Customer Reviews

The Mother of All Baby Books: The Ultimate Guide to Your Baby's First Year (U.S. edition)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great, easy-to-read book with good info. However, the title is a bit misleading--2/3 of the book deal with planning for baby and dealing with the first few days. It is an excellent book, but it is more a book to read in your last trimester than after baby is born.

I am frequently asked to review parenting and pediatric health books as part of my job as a parent educator. This is one of the best baby books that has crossed my desk in years. It provides an incredibly comprehensive -- and honest -- look at the first year of parenthood from both the parent and child's perspective. I was particularly impressed by the section on planning your "babymoon" (the first week or two of parenthood). This is material that every new parent should have. And the section on not overshopping for baby is equally invaluable. Other highlights of the book include the head-to-toe "tour" of a newborn baby (the material on birthmarks and other newborn features is more comprehensive than anything I've ever seen in a book targeted at consumers rather than health care providers); the no-holds-barred description of what your postpartum body will really feel like (again, the author provides an unprecedented amount of detail); the chapter on breastfeeding (a massive chapter that addresses all of the most common concerns about breastfeeding and a useful explanation of "the science of lactation"); the chapter on common illnesses which includes a very useful section on when to call the doctor); and the highly detailed infant development chart (the chart provides a useful overview of the key social, emotional, cognitive, and communicative milestones you can expect your baby to achieve during that all-important first year -- and guidelines on what to look for if you're worried that your baby may be experiencing a delay in one area). The book is medically accurate and yet still highly readable -- a rare combination in parenting and pediatric health book circles. It's definitely a 5+ star book.

What an enjoyable and informative book!! After Reading "The Mother of all Pregnancy Books' and finding it both humorous and informative, I rushed out to purchase "The Mother of All Baby Books." I read it cover to cover within a week and have referred to it at LEAST once a week since then. The chapter on breast-feeding is fantastic. The information on baby's health has been consistently valuable to me, a first time mom, who has been checking for every sign of illness. It helped me quite a bit to have a realistic understanding of the physical limitations of my post-pregnancy body and an idea of what a normal recovery period was.

I could go on and on about the multitudes of useful information in this book. However I feel that some of the most valuable portions of this book are the (often humourous) anecdotes that helped me and my husband feel validated in our concerns and less isolated in our experiences. Let's face it, not many of us can call another parent of a feverish 6 month old at 3 am, but we can refer to Ann Douglas's book and find out not only when to be concerned enough to head to the emergency room, but also be consoled that other parents have been through the same thing.

My sister gave me a copy of this book at my baby shower after receiving a copy at her baby shower earlier in the year. I have to say that it has proven to be one of the most practical baby gifts that I received. When my baby was a newborn, I referred to the book a couple of times a day -- so often, in fact, that I made a point of carrying the book in my baby's diaper bag if we were going to be out for the day. It's just the right size to fit in a diaper bag or the bottom of a stroller. One weekend I happened to leave it behind when we were visiting frienda out of town and our baby developed a fever. I wanted to look at the fever guidelines in the book, so the friend we were visiting called around until she found a friend who owned a copy of the book, and then drove over to borrow that person's copy of the book. That's how attached I'd become to the book! (Mind you, a friend of mine developed an even more extreme attachment to the pregnancy book written by the same author. She kept one copy in her desk at work and a second copy at home. That way, she'd always have a copy within easy reach!)

So what is it that makes this book so special? A couple of things. For one thing, the author uses a friendly and reasuring tone that puts your mind at ease and makes you feel confident in your mothering abilities at a time when you may be second guessing yourself a lot. She also has a great sense of humor. (And there are days when your sense of humor is your only mothering asset.) The book also happens to be well written and extremely detailed. If there's a topic related to babies that you want to know about, chances are it's covered in the book.

The book also includes Web resources, a detailed glossary, a list of organizations such as infant health associations that every parent should know about, growth charts, immunization schedules, babyproofing checklists, charts summarizing the symptoms/treatments for the most common childhood illnesses, month-by-month infant development charts highlighting the key social, emotional, intellectual, and physical developmental milestones, tips on playing with your baby, advice on promoting healthy sleeping and eating habits, and much more. The book has proven to be an invaluable resource and I intend to let all of my friends know about this terrific book.

