Raven, Astrid - Why must you follow any advice to the T to say that it's helped you? To say that I use the routines and have found them really useful, but didn't listen to the CIO advice doesn't mean that the book hasn't been worthwhile. That's like saying you would use every single tip from Pinky McKay or any other 'gentle parenting' text to make it a worthwhile purchase or to say it worked for you.
I never said that you had to follow it to a T, but ponder at which point is what you are doing no longer like the book. You can have a pav with passionfruit or with berries, personal choice, but you are still having a pav. If you change the recipe so much that you serve me up meatloaf claiming it to be a pav, then I am not going to want your pav recipe. That is just how I see what is happening with a lot of the mums I have come across that use SOS.

Now with Pinky, it is not about following her advice to a T, she is about following instincts, being confident in choices and most of all taking time. She touts no cures for all the various things that a baby could have. Her books are not about routine, there are a lot of tips and advice to take what works for you.