Customer Reviews

YOU: Having a Baby: The Owner's Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I purchased this book based on a recommendation in a magazine. The excerpt provided there talked about epigenetics. I was very intrigued and expected there to be a wealth of information on this topic -- there was just a very short section :( The rest of the information is quite good, and I picked up several valuable pointers (despite the fact that I've read about a gazillion books on pregnancy before). However, I agree with reviewers that said this book is not essential if you have others laying around the house already. The epigenetics section certainly isn't enough to set it apart like I hoped it would.

I also found the book to be very disorganized (jumping from what to eat while you're pregnant, to what to buy for your newborn, to how to choose an OB, to what to do if you are having trouble getting pregnant, and back to what to do while you're pregnant, and so on). I found myself wondering who in the world organized the content for the book, because it didn't make sense to me!

All in all, I was very disappointed by this title, which I have for the Kindle. As a note, the Kindle version's formatting is VERY off and many sentences are completely missing and certain tables completely unreadable.

I hate to leave a negative review of anything Dr. Oz does, but this book was a huge disappointment. I have an arsenal of pregnancy, baby and child-related books and was so excited for this new one that I pre-ordered it and checked the mailbox daily. The book is not what you would expect if you're used to reading the "What to Expect" series. It actually reads like a middle school health text book with endless, useless illustrations that are just not of value for even the most moderately educated woman. If you have a pretty good awareness of your body, health and your reproductive system, this book is pretty dumbed-down...kind of a "Pregnancy for Dummmies." There was hardly any information that actually answered my "run for the bookshelf" questions like the What to Expect books. I rarely want to return a book, but this one is truly useless to me.

If you want a complete pregnancy book, I would highly recommend the What to Expect When You're Expecting, but even more so, the Dr. Sears "Pregnancy Book", which surprised me by becoming my favorite. I love the Dr. Sears books, but am not a huge fan of co-sleeping and attachment parenting...just returned their "Baby Sleep Book"...but their Pregnancy Book is really comprehensive, especially for all those neurotic questions we come up with as pregnant mothers! I also LOVE the Dr. Sears "Breastfeeding Book" and "The Nursing Mother's Companion". Once baby arrives, I cannot recommend highly enough "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems" by Tracey Hogg. By far, the most helpful, wonderful, effective book for all things infant ever created!!! This book was/is my Baby Bible! Kind, loving methods to solve every baby question/problem from eating to sleeping to breaking bad habits - amazing!!!

What a stupid book. It's poorly organized, superficial, condescending, and glib--the humor is totally lame and not even appropriate at times. There's nothing here that you won't find in WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING, and you'll find a LOT more useful and well-organized advice in that book. The authors make a big deal about their discussion of epigenetics, but all it amounts to is the same advice you'll find elsewhere, and in better detail, about eating healthfully during pregnancy. Duh. The section on labor is too short and, like the rest of the book, is illustrated with grotesque, ill-conceived drawings that will only serve to heighten women's fears about pain. Just about every topic is handled too briefly, including such important topics as circumsion, making this book an insult to thinking women who really would like to know in depth what's going on with their babies and their bodies. The authors clearly rushed through this book to beef up their "You" series and horn in on the pregnancy market. Terrible.

The information in this book is thorough and written with a some humor and wit (which sometimes isn't as humorous or witty as the authors thought). However, the book needs to be completely reformatted for the Kindle. In all sections where there is a diagram or a side note, the book becomes completely unreadable. A paragraph will get cut off mid-sentence only to continue 2-5 pages later (in line with the rest of the text). This led to a lot of scrolling back and forth to finish each section. Many of the images contain tiny text which is also illegible on the kindle.

If this is the book you want to read, get a hard copy.

I received this book as a gift during my current pregnancy. It has been ten years since my previous child. Where this book really shines is that it explains a lot of medical and science information in hip, fun ways. I earned a bachelor's degree in a biological science, so often I feel that books that are meant for the general public on medically related topics are dumbed down or so simplified they miss the point. Roizen and Oz have kept the why's and how's of what is happening in your body, and made a few very complicated ideas comprehensible to the general reader.
So why am I giving this book only three stars? To be fair, there are so many books available on pregnancy already it is hard to come up with something full of enough new and original information to get a book up to that five star status for this topic. The other reason is how the book is organized.
The authors decided to move away from the pregnancy week-by-week structure used in so many other pregnancy books. The book itself reads very well, if you are just sitting down to read all about pregnancy. I ran into trouble when I went back later looking for specific information that I knew I had read. I tried the index, but wasn't always able to find what I was looking for easily, leaving me to flip through pages until I happened across what I was looking for. The book does include information about common disorders, birthing and prenatal care options, nutrition and recipes, and exercise plans.
This book shined in getting me to really understand what was going inside my pregnant body. I am glad I own this book. What I would recommend is get a good classic week by week guide for your reference (often given for free at the OB's office nowadays) AND buy this book to sit down and read and understand what is happening with you and your baby.

I love the "YOU" books, and when I found out I was pregnant this was the first book I bought. Most pregnancy books tell you what to expect and when. This book does too, but it also tells you the "Why" behind everything, which paints a much clearer picture and provides a better understanding of what's going on during this special time in your life. It is a very helpful book and highly recommended for those who are pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant. Wonderful book!!!

My wife is 8 months pregnant so we both read this. Was really accessible and for me really refreshing. Avoided a lot of the alarmism that other books in this genre fall into. We're big fans of the entire You series.

I am about to give birth - and my only wish is that I had this book sooner! I have read every book available and this one has the most valuable information - presented in a fun and interesting way. There is so much to think/worry/be excited about during pregnancy, and Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen, deliver (no pun intended) well researched, cutting edge information without trying to scare you or be snarky like so many other books. And I really appreciate the their focus on stress modification - especially at this point in my experience.
I have YOU:Being beautiful, but I might have to get YOU: On a Diet after giving birth!
I love these books and hope the Doctors keep them coming.

I always love reading the YOU books, and this latest contribution is no exception. The authors craft an upbeat, accessible, fun guide for women going through the awe-inspiring, but also sometimes scary process of bringing new life into our world. They highlight how detrimental stress (both physical and emotional) can be to the newborn and proceed to explain all the aspects of pregnancy so elegantly that I felt immediately relaxed. The good doctors teamed up with a well recognized OB-GYN from the Cleveland Clinic and several other experienced moms (including Mrs Oz!) to explain practical aspects of fertility and the early weeks after conception.

I believe their most valuable contribution is a comprehensive review of the fascinating process of epigenetics. This is how humans were able to adapt to rapid changes in their environment like a famine or ice age. This same process will change how our children use their genes if the mother does not take charge of her own health so the fetus can predict their future environment correctly. They make a reasonable argument that this is the single biggest advance in medicine in the past decade.

Most importantly, "YOU: having a baby" correctly argues that 50% of women do not know that they are pregnant when they first conceive, so all pre-menapausal women should follow the nutrition plan that they outline. I am getting copies for all my friends for the holidays.

Very average pregnancy book that I thankfully borrowed not bought. But the reason it deserves one star is that these authors have NO business writing about pregnancy.

Does everyone know Dr. Oz is a Cardiologist? So guess what? That makes him a specialist in...Cardiology...not general medicine, not nutrition and certainly not pregnancy.

Dr. Roizen, the co-author isn't any better - he's an anesthesiologist and an internist. I'm tired of "celebrities" expanding beyond their expertise so they can put their name on one more thing.