Customer Reviews

Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry--Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This helpful resource has a lot of heart and a friendly tone. Though hefty, the book's appealing format, well-organized material, supportive writing style and clarity make it inviting and accessible. Readers need only look inside to appreciate the author's positive attitude and notice how practical and thorough the information is.

Each of about 125 brief chapters uses a similar pattern designed to provide quick factual direction and encouragement for its intended audience of parents of normal infants. A wide selection of topics, from health issues to overzealous grandparents, swimming, test driving strollers, developing a read-aloud family culture, and teething, is arranged alphabetically with labels that, for the most part, make sense. The table of contents and extensive index are well-conceived. Lots of white space, attractive type, and logical layout make skimming for specific advice easy. Reading the book straight through is pleasant and informative too.

Comparative parenting philosophies are not covered. Pantley is forthright about concentrating on attachment parenting. She supports her preferences well and discusses many approaches in a broad context. Breastfeeding, for example, is assumed, yet she doesn't belittle readers who opt for formula. Curiously though, homeopathic medicine is suggested a few times with no further explanation about it. In general, Pantley speaks sensibly to hands-on, involved parents interested in natural ways to rear secure, strongly attached children safely.

Development itself is covered here only as a minor topic with lists of normal milestones. Helping parents understand particular issues and evaluate their best options is Pantley's focus, so her sound advice includes tips with developmentally appropriate variations throughout the book. She is adept also at sharing pertinent considerations for each subject without prescribing, except for certain definite procedures or emergency requirements, what choices a family should make. Her presentation of current knowledge and research is concise and responsible. She provides additional websites and resources for further interest and respectfully leaves the outcomes up to her readers' values and decisions.

Gentle Baby Care has a more developed style than Pantley's earlier Perfect Parenting. The same sensitive logic in her No-Cry Sleep Solution is in her writing here. She considers each topic thoroughly with particular awareness of safety issues, and cogently presents, with the utmost respect for parents and their babies' well-being, the practical information and thoughtful opinions they will find useful. Expectant, new and experienced parents will all find this book a handy and reliable reference.

If you support the attachment parenting philosophies of Dr. Sears and Katie Allison Granju, you will love this book. If, however, you're after a book that is a little bit more mainstream, this may not be the book for you and you may wish to stick to a less AP-oriented baby book. This book assumes you will be opting for extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and that you will be using the night-time parenting strategies spelled out in the author's other book. If you're not making these particular parenting choices, this book may leave you feeling a bit guilty for the parenting choices you have made.

Gentle Baby Care gives information on hundreds of topics. Each topic begins with a question, this is followed by general information in a "Learn About It" section, which is generally brief and concise. This is followed with more specific solutions, checklists, charts and such. And finishes with a list of websites and books as additional resources.

An example is the entry on "Colic". It begins, "My baby is very fussy and cries a lot, mostly at the end of the day. Does she have colic?" The Learn About It area defines colic and describes the known causes.

This is followed by "Can Colic Be Prevented?" which explains health issues that can cause crying, and also tells what is known about colic prevention.

The next part "Things That May Help Your Baby" gives a long bullet list of many ideas that may help your baby feel better and stop crying.

As is typical in the book, there is yet another section called, "Tips for Coping" which gives tips on how YOU can handle this difficult time.

Next comes, "When Should I Call the Doctor?" with a bullet list to guide you on when you should be concerned.

The last section, "For More Information" guides you to several books on the subject, if you want to get into more detail.

The layout of this book allows for a quick yet thorough examination on topics that may arise during the first two years such as Bathing, Burping, Car Seat Crying, Constipation, Diaper changing (tips, choosing diapers, and what to do when your baby doesn't want to be changed), Fever, Food allergies, Grandparents (both overzealous and reluctant), Immunizations, Massage, Milestones, Sleep (fabulous sections on this topic!), Travel, Visiting, Weaning. These are just a few examples.

I highly recommend this book as one to keep handy for the first two years.

Elizabeth Pantley has done an outstanding job in creating a resource for parents that will be used again and again. I'm a mother to four children with number five on the way, and I can't tell you how many times I wished I had a book like this in my home library. I have a number of other parenting books, including Dr. Sears' Baby Book; like many of Pantley's readers, I'm a fan of his. I read through his book once when my first child was very young, and it helped me to develop a philosophy of parenting that I feel happy with and proud of. However, ever since that initial read through, I've only used the index in Sears' book, because I've had specific questions or concerns about what was happening to my baby right at that moment. That is where Elizabeth Pantley's Gentle Baby Care Book, with its A-Z format, comes in so handy. When I want to know how to brush my wriggling 9 month old baby's teeth, when it is time to decide which type of high chair to buy, or when I would like some advice about how a trip to a restaurant with my baby can be successful, then it would be Pantley's straightforward A-Z book that would be most helpful. All the information I need on these topics (and many more) is easily accesible in the one, alphabetically organized section. The result: I don't have to look for little bits of information on numerous different pages.

