 See pictures of Dr. Karp's visit to North Carolina, May 2008! 
Are You Ready To Be A Parent? New babies are such a blessing, but they can also bring with them sleepless nights, crying, and sometimes quite a bit of stress. We can help you become less frustrated with the baby (aged 0 to 3 months) in your care! We believe every child is a precious gift and those entrusted with caring for them should be well educated and well informed! Learn an extraordinary approach to keeping your baby happy. In our Happiest Baby Class, new parents will learn step-by-step how to help their baby sleep better and how to soothe even the fussiest baby in minutes…even seconds. Our class is based on the highly effective, new approach to babies pioneered by Dr. Harvey Karp in his best-selling book and DVD. Dr. Karp believes that babies, especially in their first few months of life, can experience "fourth trimester" issues. Babies can have a difficult time getting used to the huge amount of stimuli present in life outside of Mom's body. Their reaction to all of this is to cry and cry. The Happiest Baby On The Block method formulated by Dr. Harvey Karp, addresses these issues by helping you learn how to effectively recreate the environment of the womb, outside of Mom's body. Once you have learned the steps, you will be able to alleviate some, if not all, of your baby's colic symptoms. Each class session includes:
Harvey Karp, M.D., has appeared on The View, The Dr. Phil, ABC News' "World News Tonight," CNN, Lifetime Channel and numerous national radio programs. He was trained by some of America's top pediatricians, including Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, and in 1981, Dr. Karp received the prestigious Ehrmann Fellowship to study crying and colic. He is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA School of Medicine, with a private practice in Santa Monica, California. He is a nationally renowned expert on children's health and the environment, and an authority on breastfeeding. Dr. Karp has done extensive research on colic and has discovered that colic is essentially non existent in several cultures around the world. Based on his research, he has developed a method which can reduce, if not eliminate, colic symptoms in your baby. Read through the reviews The Happiest Baby on the Block have gotten and see how much of a change Dr. Karp's method can create. He has lectured extensively, nationally and internationally, to conferences of health care professionals. In addition, his work has been featured in People Magazine, the LA Times, and dozens of newspapers across the country. He has also been mentioned in Time, Newsweek, and many other national magazines. His expert advice is also featured in the article“The Best Baby Sleep Tips Ever” , in the May 2005 issue of Parents Magazine. According to Dr. Karp, “Although today’s mothers and fathers are very well educated, they are the least experienced parents in history. No wonder even loving parents sometimes feel pushed to the breaking point by their infant’s screaming.” Dr. Karp places in the hands of all parents, grandparents, and childcare providers the tools they need to be able to calm their babies. Dr. Karp has made many appearances across the country, as well as other countries, to educate people in his amazing method of infant calming and "toddler speak."To see if Dr. Karp is making an appearance in your area, click HERE Dr. Harvey Karp in the News:
Articles featuring Dr. Harvey Karp and The Happiest Baby on The Block:
About Dr. Karp's Method Dr. Karp believes that babies, especially in their first few months of life, can experience "fourth trimester" issues. Babies can have a difficult time getting used to the huge amount of stimuli present in life outside of Mom's body. Their reaction to all of this is to cry and cry. The Happiest Baby On The Block method formulated by Dr. Harvey Karp, addresses these issues by helping you learn how to effectively recreate the environment of the womb, outside of Mom's body. Once you have learned the steps, you will be able to alleviate some, if not all, of your baby's colic symptoms. The 5 S's: There are 5 components to this method which, when used together, work amazingly well to calm your crying baby and in many cases help your baby go to sleep with no fuss. Using cross-cultural techniques combined with his own research, Dr. Karp has developed the "five S's system". Some babies will need all five, others just a few to help induce what he calls the "calming reflex." <--Before After-->  These steps sound pretty easy, but seeing them done properly, in conjunction with each other, is the key to relieving your baby's colic symptoms