I thought the same when I saw her on the Today show (when SOS was released I think, so a few years ago now) where she is very "You MUST do this" "Your baby WILL sleep through if you FOLLOW the routine" ...

Dollyroux I guess that from face value it gives the impression that if you follow the routine to a T then you will have success
Someone I know used SOS. She became really frustrated and depressed when it wouldn't work. When her child still wasn't sleeping through at 6 months, she left her to cry for 40-50 mins at a time.

Now I haven't read the book cover to cover (tossed it aside when I got to the part about children crying until they vomit), but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't advocate leaving your baby to cry for this long (? correct me if wrong), but the point I wanted to make is that because the book had convinced her that babies *can* and *should* sleep through with the routine, she was divorced from her instinct to try anything other than forcing her baby to conform to expectations. She took this book as the bible (which of course is silly, and exactly what everyone is saying shouldn't be done with any one book, but, at the time she was without much support, information or parenting education). I'm sure most mums would read TH with a critical eye and listen to cries with a critical ear, but here's at least one case where the advice has been "dangerous".

This child, now 3, has turned out emotionally withdrawn. She rarely smiles, or seeks out attention orcompany. She never laughs. She dislikes physical affection and wears a frown most of the time. It could be undiagnosed autism (however, communication motor skills, etc are all fine), but I'm pretty convinced that this is a perfect example of emotional shutdown as a result of CIO.