When I first brought my daughter home from the hospital; I thought there’s nothing to it. I had my own baby-sitting business when I was twelve. I raised my younger siblings; I have been around children almost all my life. How hard could it be? I mean babies sleep most of the time anyways; well, those thoughts quickly changed when my daughter would not go to sleep for hours on end. She would go through her fussy period every evening where nothing I did would console her. Instead, it would upset her more. I was on wits on end. Then I came across this book, The Happiest Baby on the Block and it gave me hope when I felt I was about to lose it.

The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp came about when he was a fellow at UCLA as part of the Child Abuse Team. Dr. Karp consulted on several severely injured babies whose screams drove their stressed-out parents to commit horrible acts of abuse. In hopes of eradicating this unthinkable tragedy and help desperate parents everywhere; he began his research on infant sleep and colicky babies. Dr. Karp discovered that the infant development between a newborn and a three month old was astronomical and that in primitive cultures around the world; colic was virtually non-existent. Based upon his research he came up with the four theories to help sleep-deprived parents everywhere and help your baby become happiest baby on the block. The four ideas are

1. The missing 4th trimester
2. The “Calming Reflex”
3. The 5 S’s
4. The Cuddle Cure

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