Crybabies. - book reviews

Crybabies is the most sensible and useful guide to coping with colic yet available. Marc Weissbluth, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, achieves his mission of providing a book that balances technical and non-technical information, research, theory and practice. It should prove to be very helpful--and comforting--to health and human service professionals who work with families struggling to stay sane and to care for a colicky child (a label that fits one in five parents).

The first half of the book achieves three worthy goals. First, it defines colic as "inconsolable crying for which no physical cause can be found, which lasts more than three hours a day, occurs at least three days a week and continues for at least three weeks." Then, it refutes popular misconceptions about colic's causes and cures--that the nursing mother's diet causes colic and breastfeeding reduces it, for example. Finally, the book considers recent research on factors that contribute to colic--factors which are yet unspecified but apparently include neurological, respiratory and endocrine maladjustments and which link colic with difficult temperament and sleep disorders.

Information provided in the first eight chapters contributes to the reader's understanding of colic, while the second half of the book contains case examples and detailed suggestions about caring for a colicky baby. Especially informative are Weissbluth's well-tested prescriptions for managing with colic during the first three months; gradually encouraging better sleep during months four, five and six; and "curing" the sleep problems of "trained night crying" in infants older than six months. The book provides guidelines for approaching each of these goals, caveats about unpromising but popular techniques, and descriptions of the adaptations made by families of colicky infants when they applied these methods. The combined approach offers the reader a well-rounded perspective on coping with colic. The information in the book is not otherwise available; indeed, some standard books on baby care proffer soothing strategies (for example, special formulas, pacifiers and changes in feeding or sleeping positions) that Weissbluth's evidence suggests will not help reduce either the parent's or the baby's distress.

This book will enhance the ability of volunteers, paraprofessionals and professionals to help caregivers provide safe and loving care to their infants during the 6-month period of colic. The book's use of technical terms, however, would present problems for clients with limited reading skills. The second half seems most useful for parents to read and is written in more accessible style. On the other hand, for professionals, Weissbluth's failure to cite all his references in the text--even though he provides more than 75 references at the end of the book, including 10 from his own research--is disconcerting and limits further inquiry. Although falling short of purely self-help and scholarly books in these ways, Crybabies is an exemplary hybrid and can still be an exceptional friend to and protector of colicky babies.

COPYRIGHT 1985 U.S. Government Printing Office
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group