The Children's Hospital Guide to Your Child's Health and Development [Hardcover]

Children's Hospital (Author), Children's Hospital Boston (Author), M.D., Margaret A. Kenna (Author), Ph.D., Howard C. Shane (Author), M.D., Alan D. Woolf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2001

Based on the research and clinical experience of America's leading children's hospital, this reference work, several years in the making, is the most complete and authoritative guide to child health and development ever published. Three essential parts form this unique work: a detailed account of all aspects of normal development from birth through the school years, a carefully designed emergency section, and a comprehensive guide to every common illness or condition that affects children.For the first time, a single work offers parents all the medical, psychological, and practical information they need to raise healthy children from birth through elementary school. Packed full of information on symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, vital, up-to-date advice for choosing medical care and insurance, and finding good childcare, the Children's Hospital Guide includes the charts of normal development at all ages, and a comprehensive resource section.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Parenting literature is rife with specialization, and all-encompassing guides are often too general to be helpful; this new book from Children's Hospital Boston is an admirable exception. Assembled by a highly credentialed team of Harvard educators, with input from over 75 members of the hospital's staff, and presented in a friendly, matter-of-fact style with simple but helpful illustrations, it is a veritable encyclopedia on current developmental theory, medical recommendations and diverse parenting ideas, divided into five major sections: Setting the Stage discusses preparing for birth and postdelivery procedures; Your Child Age-by-Age includes five detailed chapters covering development, behavior, safety and parenting for newborns through school-age kids; Getting Help elucidates selecting and working with a pediatrician and choosing child care; Childhood Illness & Injury addresses what to do for a sick child and how to prepare for emergencies; and the Guide to Common Childhood Illness, Injury & Conditions is a 300-page catalogue of health issues arranged alphabetically. Break-out boxes (Questions Parents Ask, A Father's Story and When to Call the Doctor) are sprinkled throughout to emphasize crucial issues and summarize major points.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From the faculty and specialists at Harvard Medical School's pediatric teaching hospital comes this comprehensive parental guide to a child's physical, behavioral, and psychological health and development. The book is divided into five sections: prenatal preparation and birth of the newborn; norms at one month, one year, toddler, preschooler, and school age; choosing a doctor and childcare; sickness and emergencies; andDby far the largest sectionDan alphabetical list of common childhood illnesses and injuries. Generously illustrated, the book answers questions frequently asked by inexperienced parents or those facing a new phase in their child's life. It contains in one volume topics similar to those found in the American Academy of Pediatrics' Caring for Your Baby and Young Child (Bantam, 1998. rev. ed.) and Caring for Your School-Age Child (Broadway, 1999. rev. ed.) but covers a larger number of illnesses. A glossary, growth charts, a parental resource list, and an index were not available at the time of review. Recommended for health collections, especially those strong in pediatrics.DAnne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp., New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 796 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st edition (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073820241X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738202419
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Health

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Only Guide that New Parents Need!, December 22, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Children's Hospital Guide to Your Child's Health and Development (Hardcover)

If you are about to have your first child, buy this book. If one of your children or grandchildren is about to have a first child, give this book to her or him as a gift. If you like this book as much as I think you will, you should consider having a copy at home and one in each of the family cars for situations that arise while away from home.

This book deserves more than five stars. It is the only comprehensive guide to childhood development and illnesses that I have seen. The content is remarkable for being easy to understand, concise, and representing many different perspectives (including those of moms, dads, elder siblings, physicians, and other health care professionals). The book exudes a respectful sense of optimism that parents will do a good job, and avoids taking stands about issues related to religious preferences. At the same time, the book is quite up-front about pointing out what works best for children and their families.

The book is organized so that the first four sections deal with developmental issues, from learning to mimic to toilet training to dealing with jealous siblings to school adjustment, on through the school age years in considerable detail. The fifth part gives you information on childhood illnesses, injuries, and conditions.

I particularly liked the way the development sections talked about how children usually regress just before making a major development, and that this is healthy. The book even points out the good sides of childish outbursts. I wish someone had told me these things many years ago!

Having been a parent of four children over the last 30 years, I checked out the book against every illness, emergency, and developmental issue that I ran into for my own children and their friends. In each case, there was relevant material that told me more than I knew when I had to deal with each of these issues, despite having read every book on child care that I could lay my hands on prior to the experience. In particular, the book is very good at explaining both the near-term and the long-term consequences of a situation. For example, one of our children went into severe convulsions with a sudden spike in fever to 106 degrees. The book points out that this happens to about five percent of all children, more often to boys, and that there usually are no long-term consequences. I wish I had known that at the time.

I would especially like to praise the chapter on child care, which has 31 pages that summarize the best and latest research on how to select the right kind of child care if both parents work. You even get what the ratio of child-care people should be to children at different ages. Further, there's an excellent section earlier on what's involved when a child is sick, including how parents should think about how to balance their work and the needs of a sick child who needs a parent at home.

Of particular value to new parents will be the sections in each area called "When to Call the Doctor" which gives you a sense of not only "when" but "how quickly" you should seek help.

To get some idea of how contemporary and extensive this book is, you will find a section on "Body Piercing Infections."

Unlike many books on childhood and pediatric illnesses, this one is not the views of one person. Instead, over 80 physicians and pediatric experts combined to share their expertise, drawing on individuals practicing at Boston Children's Hospital or teaching at Harvard Medical School. I have great faith in Boston Children's Hospital having often taken our children there to deal successfully with important illnesses. I am also pleased to say that one of our children has survived the experience to become a staff member in the hospital's emergency room.

The section on emergencies is not only good, it is also organized to help you prepare to handle emergencies before they occur . . . and to avoid them in some cases. Those pages are rimmed in pink so you can find them quickly if you are in a panic.

Give children the best informed and most loving attention you can!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brand new and a must have!, July 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Children's Hospital Guide to Your Child's Health and Development (Hardcover)

I have been a pediatric nurse for 25 years and a parent for 15. I wanted to get a reference book for new parents and found this one published this year. I'm a big fan of Dr. Brazelton and his Touch Points which are included here regarding child development. The disease section was very thorough and I particularly liked the asthma section. It has the most recent treatment modalities laid out simply and clearly. I bought this at a regular bookstore for full price because I had to see for myself if it was of any value. It is an excellent reference, a "must have" for any parent. ....

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Calms the New-Parent Jitters!, March 22, 2001

By 

C. Bowman (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Children's Hospital Guide to Your Child's Health and Development (Hardcover)

I bought this book for my brother and his wife, new parents of a 10-week old girl, after the baby got her first cold. We wished we had bought this excellent manual sooner! Not only would the common-sense approach have calmed the new parents, but we could have saved an expensive doctor visit. The book has an extensive illness section that appeals to men who just want the facts, plus offers lots of tips and sidebar articles. A keeper!