Hi
My DS is now 6.5 months old and I also read the books (both of them!) before he was born so was really excited about my new 'project'! I would say this, don't expect your new baby to conform to everything in the book even if you do everything Tracy suggests. I never thought I'd had to read past page 219 as I thought I'd have it all figured by then - I now regularly refer to the later chapters! I know you won't believe this but the first weeks and months of your baby's life will absolutely fly by so cherish every moment!
Having said that the EASY routine is a fab way of getting your baby into good eating and sleeping habits and also for figuring out what the different cries mean, though this can take a few weeks to understand. I always followed Tracy's suggestion of SLOW - Stop, Listen, Observe, What's wrong? It stopped me from rushing in and really helped me to understand. If he'd just eaten he probably had wind, if he'd been awake for a while he was probably tired, if he'd woken up he was probably hungry etc.
I'm still breastfeeding and was lucky enough not to have to feed every hour day and night and he was a very efficient feeder, only taking 10-15 minutes for a full feed - I feel awful for your friend Lauren! If you're breastfeeding I think the main thing to concentrate on is not letting baby fall asleep whilst feeding. There are some good tips in the books for this, including rubbing baby's hand whilst you're feeding and creeping your fingers up baby's spine. Also follow EASY but don't watch the clock, watch your baby. My DS was 3 months old before he was able to stay awake as long as the 3 hour EASY routine suggests in the book. In the early days he would literally wake up, eat, have his nappy change, maybe sit and look at me for a while and then yawn for sleep so we would go straight to the 4S routine. I seem to remember the EASY routine really taking shape at about 5 weeks. Before then I would feed when he was hungry (he was quite a low birth weight and to begin with he could only go 2 - 2.5 hours) and work the EASY routine from there. I would also suggest two other things during the first 3 months - a swaddle and a dummy - I couldn't have survived without either and we also got rid of the dummy at 3 months without too much hassle. Also treat night-time feeds differently from day-time feeds, dim nights with no (or hushed) talking and put baby straight back down to sleep once they're done.
Good luck with the birth and your new baby.
Kelly x