Also, Pantley covers topics that are hardly discussed in the Sears book, like what to do about "overzealous" grandparents, how to read aloud to babies, how to handle a move with a baby, what role music can play in a baby's life, how I can preserve memories of the precious baby period, what to do while visiting other people's homes - and much more. And all this is written in a friendly, experienced-mom-next-door style, easy to read but full of information.

This experienced mom's advice to new parents? Buy both the Sears book and Gentle Baby Care. If you only want to get one book, though, check the Sears book out from the library and get a copy of Pantley's book to keep!

Finally!! A user-friendly "I need help right NOW" book! This wonderful gem is chock full of expert advice. When my baby is teething and inconsolable, a quick flip through the book to "teething" gives me the concise, immediate answers I need and the expert advice that I'm looking for. When your crying baby refuses a bottle while you're weaning him from the breast, and your toddler is tugging at your sleeve...you'll thank your lucky stars for having the quick help at hand, rather than having to read volumes to get to your answer. A book no busy parent today should be without. Wonderful!!!

I can't imagine any topic in the first year that isn't covered in this big, fat book. I love that it is direct and to the point. I don't have to wade though lots of chatter to get what I need. If my baby has a fever it explains how to handle it without going into the history of fevers!

Common issues are all covered as well as more unusual things, such as car seat crying, taking your baby to a restaurant, traveling with your baby, and dealing with unwanted advice. No matter your style, this book gives good information and is very, very easy to use with an ABC arrangement. Highly recommended!

Every parent is different, and what is so wonderful about this
book is that no matter what your parenting style, you can take
the facts outlined and discussed in the book and apply them
to your own parenting style and value system and make your own decision. The author is wonderfully fresh by accepting that all parents are different, and her message is one of love and
respect for babies and the families they are born into. She starts out her first paragraph on every topic with the words:

"Learn about it." It's a helpful and valuable addition to anyone's bookshelf and I think a great shower gift!

Raising two children and working at home I don't have hours to read books. This handy resource is wonderful for looking up whatever issue I need a bit of help on. I find the alphabetical arrangement unique and practical. For example, my children get their first teeth around 4 months old, while my sister's children pass their first birthday without any teeth, so reading about Teething in the 6 month section of a chronoligical book eludes both of us. In this book, flipping to "Teething" when we need it works perfectly. I'm also impressed with the wide variety of topics covered. I've yet to reach for a topic and not find it - even things like how to wash my baby's hair when he hates it, what to do about persistent cradle cap, how to brush his teeth when he doesn't want me to, and how to get him to not squirm during diaper changes, and how to manage an airplane trip and a week-end overnight visit with two little ones along. A useful, handy book that will last longer then the first year.

The BEST book for parents!!! I love this book, I am a Mum of 2 and thought that I had read quite a lot on the subject of babies, both in books and on the internet and I thought that I knew all that there was to know about babies but how wrong I was, in the first couple of chapters alone I learnt new things that I had never even heard of. In fact I wish that I had had this book when my first was a baby, if I had I would have realised that her cough that made her really unwell was in fact asthma and I would have saved her a lot of unpleasant times!

The first thing that I noticed when I opened the book was the great format, easy short chapters in alphabetical order so that it can be used quickly and easily, ideal for busy parents especially with a new baby who dont have time to read through masses of information but just need quick and informative answers, the next thing that I noticed was the chapters themselves which contained some really interesting topics that I had not seen in any other baby book such as teethbrushing, bilingualism, CPR, shoes etc.

Information on many hot topics such as to circumcise or not and breast or bottle is presented in a factual and unbiased manner giving parents the pros and cons to allow them to make their own decisions, the author manages to have remained totally unbiased.

The author has done a great job with this book and I will certainly be recommending it to any of my friends or family whether they are to be parents for the first or fifth time!!

Elizabeth wrote the perfect book for Childbirth Educators, Doula's, and Lactation Professionals!
Not only is this book great for the new parent, but is also essential if you work with pregnant couples. It has served me well as a resource in my business.
I recomend this book to all of my clients as it covers so much information in a kind, gentle, very common-sense manner!