These first hand accounts of experiences using the Ezzos' materials are written by former supporters and users.

The Ezzos and their followers tend to dismiss the experiences of former supporters, saying they must have misused or misunderstood his material. But when many well-intentioned, intelligent parents "misunderstand" instructions in exactly the same way, with similar results, it suggests there is a problem with the instructions.

Several of the following stories were written by former volunteers who taught Ezzo's materials in church class settings or who served as "contact moms" with the Ezzos' organization, providing support and advice to parents using their materials.

• Failure to Thrive (9/07)
  "I took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed as FTT ("failure-to-thrive").   She spent three days in hospital.  I was told to burn Babywise and that babies should be fed on demand, that breastfeeding was a supply and demand process."
  
• No Let-down Response to Baby's Hunger Cry (6/07)
  "After the first 2 weeks of life I began the Babywise recommended feeding routine. It seemed to be working great. He was really rarely fussy. He was just a happy baby. But at around 3 months of age he was beginning to get a little fussier..."
• Baby Loves Routine; but not the Babywise Routine (11/06)
  "In my mind, I knew that I should call La Leche League for help, but after reading the warnings in [Babywise], there was no way I wanted to get mixed up with those "attachment-parenting types," so I chose to give up and exclusively formula feed."
• Learning to Read My Baby's Signals (8/ 06)
  "The doctor asked me why I thought he was crying. "Well, it's not time to eat yet. I think maybe he doesn't like this summer heat." "No," she replied, "this is a hunger cry. You need to feed him."
  
• Pediatric Nurse and Former Ezzo Parent (4/10/06)
  "My husband and I faithfully read this book and the full Growing Kids God's Way curriculum. We were excited to be presented with seemingly sound advice and felt prepared to face every part of parenting."
  
• Our Journey to Freedom (8/23/04)
  This family's baby was hospitalized for severe dehydration and failure-to-thrive after implementing Along the Infant Way (also known as Preparation for Parenting or Babywise)
  
• GKGW Myths and Misconceptions (7/05/04)
  A former GFI Contact Mom and pastor's wife speaks from the heart about her experience and observations on using the Ezzos' curriculum (Along the Virtuous Way, popularly known as Growing Kids God's Way).
  
• Just in Time (6/10/04)
  "When J. was about 3 and a half months old, I started thinking he looked a little skinny."
  
• A Pastor's Wife's Experience and Observations (6/7/04)
  "I remember laying on the couch listening to her cry and cry thinking motherhood wasn't supposed to be like this."
  
• Frazzled and Uptight No More (6/2/04)
  This mother recounts that by the time she stopped using Ezzo's methods, her baby had stopped smiling at her, did not like to be held, and refused to make eye contact.
  
• Learning to Trust my Instincts (2/12/04)
  This mother of 5 (including twins) took a Preparation for Parenting class while pregnant with her oldest child.
  
• It's One or the Other--and other myths that hooked us (2/12/04)
  This mother offers some insightful observations on conflicting messages and myths that make Babywise hard to follow -- and hard to drop even when it's not working.
  
• Mothering with Babywise: My Secret Pain (1/11/04)
  "I called my Babywise friend, and she encouraged me to "bite the bullet" and let my daughter learn to fall asleep unassisted. My stomach churned, but I wanted my daughter to be able to fall asleep without me."
  
• From Babywise to Enjoying My Baby (7/25/03)
  "I just thought it was normal to have to go through a lot of crying in those first few months."
  
• Happy Baby, Less Stress (8/11/03)
  "I would have said that we were happy following Ezzo, but I can honestly say that we are much happier now. I am so much less stressed out! I didn't realize how much stress Babywising put on me until I quit..."
  
• 10 Years of GKGW (March 2003)
  "I want to share our story in the hope that it may perhaps help to warn others who are heading down the Growing Kids God's Way path. We still ask ourselves, how could we have been deceived for so long?..."
  
• Deep Regrets, New Mercies (8/15/03)
  "Our family was involved with Gary Ezzo’s teachings from the winter of 1991 when I was pregnant with our first child until almost two years ago..."
  
