Personal opinion of the book....... its good as a door stop, as mulch in the garden or for putting out fires. SOS is basically a let baby cry and only help them on a schedule type thing. Babies cry because they want or need something, they don't do it to be annoying or naughty. So just letting them cry is not fair on them. That's My opinion on it anyway.

A better book for helping you to help your baby to sleep is "No cry sleep solution" much better on everyone. I have just started to try it because My 12 month old still doesn't sleep right through.

Burn it Burn it now did I say that out loud
Seriously there are some mothers who swear by it but the issues many people have with it are fully justified. Babies behave the way they do for a reason. They have tiny tiny tummies and breastmilk is very easily digested so they have to feed often (anywhere from hourly to 3 hrly is normal), this also means overnight which is actually a reason behind why BF babies suffer less incidence of SIDS (if they wake often they are not able to fall into that really really deep sleep that is thought to be linked to SIDS episodes). And the crying. Well the Australian Infant Mental health people have a position statement on letting a baby cry (controlled crying, controlled comforting etc etc) and it is 100% not recommended for any child under 6mths of age and probably best left til they are older enought to understand (so toddlers).
I have had many calls as a breastfeeding counsellors from mothers who are experiencing low supply or are wanting info on weaning because they feel they don't have enough milk. The number of times they mention using this book is astounding. You cannot restrict or control a BF babies supply and demand to that extent.
Sorry ranting a bit. I definately second The No Cry Sleep solution (the blue one for babies) or any book by Sears will also be good. A good place to start is the mothersdirect.

One of DH's work colleagues gave us a copy. I read it before having DD, thought Oh yeah might give it a go, got home from hospital, had another flick through and literally threw it across the room. The routine she proposes for breastfeeding got me so angry, feed for x minutes, express for x minutes, blah blah blah. To me that just introduces a whole world of stress (in an already time!). Then she wants the expressed milk bottle fed to the baby when it has a growth spurt, instead of giving extra feeds (which will boost supply). Her routine goes against everything supply and demand related.

For a newborn just go with the flow, they let you know when they want something :)

I know that my DD settled herself into a routine, some babies just do that. By 5 weeks she was dropping night feeds, and by 9 weeks was sleeping 12 hours at night. I just followed her cues and it worked for us. I'll be doing the same thing with this next baby, and see where we go. It's so hard to trust yourself and do what you feel is right when it's your first, but you are the mum and ultimately know best. Don't do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.

This is off topic but with breastfeeding, I found the ABA to be invaluable. I also found the ladies to be really honest about sleep and what their babies were doing, not like mothers group who would all exaggerate about how long and well baby slept for! At a meeting about sleep I went to, DD was the ONLY one out of about 12 babies who was sleeping through without a night feed (and most of the children were toddlers). So it seemed to give the other mums who's babies weren't sleeping through some reassurance.

Sorry for the novel :)

I never used it on a baby, but I did buy it a few months ago to try with Harrison - he was about 16mths or so at the time and it has been absolutely FANTASTIC for is at this age!! Honestly, within 3 days of starting Tizzie's routines he was sleeping through the night consistantly and self settling where he never had before.

I'm not real sure about using it on a new baby - we will be trying parts of it when R is born but won't be sticking to it as strictly as we have with Harry.

I know there are people who swear by it from birth, but I really don't know how that would go with breastfeeding as I have always fed my boys on demand rather than by the clock, but if it works for them then that is great. My advice is to try it if it interests you, and adjust the parts you feel you need to. That is what we will be doing.

I recommend using this book as a guide. If you want to breastfeed that comes before the routines in the book!

I used it for Jimmy at about 10 weeks old. As much as people say how bad it is to let a baby cry it out, the result of doing that is Jimmy actually cried less. The reason why I had Jimmy screaming the house down (in my arms) and I was basically holding on to him from 8am to 10 or 11pm was because he was tired. I was feeding him to sleep and he would promptly wake up when I put him down or about 30 minutes after he fell asleep if I was so lucky to get him down without waking.

Jimmy was a fantastic night sleeper from day dot, I was very lucky. I had an oversupply of breast milk within less than 48 hours of Jimmy’s birth, again I was very lucky. Save or sleep has nothing to do with that. In all honesty I actually think if you are finding breastfeeding difficult this book would make you fail.

I thought SOS was the bee’s knees, however I never followed it strictly and gave Jimmy extra feeds (I still give Jimmy extra breastfeeds now) I waited until 6 months to introduce solids and did BLW. Basically I used the book but followed my instincts. The book is not as great as I thought it was when I first used it and I am very happy that I only used it as a guide. I will give merit where it is due... SOS saved us when Jimmy was 10 weeks old!