and making Mom, Dad, and baby less stressed and much happier! Why does it work? Dr. Karp has uncovered 2 facts that began to put everything into focus for him. First, he learned that there are profound differences between the brain of a 3-month-old baby and that of a newborn. During the first few months of life, babies make massive developmental leaps. This accounts for the huge gap between how parents in our society expect new babies to look, and act, and their true behavior and nature. His second pivotal discovery came when he began to read about child rearing in other societies. As he explored the musty shelves of old books and journals at the UCLA Library, he was shocked to learn that the colicky screaming that haunted so many of his patients and their parents was totally absent in the babies of several cultures around the world! The more he investigated this issue the more he realized that although our culture was advanced in many ways, it was very backwards when it came to understanding the needs of babies! Somehow, somewhere we had taken a wrong turn. He began to realize our ideas about babies' crying had been built upon centuries of myth and misconception. In many ways, the peoples living in primitive cultures seem ignorant and backward. However, in some areas their wisdom is great…and we are actually the "primitive" ones. This is particularly true when it comes to understanding infant crying. While researching information from the past and then blending them with cutting edge modern research and his own unique observations, made while caring for more than 5000 young babies over the years. "Dr. Karp's book is fascinating. It will guide new parents for many years to come." -- Julius Richmond, MD, Harvard Medical School, Former Surgeon General of the United States "Dr. Karp's approach is the best way I know to help crying babies." -- Steven Shelov, MD, editor-in-chief, American Academy of Pediatrics' Caring for Your Baby and Young Child "THE HAPPIEST TODDLER ON THE BLOCK"
The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One-to Four-Year-Old By Dr. Harvey Karp America’s top doctors are lining up to praise a new book and video that are destined to become classics in the field of parenting! “You want
help? This is r-e-a-l help! “Dr. Karp's excellent
approach makes raising toddlers a whole lot easier.” Anyone living with toddlers knows how quickly they can change. One minute all is bliss -then BAM! – they erupt into a mega-tantrum on aisle 6 at K-mart! No wonder exhausted and time-crunched parents feel trapped in a revolving door of “No!” and “Don’t!” But all that is about to change. But never again will you be helpless while your toddler screams and screams. Help has arrived! "The Happiest
Toddler is terrific...and fun! It will help parents,
grandparents and everyone who cares for toddlers be
more effective." In a breakthrough new book and video, THE HAPPIEST TODDLER ON THE BLOCK (Bantam Books 2004), celebrated pediatrician and child development expert, Dr. Harvey Karp reveals a treasure sought by parents for centuries – the secret to calming tantrums in minutes…or less! Two years ago, Dr. Karp stunned the medical world (and made parents cheer!) by solving the 3000-year-old mystery of colic with his discovery of the calming reflex – the “off-switch” for crying that can soothe almost any fussy baby in seconds. His extraordinary book and video, The Happiest Baby on the Block, have literally redefined our culture’s understanding of newborns. And now Dr. Karp is amazing the medical world once more with an innovative view of toddlers that will transform our understanding of this challenging age, forever. “Dr. Karp has done it
again! "Dr. Karp helps parents
turn the "terrible" twos into "terrific"
twos. His work will revolutionize the way our culture
understands toddlers!" Dr. Karp explains that watching toddlers is like traveling back in time. “Toddlers are not so much little children as little…cavemen!” Cavemen were stubborn, opinionated, and not too verbal. They bit and spat when angry, were sloppy eaters, hated to wait in line, and were negative, tenacious, distractible, and impatient…sound familiar? (No wonder, the first chapter of THE HAPPIEST TODDLER is named “Help! There’s a Neanderthal in My Kitchen!”) It’s a comical image, but comparing little kids to primitives is no joke. Dr. Karp argues that toddlers can only be understood by taking one giant step…backward! During three short years, toddlers zoom through the major achievements of almost 5 million years of human evolution: walking, talking, tool making, and problem solving. "Parents will be delighted
by this clever approach to communicating with toddlers.