I hit the mother load with this book! It helped me with all my baby questions... and as a mother of an eleven month old I needed all the help I could get.

I really appreciated the honest, funny and fresh approach this book takes. I didn't feel so alone in this motherhood mambo... other women were going through the same things as me. It also gave me some great insight into what to expect in respect to illnesses and the nitty gritty of parenting. There is life after being up all night with a congested wee one... and Ann helps you see the light!

This is certainly a book I will purchase for my girlfriend's who are having babies. They'll appreciate the advice and the sense of humour.

Enjoy!

My baby is now 2 months old and I've just finished reading the Mother of all Baby Books. I found it to be an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand book covering all aspects of the first year. I wish I had it when my daughter was first born... it would have saved a lot of non-emergency calls to my midwife! There's so much info packed in this book... sleeping, feeding, babyproofing, illnesses, those quirky newborn skin conditions, immunizations etc. Plus great little tips on saving money when outfiting your nursery, and how many layers to dress Baby in... the list goes on. I whole-heartedly recommend this book. It takes you from newborn to the first birthday and answers every question you can think of. There is also a great list of resources for where to find more information. Ann gives you it all and then tells you where to find more!

"If there were a million and one things to worry about back when you were pregnant, there are easily 10 million and one things to worry about now that your baby is here." That's just one of the many bits of wisdom that jumped out at me while I was reading this book. I really felt that the author of this book really understood what it's like to be a new mom: how scary and overwhelming and exhausting it can be at times, even if you wanted to have a baby more than anything else you've wanted in your entire life.

But don't get me wrong. This isn't a touchy-feely book (even though there's a lot of mom-to-mom dialog sprinkled throughout this book). This book is actually more of a first year survival manual for moms: how to keep your baby healthy and well and take care of your own physical and emotional health at the same time. A lot of baby books that I've read seem to forget about the mom, so I really appreciated the fact that The Mother of All Baby Books explores baby's first year from both the mother and the baby's perspective.

The information on physical health is particularly well written and readable. For example, I've rarely come across another pregnancy book that is as honest -- even graphic! -- about what the postpartum experience can really be like, and how long it may take to get your body and your sex life back on track after baby. This book quickly became my trusted source for baby's first year information.

If you enjoyed some of Ann's other books (for example, The Mother of All Pregnancy Books or The Unofficial Guide to Having A Baby), you will want to order a copy of this book, too. Like her pregnancy books, The Mother of All Baby Books conveys all kinds of "from the trenches" advice that other books tend to leave out: tips on healthy foods that can be eaten with one hand while you're breastfeeding, stress-free ways to ease back into your fitness routine after the birth of your baby, tips on shopping for baby without going broke, reassuring advice on detecting and treating the most common first-year illnesses, and much more. The directory of resources at the back of the book is also extremely useful. You'll find mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, and web site addresses for all the leading pediatric health and parenting associations, a glossary of key pediatric health terms, and much more. This book is the perfect companion to the highly medical AAP reference book, Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five.

I found this book to be an excellent reference. It is comprehensive, well-researched and fun! (I loved the "fun facts" about babies provided throughout the book.) It also provides a very balanced approach to controversial topics (e.g. sleep -- unlike another leading baby book, it did not make me feel guilty about sleeping with my baby for the first few months), letting new parents know that they should make the decisions that work best for their families and their babies. It contains lots of helpful medical information as well. I don't agree with the other reviewers who think this book is just about the first 2 weeks of life - I especially liked the information on introducing solid foods and on baby proofing, all of which occur well after the first two weeks. I wish that this book had been around when I had my first child - it's been a great resource for me in dealing with my second child.

The Mother of All Baby Books is well-named, because the scope of the topics covered in this book on your baby's first year is huge. Ann Douglas provides extensive information on breastfeeding, introducing solid foods to your baby, baby's first teeth, handling problems with diapers, and so much more! She never talks down to you, like some other authors do, and instead, speaks clearly about common issues and problems that many moms face in Baby's first year of life. Every new mom needs this book.