Tomorrow's Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception through Infancy [Hardcover]

Thomas R. Verny (Author), Pamela Weintraub (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2002

In recent years, revolutionary discoveries in neuroscience and developmental psychology have transformed our understanding of infant development. We now know that starting from conception, the infant brain is wired by the environment. Everything that the infant experiences in his mother's womb and after birth leaves a permanent imprint on his brain.

This book explains how even the most ordinary events, such as the words a mother speaks to her unborn son or the way a father holds his newborn daughter, evoke a cascade of biological changes -- not only in the brain but also in the immune system and throughout the body. Every experience, from her trip down the birth canal to an afternoon in the park, shapes the health and personality of the child. Whether we intend it or not, everything we say and do teaches the infant a secret lesson about herself and us, her parents.

"Tomorrow's Baby" translates these scientific insights into practical advice for parents and parents-to-be. An internationally acknowledged expert in early human development, Dr. Thomas Verny draws on his knowledge of the latest scientific research to explain how, with planning and proper support, parents can create an ideal environment for their babies. Dr. Verny advocates "conscious parenting," which begins with the parent's or caregiver's informed acceptance of the enormous challenge of raising and nurturing a child. He offers a wealth of practical suggestions, from optimal prenatal communication to enhancing infants' empathic abilities, as well as advice for building language acquisition, enhancing intelligence, and developing other social skills. Now, for the first time, parents can learn how to helpactualize their child's full potential, beginning with conception.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Verny (The Secret Life of the Unborn Child), a psychiatrist and founder of the Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology Association of America, firmly believes that the development of the embryo and fetus, particularly the brain, is affected by a variety of external factors including nutrition, stress, medication and exercise. Stimulation such as playing music for unborn children is less important, according to Verny, than the emotional state of the mother. "The prenatal classroom is better suited for lessons of intimacy, love, and trust than for intellectual calisthenics or IQ boosting." He is particularly concerned with pregnant women who are uneasy with impending parenthood, and cites much scientific evidence showing how prenatal maternal stress negatively effects the baby's physical development. Likewise, he shows how parental behavior and mood in general have a direct impact on their children. However, readers looking for practical parenting tools may be frustrated; much of his advice is very broad (he urges women to find emotional support during pregnancy, for instance), and parents will probably find it quite difficult to work out anxiety-provoking internal conflicts and eliminate stressors without more concrete and perhaps professional guidance. Yet while the book falls somewhat short as a hands-on guide, Verny's thought-provoking and impassioned arguments and his engrossing descriptions of the infant's internal world will likely raise awareness of how parents' emotional lives affect their developing baby.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A psychiatrist and founder of the Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology Association of North America, Verny studies prenatal and infant brain development. Using the neuroscience angle to promote a New Age concept of the mind-body connection, he states that a child's brain interacts with his or her environment from the moment of conception. Since both genetics and experience shape personality, the nature/nurture dichotomy, he argues, does not exist. Although his basic explanation of current neuroscience, the mind-body connection, and its influence on child development will be of interest to parents and childcare professionals, his parenting advice is nothing new: interact with the child during pregnancy and infancy, avoid stress, take prenatal classes, have a natural childbirth, avoid physically or emotionally abusing the child, and maintain a stable, loving family. The American Medical Association Complete Guide to Your Children's Health (Random, 1999) or T. Berry Brazelton's Touchpoints (LJ 11/1/92) provide more comprehensive and practical information for parents. Recommended for public libraries where there is interest in New Age parenting material. Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684872145
• ISBN-13: 978-0684872148
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,144,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for obsessive types, March 28, 2006

By 

Kathleen Garber "from Callista's Ramblings an... (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tomorrow's Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception through Infancy (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tomorrow's Baby. I learned lots of new things such as the fact that the ova (egg) is always fertilized when sperm are about but the woman's body sometimes aborts it because of the male cells. The woman's body thinks it's an intruder. Also that at only 28 days old, when the embryo is only 1/4 inch long, the blood vessel that will become the heart begins to beat and the three primary parts of the brain have formed.

