Product Description

In this encyclopaedic guide, Dr. William and Martha Sears draw from their vast experience as both medical professionals and parents to provide authoritative and comprehensive information on every aspect of infant care. The Baby Book presents a practical and contemporary approach to parenting that reflects the way we live today. It is a comprehensive guide to baby care, focusing on the essential needs of babies -- eating, sleeping, development, health, and comfort -- as it addresses the questions of greatest concern to parents today. The Sears' acknowledge that there is no one best way to parent a baby, and they offer the basic guidance and inspiration you need to develop the parenting style that best suits you and your child. The Baby Book is a rich and invaluable resource that will help you get the most out of parenting -- for your child, for yourself, and for your entire family. The topics covered include: - bonding with your baby and soothing a fussy baby - feeding your baby right - getting your baby to sleep - understanding your baby's development - treating common illnesses - baby proofing your home - toddler behaviour and dealing with tantrums - toilet training - working and parenting

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3419 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 784 pages

Review
'Encyclopaedic, clear, modern and engaging! Among the best parenting books out there.' Junior 'The authors of this comprehensive volume (who share their own parenting experience along the way) are assured and reassuring experts.' Publishers Weekly 'This is a timeless way of raising babies, with as much detail and practical information as any parent could want.' Steve Biddulph (author of Raising Boys) 'This book is a great primer for parents who want to understand attachment thinking, and apply it to their own parenting. It is written with a lightness of touch that makes it a pleasure to read.' Sue Gerhardt 'excellent (and hefty) resource' Amazon.com

About the Author
William Sears, M.D, and Martha Sears, R.N., are the paediatric experts on whom American parents rely for advice on all aspects of pregnancy, birth, childcare, and family nutrition. Dr. Sears was trained at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital and has practices paediatrics for more than thirty years. Martha Sears is a registered nurse, certified childbirth educator, and breast feeding consultant. The Sears have a Family Paediatric Practice in California.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant
This book is wonderful - not only is it an absolute encyclopaedia and packed to the gills with really practical information about anything you need to know about your baby, but their philosophy of attachment parenting is the most humane way of bringing up a child, that I've read about. Every other source of childcare advice (be it book or health visitor) is so quick to tell you to 'put your baby to bed when he/she is still awake and leave them there', 'don't demand feed', etc., etc. that you feel guilty if you want to behave otherwise. Reading The Baby Book stopped me feeling guilty for wanting to rock my baby to sleep or going to her as soon as she cried in the night, or even bringing her in to sleep with us. And the result - we have a fantastic little girl who has absolutely thrived on this sort of care. I also imagine that, having had eight children themselves, the Sears pretty much know what they're talking about. So if Gina Ford (who incidentally has no children of her own!) makes you despair, buy this book.

Focusing on the Child
The battle of the parenting bible is fierce and the territory becomes more heated as new "gurus" enter the fray (witness the Martin's maternity consultant and her new / old 'let them cry' approach). What is so refreshing about the Sears Baby Book is that, for the most part, they allow that you may not want to follow all their advice all of the time - you don't HAVE to have the baby in bed, they simply offer a number of reasons why it might be a good idea. A previous reviewer has suggested that the book is no help for parents who don't have all the time in the world to parent their children; it seems to me that the Sears are under no illusions that most parents have to work to survive and I found that their child-focused approach REDUCED the amount of colicky crying we had to endure, reduced the number of night wakings and has generally helped to make our child the happy and loving person she is today. The Baby Book also provides a series of excellent activities to encourage your child's physical and mental development as well as practical advice on all the ills and ailments the parents of a young child might expect. Invaluable.

Wonderful book and gentle alternative to some of the incredibly harsh parenting books out there!
I wish I'd had this book in my baby's first two months, which I spent wondering "why won't he let me put him down?" (didn't know about slings) and "why won't he sleep in his cot?" (didn't know about co-sleeping). What I particularly love about this book is that the style - it is like a handy reference guide - is so *mainstream* and yet the ideas it puts forward are still - in Western society - so "out there".

I wanted to answer some of the concerns from other reviewers too. Carrying your baby in a sling much of the time (although only until baby can crawl, which comes so, so, so quickly - too quickly!) does not cause a bad back if you have an ergonomically designed sling. For this though I do not like the Sears' suggested sling (a one shouldered ring sling - doesn't give you a bad back, but can cause a sore shoulder if you forget to swap sides!) and would recommend considering something like a mei tai, that goes over both shoulders.

You'll be breastfeeding your baby until they're school age? Well, did you know the World Health Organisation recommends you breastfeed for a *minimum* of two years and continue after that as long as mutually beneficial? This suggestion really isn't *that* out there you know! However the book does also include a chapter on bottle feeding with love.

The only thing I wasn't convinced on was the weaning information. I think it needs to take into account the recent work done by Gillian Rapley on Baby Led Weaning.

Otherwise - excellent - and I loan my copy to all pregnant friends.