I, as a naieve tired first time mother, shamelessly admit that i used this for my DS from 3 months and now i wish i hadnt! My son is nearly 15months old and i can count on 1 hand the amount of times he slept through even when following her routines. I can also count on 1 hand the amount of times he will fall asleep on me because he is so used to his cot as a place of sleeping, which is fantastic when i am at home, not so great when i am out and about.

I wish i went with the flow and followed his signals. Use it as a guide but i would never follow this book to the minute. Tizzy did not have children when she wrote her book, and now that she does have children even admits herself that she only follows her routine loosely.

I almost want to have another baby just so i can make up for the cuddle times and play times lost (because i was too busy watching the clock)

couldnt agree more!!! Throw the book away!!

Anything by Pinky Mckay is pretty good

Thanks girls, I value everyones opinion. As I don't want anything to interfer w breast feeding I'll pop SOS away. I really only bought it to have a read, I really want bubs to be fitting into our crazy life and w routines I just don't think it'd suit us too much. Hence why I asked. Had only read first 30 pages. Sounds like it could be useful later so won't burn it just in case .
Thanks to everyone whose contributed, I hope it's helped other first timers with similar questions
Amy

I wouldn't use it for a baby under 6 months. But it is great for a basic routine from introducing solids and up.

It worked wonders with my DD, but I have had no luck with my DS. Each to their own

I don't understand how anyone could suggest not using/reading a book that has helped a lot of mothers out there!!!! Don't get me wrong I don't "swear by Tizzie Hall" but yes I have read her book & yes it did help me!!!

I'm a mum of 2, my daughter is 3 & my son 15 months!!! My daughter was a day catnapper (lucky if she would string 20 mins of sleep together in one hit) & pretty good night sleeper (1-2 night wakings) & became an excellent sleeper around 2 (slept 12-13hrs at night & still a nap of 2 hrs during the day).
My son on the other hand was an ecellent sleeper from the time we got home from hospital only ever waking max 2 times a night & had lots of sleep during the day. He also was a great self settler & re-settled no probs on his own!!! Suddenly at around 6 months (also the time my daughter dropped her day sleep) he forgot how to sleep both day & night which after a month I had a breakdown & one morning completely lost it & told my hubby if he left for work that day I was so scared I was going to hurt one or both my kids or myself!!! Thankfully my hubby stayed & didn't leave me thinking I was just having a bad day!!!!

My hubby booked me straight into my GP who was a bit naive to this I think but she gave me the number for lifeline & told my hubby to take 3-4 days off work to just let me sleep & in that time I looked into books that might help me & that's when I remembered a friend had told me about Tizzie Hall!!! I did the same as other girls I flipped through a few books & did some reading on the internet & decided I would buy the book. Hell if it didn't work at least I had tried something as obviously what I was doing wasn't working for us!!!

After 3 days of following the routines for his age, quite religiously, he was back to sleeping better at night & even having 2 sleeps a day although they were just 40 min naps. He was always a happy little man too before he stopped sleeping & my happy little man had come back after just 3 days!!!! After a while I loosened off the routines to fit into mine & the family's life but I still keep his basic routine the same & at 15 months he still has 1-2 day sleeps & sleeps 12-13 hrs at night!!!

To anyone that thinks Tizzie promotes controlled crying obviously hasn't read the books properly & I have never had to let my son scream/cry himself to sleep even at the start of the routines!!! He goes to bed happy & awake & wakes up happy too!!! As a first time mother who had nobody to help guide me except the health nurses I did controlled crying with my daughter along with the patting technique that the health nurse had shown us & hell that was so traumatic for me & my daughter i wish I had read Tizzie Hall before i had her so I at least could have tried her technique to see if it had worked with my little girl!!!

I'm not saying it is the only way to go as it doesn't suit everyone & especially doesn't suit every child as they are all different, so why not just guide people with advice then they can choose to try different things & find what suits them instead of slamming one person's way when you don't agree with everything that they say!!

I sure wish I had had some better guidance with my first than the silly old bat health nurse that kept telling me I was doing everything the wrong way & I should follow what they say & also that my milk was bad so I gave up breastfeeding my daughter after 13 weeks because I was so stressed about how bad I was doing I ran out of milk!!!! I now have 2 beautiful happy children my daughter who thankfully sleeps & is such an angel & my son who I BF till 8 months & now sleeps like "a baby" thanks to Tizzie Hall!!!

Sorry for the rant Bub2011 & I wish you so you all the best with your first bub!!! I get a bit excited sometimes expressing my opinion & just don't want anyone to get to the point I was at or even worse not getting any help/guidance!!!!