Customer Reviews

What to Expect the First Year

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I was a real doofus when I became a mom at age 38. I didn't know how to change a diaper, give my daughter a bath, or select a wardrobe for her. This book is a great "how to do it" primer for folks like me. HOWEVER, other reviewers echo my thoughts about some of the philosophies contained here. The authors buy into some of the most harmful mindsets of the American culture, such as "children in this country are expected to become independent sooner than in Third World countries." And letting a child cry it out at such a young age probably does more psychological harm than good in the long run. (It's interesting that so many of the "sleep experts" out there didn't use the "cry it out" method on their own kids. Hmmm) So the bottom line is: use what's worth using in this book, but trust your own gut feelings as a parent. Moms have raised kids since the beginning of time without experts. I'd also read Dr. William Sears' work to balance the perspective from this one. Best of luck to all parents out there

I found this book to be especially useful in the first few months of my baby's birth. From my exprience these first few months can be quite daunting simply becasue everything is so new. The slightest thing is cause for concern and there were questions all the time. This book provided me answers to all of them. Like the sudden crying bouts in the evening which may not necessarily be attributed to colic (i knew this after reading the entire section on colic - which was an eye opener!) or the spit ups and what to make of them based on their texture. My daughter had blood in her [...] and her [...] were engorged after birth. Of course I thought the worst! The book explained why and that it was perfectly normal. Boy was I relieved!

One night I awoke to find my 2 1/2 month old baby with a stuffed nose and having a hard time breathing. There were some excellent home remedies recommended in this book for such a situation. Of course at the the time I simply called my doctor. But I later found that the same solution offered by my doctor was in the home remedy section of the book. I promptly read all the home remedies suggested.

There is also a wonderful section on breastfeeding, expressing milk, what kind of pump to buy etc. Baby's grandparents really wanted me to feed her water in case she was dehydrated. I needed only to refer them to the relevant page which tells you why it needen't be given.

I found the bits on how to tell if baby is getting enough breastmilk to be most useful too. You can never tell especially if you're feeding on demand.

Just to highlight how comprehensive this book is, it also had some great advice on how to deal with baby's well meaning but overbearing grandparents.

There is also other basic information in this book that alot of parents may take for granted but which can proof to be a nerve wrecking experience to some new parents like how to dress and bathe baby and how to tell if baby is cold or warm. Why baby's sleep seems disturbed. Just stuff that new parents like me are paranoid about!

I also found the book helpful when shopping for a baby car seat. Detailed information was provided.

The tone of this book is also very factual and objective. You are basically fed with all the information and left to make your own choices. For example, I was in a dilemma about whether to give my baby a dummy when she started sucking her thumb and the book gave me the pros and cons. Super! Thats really what you want at the end of the day - to be able to make an informed decision based on the facts and this books provides you with exactly that.

Definetely a must have for any new moms.

I was very disappointed in the seemingly anti-breastfeeding attitude in this book. If you plan on breastfeeding, this book is not for you. Also, we have chosen to cloth diaper our son, and this book makes it sound like the worst thing you can do for your child. The only people who will like this book are those that formula feed their babies and diaper them in synthetic diapers.