The Baby Whisperer: Tracy Hogg helps your Baby Sleep

Author Name: Heidi Holvoet, PhD

Disclaimer: the goal of this page is to offer general information on alternative approaches. Heidi's approach differs from this one, and she does not endorse nor encourage all aspects of the Baby whisperer method.

Tracy Hogg, often dubbed The Baby Whisperer, developed an often effective philosophy and sleep method to help baby sleep well. A strict E.A.S.Y. routine and the pick-up put down pu/pd method are two of the tools to teach a baby good sleeping skills - see below.

Tracy Hogg, who sadly died in 2004, was an English registered nurse with a wonderful talent to understand and tune in to babies and children .

She discovered this talent when working with mentally disabled children: body language and other non-verbal cues helped her connect with the children.

Her first book explains the basics of her philosophy, about understanding and tuning in to babies and the methods parents can use to help their baby sleep: Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How To Calm, Connect, and Communicate With Your Baby .

The book has been quite successful and was followed up by Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers and The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems .

The Baby Whisperer Basics

Tracy Hogg's method is often listed as an alternative inbetween crying it out methods (like the Ferber method ) and no tears methods (like the No Cry Sleep Solution ). And it is.

Tracy does not have babies cry it out. It is important for a baby to feel safe and secure, and to know that her parents are always there for her.

But she also does not support what she calls accidental parenting like nursing, bottle feeding, walking or rocking baby to sleep. These make a child dependent on a prop for sleep whereas it is crucial for a baby to learn to sleep without one.

Several tools are explained in the book to help parents teach their baby these all important sleep basics: among them a strictly structured routine (E.A.S.Y.) and the pick up put down (pu/pd) method for putting baby to bed.

Each tool comes with clear, age-specific instructions to be followed. Next to the instructions, a large part is also about getting a feeling for doing things as needed for your baby. Tracy helps you learn that too.

The E.A.S.Y. routine is about reading and understanding your baby's cues and giving her the regularity to fit that into a predictable daily pattern.

Every day will be structured with a pattern of " E " Eating, " A " Activity and then " S " sleep which leaves time to yourself for " Y " You.

Tracy was very clear on the difference between a routine and a schedule . A schedule would involve fixed times and that is not what it is about: you can't fit a baby into a clock . Rather, the E.A.S.Y. routine focuses on the regularity and the correct order to do things in.

The pick-up put down (pu/pd) method is how you put baby to sleep in her crib and teach her how to sleep alone. You do the putting down and picking up as often as need to get baby to sleep.

You may do that with a "Four S" wind down ritual of setting the stage, s waddling possibly, sitting quietly and a s hush-pat (patting baby's back and making shush-sounds) to help baby quiet down.

Tracy Hogg's Baby Whisper sleep method, and the whole philosophy behind it, is well rounded and based on valuable ideas.

What I personally like as well is that Tracy did not claim that her method had to be applied rigidly to every baby in every situation. Her main aim is to teach parents to learn about their own child and to adjust to her individual needs .

Each of Tracy's books gives interesting insights and help understand babies and their sleep , even if you do not want to follow all the instructions.