chestnut — routines.
Written by paediatric nurse, nanny and parenting expert Jo Ryan the book comes replete with celebrity endorsement by cookbook guru Donna Hay.
The heart of the book lies in the ‘Babybliss Technique’ which is Ms Ryan’s patented method of establishing a sleep routine. She says that she aims for something in between attachment parenting and controlled crying with her technique, which centres around teaching a baby to self-soothe (five minutes crying is permitted after six months of age).
Where the book differs from other routine-oriented baby bibles like Gina Ford’s Contented Baby Book is that a flexible routine is stressed, rather than exact times for feeding and sleeping.
Ryan states that parents should, “have a plan, but rather than looking at the whole day, you should focus on each cycle of feeding, activity and sleep… these cycles can be anywhere between two and four hours long but you need to feed your baby when she is hungry.”
Her insistence from “teaching” a baby to sleep from day 1, including keeping a log book and recommending that it may be easier not to go out during the day so you don’t over-stimulate your baby may not sit well with more free-and-easy new parents.
However parents who are keen on order and structure in their lives may find the book a handy, no-nonsense guide to implementing a routine with relatively gentle methods.
Ryan is quite insistent that all new babies need 16-18 hours sleep every day and that toddlers should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night. As always with parenting books, some parents may fret if their child is not in sync with these guidelines.
Baby Bliss fulfills a gap in the Australian market for the routine-oriented approach to sleep and parenting. Some readers may find it interesting to note that Ms Ryan, despite her extensive experience, does not seem to have children of her own. This should not be a reason to discount the book but it induced a couple of eye-rolls from this parent. Sure it’s easy to claim that babies are just a “blank canvas” at birth and you can train them to do anything you like — but it may be a little harder dealing with that baby day in and day out.
Also included in the book are tips on preparing for a new baby; feeding (breast, bottle and solids); developmental milestones and activities for each stage. A resources list gives a handy list of numbers of support services for issues such as breastfeeding, PND and premature babies.
Baby Bliss is due for release on February 1. The book may be pre-ordered from Harper Collins for $29.99.
We were lucky enough to have Jo visit us when our son was a few weeks old. From a baby that was awake for 13 hours (!!) to a baby that self settled and still today – 3 years later – takes himself to sleep when he is tired is all due to her advice and expertise. I have no doubt her book will be absolutely fantastic – her techniques are realistic and more importantly – work!
‘…eye-rolls in (??? do you mean ‘from’) this parent’….Amber – before you start bagging out this woman who has helped several of my friends, perhaps you should scrub up on your english…….
Thank you for pointing out that error, it has been fixed. I am glad to hear Jo has helped several families. We can only review the material as provided in her book.
I was very surprised by the tone of your review regarding Jo Ryan’s book Baby Bliss. Whether she has children or not is hardly relevant, after all from the time most of us are first pregnant we are looked after and given advise by many health professionals who are male and who obviously have never given birth before. What is relevant is her vast experience with new borns and babies. I was fortunate enough to have Jo help me out with my second child, she not only saved me and my husbands sanity, but gave us the skills to cope day to day, so we are one of the few couples I know who actually enjoyed having a newborn in the house. Thanks to Jo’s advise we have three children who are all fantastic sleepers.
The kwonderful thing about Jo is, she gives realistic advise and teaches you to have realistic expectations regarding your babies, and never lets you loose sight of the fact you are ment to enjoy all the stages they go through.