It allows us to see the world from our children's unique
point of view." Dr. Karp says, “We all get more rigid when we’re upset, but frustrated toddlers become absolutely prehistoric!” He tells parents to think of themselves as ambassadors from the 21st Century to the Neanderthal people. “Once we see kids in this revolutionary ‘evolutionary’ light, tantrums, power struggles and even peeing on the carpet all start to make sense…and parents learn to soothe even agitated toddlers quickly.” In THE HAPPIEST TODDLER, parents learn: You can defuse most meltdowns in minutes if you know. In his new book and video, The Happiest Toddler on the Block, child-development expert and pediatrician Harvey Karp, M.D. reveals some revolutionary new solutions for problems from tantrums to picky eating. Here he tells how to soothe your tot's tears and help her feel loved and understood by learning to…speak her language. Q. You've gone from teaching about
crying babies in your first book and video, The Happiest
Baby on the Block, to toddlers having tantrums. What
will parents A. In my new book I present a fun and easy approach to raising great toddlers based on a fascinating new concept. As silly as it sounds, the best way to think of children between the ages of 1 and 4 is as little…Neanderthals! Don't get me wrong, I love toddlers. They are sweet and fun, but they can also be wild and impulsive, especially when they’re upset. They grunt, grab, scratch and shriek like uncivilized little cavemen. Yet, when you learn to speak your toddler's primitive language – Toddler-ese - you'll often be able to soothe his outbursts in minutes. Q. So what's the secret for talking Toddler-ese? A. When little kids are happy, we speak to them with our normal words, tone of voice, and gestures. After all, that's ultimately how toddlers learn language. But the more angry, frustrated, scared, or sad your child gets, the more fuzzy your words will sound to her. At that point, it helps to translate what you say into Toddler-ese. It’s as easy as 1…2…3! Here’s how: Q. Why do toddlers have such a hard time listening? A. Our little cave-kids have trouble listening because they’re very distractible, especially when they’re upset. That’s why you’ll be much more successful getting your child to focus if you first calm him down by paying attention to him with a minute of your best Toddler-ese. That lets him know you understand and care about his feelings. Once he begins to settle you can offer a distraction ("Hey, look at this book."), logic (“It’s too hot to drink.”) or reassurance ("It’s OK, it’s OK…you’re alright”). Calm kids are better listeners (none of us tune in well when we’re in the middle of a meltdown). Imagine your 18-month-old is standing at the door, screaming to go outside. Don’t just squash his hopes by telling him why he can't go ("It's raining”). First, acknowledge his feelings …in his own energetic language. Say in Toddler-ese, “You say, ‘Go, Mommy. Go! Go!' You want out, now! Out! Out! Out! You're bored, bored, bored!" With gestures and a dramatic tone repeatedly echo his feelings. Once your irate little caveman realizes that you truly understand his whining and wailing will noticeably diminish. That’s the signal that it’s your turn. That he’s ready to hear your reasons, reassurance, options, etc. Q. But what if your child is doing something that's clearly wrong? Might echoing her feelings accidentally make her think that you’re agreeing with her? A. Every day, your prehistoric little toddler experiences a roller coaster of powerful emotions. One of your prime goals during his toddler years will be to encourage him to confidently express his feelings yet teach him to restrain his unacceptable actions. Of course you should skip echoing and immediately express your message if your child is in danger (she runs into the street), being aggressive, or breaking an important household rule. However, in less urgent situations, take a minute to lovingly show your tot that you sincerely care about his feelings, but that doesn’t mean that you will tolerate misbehavior. When he yanks a truck out of his friend’s hands, for instance, take a few seconds to repeatedly (and dramatically) describe what he’s doing and how you think he feels- even if you disagree with him. Before teaching him a lesson about sharing, say something like, “You want! You want! You want it now! You say, 'Give me the truck. I want it now!'" Then, after he starts to settle down, add your mini-message, "But, no grab…no grab. It’s Jake’s turn." Learning and emotion are like oil and water…they just don’t mix. Calm children learn much faster and acknowledging their feelings in Toddler-ese is the key to quick calming. Q. What are the main secrets to raising "the happiest toddler on the block"? A. There are three: |
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