Review for The Aware Baby

Taken from Aletha Solter's website. The Aware Baby marks a major breakthrough in our understanding of babies' needs from conception to 2½ years of age. Now translated into several languages, it has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and contributed to a revolution in parenting around the world. This revised edition includes new research and insights from the author's extensive experience as a consultant and international workshop leader. The author discusses the attachment needs of infants, which are best met by close physical contact, breast-feeding, and prompt responsiveness to crying. At the core of her philosophy is the concept of crying as tension release, with the emphasis that babies should always be held when they cry. This book will teach you how to: Bond with your infant. Respond to your baby's crying. Enhance your baby's intelligence. Help your baby sleep better. Find alternatives to punishment. Raise your child to be nonviolent.

Praise for The Aware Baby (revised edition)

"The Aware Baby is chock full of reliable information and practical advice on a wide range of childrearing issues from how to deal with infant crying to discipline and toilet training. The style is clear, concise and vivid. It is a pleasure to read, and I recommend it most highly."

Thomas R. Verny, M.D., D. Psych. (Psychiatrist and author of The Secret Life of the Unborn Child)

"The exquisite awareness of babies celebrated in this book is revolutionary and refreshing. Soundly based on empirical research and great good sense, this book will doubly bless both the parents and their very fortunate infants."

David B. Chamberlain, Ph.D. (Psychologist and author of The Mind of Your Newborn Baby)

"Solter's gentle approach to parenting, by promoting acceptance of crying and attentiveness to a child's strong emotions and needs, contains a very important step in raising happy, connected adults."

Martha G. Welch, M.D. (Psychiatrist and author of Holding Time)

"The Aware Baby is an extremely useful (perhaps essential) guidebook for parents and professionals who deal with babies. The book is full of information on solving common problems in raising babies, and most of the material is appropriate for older children as well. I particularly appreciate the depth at which Dr. Solter deals with sleep, feeding, and behavioral difficulties, and the methods that she advocates for dealing with crying (probably the most misunderstood aspect of parenting.) Her chapters on playing with babies and on approaches to bring about secure attachment and bonding are exceptional. This book should be mandatory reading for all parents and for professionals who deal with babies and children."

William R. Emerson, Ph.D. (Pioneer of infant therapy and co-author of Remembering Our Home)

"Only a handful of times in any given century does a book come along which has the knowledge and the power to shift the human race towards a measurably higher state of mental and physical health. Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, at the beginning of the last century, introduced us to the unconscious. Dr. Arthur Janov, in the middle of that century, introduced us to the importance of feelings as a guide to the deepest self. Now Dr. Aletha Solter, in a simple and readable way, by allowing babies to feel their feelings, gives us the key to infant, and later adult, mental health. It is my belief that every prospective parent on earth should read her book, The Aware Baby."

Paul Vereshack, M.D., D. Psych. (Author of The Psychotherapy of The Deepest Self)