Unlike another reviewer, I found the talk about homosexuality interesting. I don't believe that the author is saying homosexuality is bad, but it isn't the norm. I found it intriguing to learn that homosexuality may be caused by stress during pregnancy because that would prove that homosexuals have no control over their feelings.

Someone else mentioned the author saying that stress, trauma, depression, abuse and the like during pregnancy causes mental health troubles in the child later on. I don't find that blaming. I don't feel that because I was depressed during my pregancy, if my daughter turns out to have mental health issues it will be my fault. It's not that concrete. Her health may or may not have something to do with my pregancy. The point of the research is to show that we need to implement some strategies to help those who are pregnant and poor/stressed/depressed/being abused and maybe in a few years the rate of mental health issues will decrease.

I especially enjoyed the summaries and key points at the end of each chapter. At times I had a hard time understanding the scientific talk but it wasn't that advanced. I just needed a quiet corner to read uninterupted. It's not a beginner's book though.

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing: not credible, guilt-tripping for mothers, April 25, 2005

By 

Adria Kyne (Boston Exurbia, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tomorrow's Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception through Infancy (Hardcover)

I bought this book thinking that the author would describe current research and try to distill it into advice for parents. Unfortunately, it frequently sinks into an impassioned but unscientific screed of his personal opinions about prenatal development.

There are two huge flaws to this book. One, he sloppily and disingenuously dismisses research that doesn't fit in with his worldview. For example, he criticizes Harris' The Nurture Assumption by saying that "her conclusions run counter to" the findings of other research studies (um, that's how the scientific method works--to advance scientific knowledge, people have to challenge current thinking!), and misprepresents her work by saying that she bases the book on her personal experiences. Actually, it's an extremely well-supported book (note the forward from respected MIT psychologist Steven Pinker), and while Harris does mention her own experiences, her arguments are based on detailed analysis of genetic/enviromental studies. Frankly, I suspect that Verny simply couldn't follow the math, and that's why he pans her book without addressing the technical analysis.

Two, he tries to support his more controversial opinions with highly emotional anecdotes, rather than actual evidence-based data. For example, the author claims that fetuses can hear their mother's thoughts (memories of which he believes can be uncovered with regression hypnosis, a practice that is not scientifically credible). Even more bizarrely, Verny claims that a 16-year-old was crushed to death in a car accident because he was traumatized by a premature birth brought on by pressure to the mother's abdomen. That is magical thinking, not scientific thinking.

This book would simply be ridiculous and a disappointment, but Verny puts so much pressure on mothers that instead I find it to be a travesty. Not only does he claim that mothers can't have stress, anger or unhappiness during their pregnancies without risking damage to their babies, but they cannot even have any negative thoughts about their babies because their babies will "hear" their thoughts, be psychologically damaged, and remember them years later! Mothers are the recipients of enough paternalistic advice covering every aspect of what they eat, how much they exercise, when they stop work, etc etc. When one is pregnant, you quickly get the feeling that you no longer own your own body. But now Verny says that not only is your body not yours, but your thoughts aren't either. Mothers don't need to deal with spurious guilt-tripping, in addition to everything else.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 6, 2003

By 

"aguifran" (Panama City, Panama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tomorrow's Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception through Infancy (Hardcover)

This book explains how the behavior of parents during pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood can influence the brain and body of the child on becoming a healthy, intelligent and emotionally fit child. Notwithstanding the previous reviews arguing that this work lacks cientific support, it appears to me that more than 95% of Verny's theories stand upon research from prestigious scientists from the four corners of the world. In fact, the book has hundreds of bibliographic references. Verny explains in a clear and concise fashion how prenatal stress, music, domestic violence, desire to give birth or not, conversation, drug and alcohol abuse, among other factors that you can control, can shape the brain of the unborn child. At the end of every chapter you will find a short list of advices and good practices to have an emotionally and mentally healthy child. Well written and a pleasure to read. For spanish speakers, there is a translation from a Catalunian editor, available from spanish internet book stores. The pregnancy and early childhood periods are, according to the author, paramount in the development of the brain. Afterwards the brain structure is almost fixed. The author gives you the advice on how to navigate successfully through these critical periods of the life of your child.