Customer Reviews

I Used to Be the Baby

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In "I Used to Be the Baby," by Robin Ballard, a young boy describes life with his baby brother. The book combines friendly, colorful illustrations with an easy-to-read text. Sample text: "I used to be the baby, but now I am big. I have a baby brother, and I help Mommy take care of him."

The text and illustrations show the narrator doing many activities with his baby brother: playing with him, singing to him during a car ride, reading to him from a baby board book, etc. This is a sweet, charming book that shows a positive picture of an older brother interacting with a baby sibling. I really liked the cartoony pictures.

we are reading this book in preparation for the birth of our second son. i enjoyed how the author takes situations that might cause an older sibling frustration and turns them into chances to "help mommy out". it's a good chance to give suggestions to a child as to how they might mitigate problems they have with their sibling.

The harried mother in the background is delightful, fun for an adult to notice, while the foreground action is what's going on between the "big boy" and his baby brother - feeding the hungry baby toast & jam (and the look on the mother's face) was priceless. Another in this series of must-haves for the nursery-school book shelf.

We have a 2 yr old boy, and our 2nd boy is due in November so the set up of this book corresponds with our situation. Our son loves it and it has helped him learn the concept of becoming a big brother. He even kisses the baby in the book.

I have a two year old son with another one on the way. Trying to get across the concept that "the end of the world as he knows it is fast approaching" is not an easy one, so I turned to a number of books such as this one.

The pictures are done quite nicely, but my big complaint is that the text itself doesn't make a lot of sense to me. When reading this book to our son, we frequently make up totally different words than what's written in the book. For example, I don't believe there's a single rhyme in the whole book.

I do agree that the book does present some difficult situations that may trouble an older sibling (like the baby taking toys, etc.) But I would recommend instead something like "The New Baby" by Mercer Mayer

I liked the illustrations (when you read it, notice the mother's expressions...some are hilarious!), and the language was the right level for a small child. My daughter is two and loves it. My only beef was with the while bottle-feeding thing. I breastfeed my son, and this book certainly didn't help my daughter understand that because it portrays the baby being fed with a bottle. But, hey, you can't please everybody! Otherwise, a great book.

My 2 1/2 year old loves this book. It has great pictures of a baby being annoying and then how the older brother can help the baby. My only quibble is that the first situation is resolved by feeding the baby a bottle. I wish our culture wasn't so full of bottle pushers when breastfeeding is also a great way to feed a baby!

I'm buying this as a gift; we loved it when our 2d and 3rd children were born. Very gentle, very nice modeling of appropriate behaviors in response to a new baby, and helps the big kids understand that they can be nice helpers to a baby who loves them very much. I quibble with the negative reviews: yes the baby takes a bottle, eats toast w jam, but I disagree that this makes it a poor choice if your family doesn't do those things. Kids understand that different families do things different ways, if they even notice the illustrations that closely. To wit, my 3 yr old nurses her dolls all the time, and has never mentioned to me that the baby in the book takes a bottle. I just don't think it matters.

I purchased this book, along with several others, to prepare my 4 year old for the arrival of his little brother. It really helped emphasize that he was going to be the BIG brother and the BIG boy and the baby's special needs. He is now 5-1/2 and his baby brother is 6 months and he still gets this book out to read at bedtime.

This book helped my two year old a lot. It explains things in cause and effect which is great for there little minds. I often recommend it to friends who are expecting.