Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2958 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 784 pages

Synopsis
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

Customer Reviews

Best babybook ever
This is an amazing book. It's not on the Danish market, neither is it translated. My wife and I has made a sort of parallel import - buying books on amazon and passing them on to our friends who make babies. We are now on our 15th order or so :O)

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.

Its worked great for us
My daughter is almost 1 now, and we've followed the basic principles of this book. It's not a set of rules or allocation of time in 10 min slots like some baby books, but gives you the confidence to listen to what your baby tells you he/she needs, and explains how to tell. The section on breast feeding is very informative, but easy to read when you don't get a lot of sleep in the early weeks, but its not preachy and there is a section on bottle feeding if that's what you decide.
My daughter is now nearly one, I still breast feed and she sleeps next to me, (from 7 till 6 when the alarm goes off, so I get a full nights sleep). She's a very happy toddler and not at all clingy.
This is a great book, all the information you need, in easy to understand language, and really comes across as common sense. The authors are parents to 8 children so they really have been there themselves, unlike the baby trainers who get paid to look after other peoples babies for a month at a time, but don't have the experience of loving and bonding with children for life.
Definitely worth reading even if you don't want to follow all the suggestions.