• Relaxing into a Family-friendly Routine
  "More and more since we've distanced ourselves from the GFI materials, I realize how deeply influenced we were..."
  
• A Happier Baby, A More Well-rested Mother
  "I would give anything in the world to be able to turn back the clock and learn about the concerns and controversy surrounding Ezzo's methods *before* my dear daughter was born..."
  
• A Family Copes with Attachment Disorder (2/26/03)
  "...Everyone kept telling us how we HAD to do the program-- it's the best, it works, it's incredible, you won't be sorry, you'll feel so much better about being a parent. The positive statements never ended. We took it early in 96, and finished a few weeks before I was due..."
  
• The "Y" Family's Babywise Testimony (Summer 2002)
  "I have a degree in special education and had a few years of teaching experience under my belt when we encountered the Ezzo's materials..."
  
• The "H" Family's Prep for Parenting Testimony (2/23/03)
  "My husband and I were introduced to the Growing Kids God's Way (GKGW) programs through a pastor friend after we discovered we were expecting our first child, and our son was one month old when we began using Preparation for Parenting..."
  
• The Hsieh's Open Letter (April 1999)
  "The purpose of this letter is to generate public awareness about yet another child who has surely suffered due to following a Christian parenting program entitled Preparation for Parent-ing/Preparation for the Toddler Years (secular versions marketed in stores as On Becoming BabyWise 1 & 2) by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo..."
  
• A former Prep for Parenting teacher: Confessions of a Failed Babywiser (1/03) Russian translation
  This family coped with failure to thrive and other problems following the use of Ezzo's material.
  
• Contact Mom Speaks Out (3/03)
  "While I was a contact mom for GFI (for a year and a half), I never once met a mom who breastfed long-term (at least a year or longer) without modifying the materials. I did see babies who appeared listless and in a depressed state, who were smaller than average or scrawny..."
  
• Thoughts from another Former Contact Mom (5/14/03)
  "I used Ezzo stuff because it really fit my personality. I'm very structured and don't handle lots of chaos very well. I started with PFP when my youngest was a newborn. He is 12-1/2 now. My other kids are 11, 8, 5, and 7 months..."
  
• Former GFI Leadership couple, Eric and Julie Abel provide answers to FAQs
  The Abels, who helped co-found GFI and who were featured on video tapes resigned over ethical concerns. Here they share their thoughts on how some aspects of the GKGW principles were detrimental to their family.
  
• A Group of Case studies
  by Laurie Moody, lactation counselor and former GFI contact mom...

Around the Web

• stories gleaned from public message board postings

Blogs of Experience...

• babywise
  the book that made me feel incredibly guilty and sent me into post-partum depression....Tim and I both read it and felt like it was the way we had to parent, in order to be good Christian parents with godly kids. So when I absolutely hated it and every instinct within my body and heart and mind screamed at me to just cuddle with and comfort my baby when he cried (no matter what point in the “schedule” we were at), I felt like a bad mom and a failure....I have amazing, happy, pretty much well-behaved kids that always sleep through the night and have not been raised by babywise parenting...I am SO GLAD I threw the book away.
• Unsolicited Book Review
  [Our pediatrician] bless his heart, disagreed with everything the book had told us. Telling us that Chase is too young, still adjusting to life outside the womb, and still confused and overwhelmed by his surroundings for us to expect him to get himself to sleep, let alone to expect him to do it on a schedule. Some babies may be able to do it, but some just aren't....Last night, when I tried to follow some of the BabyWise advice, I ended up with a very upset little baby who refused to go back to sleep. If I'd just followed my own instincts, he would have gone back to sleep right away. It's only been two and a half months, but I do feel like I know the little guy, at least better than Ezzo and Bucknam.
• Current Babywise Thoughts
  I found myself constantly in tears, fearful that I would "ruin him" by taking him off of the schedule, frustrated and angry that he wasn't napping like the book said he should, tired by all his cries (because he wasn't "supposed" to be crying), not knowing what he needed and feeling trapped about feeding him when I wasn't even sure if he was hungry...[and I was battling the thought] that his spiritual training started right now, so if I didn't have my act together at every moment of every day, he would be disobedient and whiny when he was 5, rebellious as a teenager, and walking away from the Church when he was in his twenties....why did it take me so long to realize that it was just a freaking nap?
• Because, After All I Do Have Two Children
  I suffered tremendous amounts of guilt and frustration when we were not able to maintain the schedule...The biggest regret I have about Babywise is the advice to feed on a 3-4 hour schedule. I had a terrible time with my milk production and I'll always wonder (assume, really) that if I had fed on demand, my milk supply would've been better. And I would've alleviated the major, major stress of feeling like I was not supplying enough nutrition for this most important little being that I was now responsible for. That was one of the first things I decided about nursing my son- I nursed on demand pretty much for the first several months. And I've never worried about having adequate milk for him.
• I Know Everything There is to Know About Being a Parent
  A father of a 9 month old recommends Babywise and relates that his baby was allowed to cry for 90 minutes two nights in a row and has slept through the night since then.
• Cry It Out Bootcamp
  A mother of a toddler and a baby recommends Babywise: "BW says some crying is normal, but I don't think they really give an honest picture of what to expect. It is harder than they make it seem." Also from a different entry on the same blog: "Should you do CIO? My answer is yes. Most people who do BW intend to do CIO, but many wonder what age to start. BW says to start at 1 week. That is so young! Yes, it is. That is the age I started [my newborn]..."
• Melatonin
  ...the book added extra layers of fear and anxiety to what was already an extremely trying season.
  
