Customer Reviews

The Portable Pediatrician: A Practicing Pediatrician's Guide to Your Child's Growth, Development, Health and Behavior, from Birth to Age Five

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

 

 

This book fit in nicely with the books that fit our parenting philosophy, which is off the AP bandwagon but in touch with current academic research on attachment and limits. And that's what's best about Nathanson's writing: it's soundly informed and appropriate for our culture.

Our newborn had transient tachypnea, and this was the only book we found that discusses it. Her position that you shouldn't let a newborn cry alone (but that it's possible to spoil a six-month-old) fits nicely between my mother's Spock-influenced rigidity and some of our friends' overindulgent parenting. We took her advice and introduced a "reminder bottle" at 2 weeks and now our baby goes easily from breast to bottle, finger to pacifier with ease (and no crying at any stage).

Unlike Dr Sears, Nathanson presents medical concepts for their own sake. She presents the variations of thought about fussiness and colic one by one, without using them to justify AP or scheduling--thus we could use them to understand the situation rather than spiral into self-doubt and sleeplessness. Her advice on breastfeeding actually has answers instead of rephrased attempts to convince us to do it.

I'm not sure this is a good choice for readers who see parenting as a cultural revolution, because Nathanson's advice is firmly centered in mainstream culture. But more importantly, it's broad and consistently helpful in its presentation of current pediatric knowledge.

I am ordering this as a gift for a new mommy for about the 25th time. I have at least 30 different parenting books, and yes, I usually consult all of them when I have a problem,and no, I haven't found any that I agree with 100% on every single issue, but this one is by far my favorite. Dr. Nathanson is funny, she does not seem to have an agenda, and she is, quite simply, right. My favorite thing about her books is that she can explain the child's behavior from the child's point of view, which goes so far in diffusing baffling parenting situations. Once I understand why my child is having that tantrum, solving it becomes much easier. Her advice is down to earth, and extremely practical, and she is does not condescend when giving medical information. I also find her book more thorough than most. I don't know why this woman isn't revered the way some of the other baby book authors are. She's like your best friend from college who has 6 kids, more common sense than anyone else you know, and also happens to be a pediatrician.

I think this is one of the best books on parenting that I have. It has everything that you need to know about development of your child. Each chapter has "Portrait of an age," which always "fits" with my child's actual behavior so you can read ahead and know what to anticipate in the coming months. The book also has a very detailed medical information and "what if..." sections which I haven't found in many other books. For each chapter "what if.." sections talk about how life-changing events such as starting a daycare, moving, getting pregnant with a second child, getting a divorse etc influence your child's behavior and development at a particular age. I think the author has a great common sense approach about disciplining your child as well. And yes, ignoring your child during a tantrum actually works and makes him stop doing it! I found a lot of valuable advice on how to deal with the negative behavior and prevent it by setting the limits ahead of time. The author also spends a lot of time on how to communicate with your child at each stage to stimulate his development. I really like the book and would higly recommend it to all parents.

I have referred to this book countless times- It has saved me more than one trip to the doctor and kept me from asking stupid questions. Unlike some similar books "What To Expect, etc" this book is organized in an easy to read, easy to find what you need format. I am about to buy two more copies to give as shower gifts- including one for my little sister

We received this book as a gift upon the birth of our first child and it has been the most useful child reference book we own. It covers the most common illnesses in infants and toddlers in a very thorough fashion. Not only does it give reassuring advice about when a problem requires a visit to the doctor versus being something you can handle on your own, the advice on how to identify and treat minor illnesses (such as diaper rash) has been the best I've come across.

The book is also extremely useful in it's coverage of the behavioral issues that appear at different ages and in different challenging situations. It gave us a good idea of what to expect from our first child upon the arrival of a younger sibling and has offered excellent suggestions on dealing with discipline and oppositional defiance issues as we work our way through the terrible twos. Of course, there is no magic bullet to those sorts of problems, but the author engagingly outlines general strategies that have been extremely helpful.

I agree with a previous reviewer that the author does take a very traditional approach to the family bed (she's against it). However I hardly think that the author's traditional approach to childhood sleep habits is a reason to throw the baby out with the bath water, as it were. If you are planning to pursue an attachment parenting approach to child rearing and/or to have a family bed, this book isn't going to talk you out of it. If you are planning to pursue a more old-fashioned approach to childhood sleeping habits, then this book probably provides good advice (although I couldn't say from experience since we have happily gone the attachment parenting/family bed route). In either case, the medical and behavioral advice has been excellent. So I see no reason to get worked up about the advice on sleep habits if you don't happen to agree with it.

Overall, this is a very well-designed source of general medical and behavioral advice. Every new parent should have it on their shelf. Highly recommended.

I LOVE this book, and have referred to it time and again during my now 5-year old's life. It answers nearly every health-related question I've ever had (and there are many, for new parents), and is also very down-to-earth and witty. I just bought it as a baby shower gift for an expecting friend. Our pediatrician loves us because we don't call her constantly, and it's because of this book.

I have a few problems with this book. First of all, the lay-out can be difficult to follow. Sometimes it just seems jumbled. And, more importantly, I think the author is too obsessed with weight. Considering our country's growing population of obese children, there is some reason for concern, but her advice against snacks for toddlers is taking things a bit too far (and is in contradiction to the American Academy of Pediatrics' advice). The book is filled with advice about how to tell if your baby is too chubby, and how to keep them trim. This might be useful IF your pediatrician has told you that your child is too heavy, but could cause useless anxiety otherwise. Also, like any baby book author, Dr. Nathanson's biases show through, and may be in conflict with yours. For example, in the chapter on Nine months to One year, she advocates, "Consider a baby-harness or leash: this is the age for Cherub (she always refers to baby as Cherub) to get used to it." If this makes you cringe, you might want to pass on this particular book. In the nine months since our son was born, we've refered to this book a few times, but have found The American Academy of Pediatrics Caring for your Baby and Young Child Birth to Age 5 much more useful.

This is one of the most well-worn books in my house. It's reassured me through countless colds and scrapes on the part of my two kids. The developmental sections are helpful, and the parenting parts are no more than suggestions of various alternatives you might not have thought of. If you're very dogmatic about child-raising this book will annoy you, as the author will invariably discuss some child-rearing technique you don't like and think no one should ever use, but I personally had no problem ignoring the parts I wasn't interested in and benefiting from the rest, and I'm glad she wrote a comprehensive enough book to let me do that rather than making arbitrary decisions like "I hate pacifiers so I'm not going to say anything about them." My only complaint was the illustrations are extremely ugly. Maybe a child drew them, but they certainly don't add anything.

This book is like the Bible for raising kids. Raising kids is challenging enough, but we have found that the guidance in this book helped us "get ahead" by helping us lay a solid foundation early: nutrition, setting age appropriate limits early, strategies for dealing with oppositional behavior (terrible 2's) before it ever has a chance to start (again, getting ahead), emotional, cognitive, physical development. Life is more pleasant. I feel that we are not facing the regular uphill battles with our kids that it seems other parents who just wing it face. The first part of the book is split into "chapters" that discuss each age range, give strategies, milestones, advice in detail. This is what we found so helpful. The rest is simply a great reference in case your kid gets croup or gets stung by a bee or falls or whatever. I hate reading, but even I thought it was great.

This book is an excellent resource for parents. I have given this gift to many many friends! Thank you to Dr. Nathanson!!!