• Things I Wish I Had Done Differently as a First Time Parent.
  I wish I ... could take those years back....I honestly believe that Babywise is the equivalent of raising a child at an arm’s length; cold, heartless, and wrong.
• Thinking About Gary Ezzo
  ...at the end of our experience with Ezzo parenting material, we had a rather adversarial relationship with our children.
• Sleep Training Blues
  This time around, I am trying to use more of a modified version of the Baby Wise system....Brayden isn't a crazy crier like Bryce was, but he still cries...a lot.
  
• I Had Forgotten About All the Crying
  "OH MY JEEEEEEEEEEEZ. Noah's cry sounds like a small lion....YES, I'm still trying to babywise the little sucker. I so want to give up on it everyday, but that anal, rule-following, teacher in me won't give in. So, as the ulcer gets bigger and as my headache pounds, I just sit here and try to pretend that no one else can hear the crying, that it's just me (and I can handle it - yeah, right). Whoever said the newborn stage was the best? NOT ME!"
• Ezzo-Blezzo-Schmezzo
  "It was eight years ago. We met this cute little suburban couple at a college alumni thingy. I was obviously pregnant - with our first child. They jumped all over us, telling us about this great "Bible study" at their home ... "
  
• Stench of Legalism
  "...However upon applying it, I have a feeling of near horror, like that when you stand at the open door of an airplane and realize you paid $100 to jump and now you have to do it even though it now feels close to torture."
  
• Zs without Ezzo
  Two nights ago our 10-week-old boy slept 7 hours straight. Last night he slept for 6 1/2 hours....I have some really sweet pictures of my wife snoozing in the nursing chair with the baby asleep in her arms.
• Breakthrough Day
  A mother following Babywise's method celebrates that her 7-8 week old baby has fallen asleep by herself after three weeks of continuous crying at least an hour at every nap.
  
• Thinking about a former nightmare
  In no uncertain terms, I want to make it painfully clear that following that program caused great problems for Harrison and for me.
  
• Conflicts of Time
  Newborns are in charge of the clock. That’s just how it is. Before you argue with me, rest assured, I read Babywise and tried it with Dear Daughter. It didn’t work.
• Let's Start at the Very Beginning
  ...how miserable I was those first months -- constantly questioning my every decision -- should I have not rocked her to sleep? Did I let her cry too long?...I cried almost every day. I was so disappointed. Disappointed in myself for not being strong enough to let her cry. Disappointed in Dacey for not acting the way the books all but promised she would. And I was scared. Was my “indulgence” of her going to turn her into the fussy, miserable, demanding baby that BW used as the example for “what not to do”???