Customer Reviews

Your Amazing Newborn

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an amazing book! It contains some fascinating facts about newborns that are not widely known. It is absolutely staggering what these little people are actually capable of! I read it when my son was a few weeks old, but I wish that I had read it before his birth. I would have gotten so much more out of those first few days. I am buying this for my niece who is expecting and I plan to use this book as my standard baby shower gift.

While other baby books (e.g., What to Expect...) focus on all the things that can go wrong with a baby and all the practical concerns, which are important, this book offers such a wonderfully different perspective: the title sums it up...it's about how amazing newborns are and all they can do at the moment they are born. I read it just before and again just after my newborn came along and the just-after reading made all the difference in the world: made me see not just how important it all was but how amazing this little person was. I wish more people would read this book; I give it to everyone I know who has a baby.

(I read the 1st edition, which seemed out of date--I trust that this edition is more current.) With our due date just days away, I enjoyed this quick read about infants. Their capabilities will surprise most readers--it's not just that they can smell, listen, and look, it's that they can learn, think, and respond! Truly, the hardwired talents of the littlest humans goes far beyond what most of us suspected, and give us a new outlook on what it means to be human.

This was by far the best book I've read during pregnancy. It's a fast and interesting read with great information and research that both my husband and I found equally exciting and valuable. I can't stop telling people about it. It's the only book I've read that doesn't preach about the wrong and right way to do things, but offers research to show how intelligent and aware newborns are. It is much less about the parents and much more about the babies. I would highly recommend this to anyone expecting a new baby in their family.

This book is brief and simply written with wonderful photos. It discusses the characteristics of infants only in the first days of life; it doesn't cover how, say, a 1 month old is different from an infant. The pictures are wonderful and informative. For a more thorough discussion without the excellent photos, I recommend What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot

What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life

This is a wonderful book that demonstrates, just as its title indicates, that newborns are truly amazing beings, with far more cognitive abilities than is generally assumed.

For example, one of those abilities is the capacity to instinctively know how to reach for his or her mother's breast, typically within 45-90 minutes after birth....there are many photographs, some astounding, especially the ultrasound photos)...

I would not have the slightest reservations giving this book as a present to expectant parents or parents of a newborn.

This book was both educational and delightful both for my wife and for me.

I bought this book based on the rave reviews of the beautiful photos and learning what newborns are capable of. I did like most of the photos. However what I found most interesting was learning how the researchers did the studies that led to knowing how the babies think. I have always wondered how they know what scents, sounds, sights, etc. a baby reacts to. It is too basic for anyone who wants an in-depth explanation of the studies, but for a layperson it was very informative to read how some of the studies were done, and amazing to see how such young newborns react.

I'm a pediatrician, and I recommend this book, not only to new parents, but also to health care professionals. This fascinating work is basically an annotated illustrated bibliography to the research in this field. Any professional who wants to know more can take this work as a wonderful, paradigm-shifting and enlightening starting point, and follow the cited works to further work.
I do a lot of teaching, and I recommend this book to doctors, nurses, midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and to medical, midwifery, and nursing students, and particularly to residents and fellows in pediatrics, OB and family practice--and of course, to new parents. A huge body of research over the past several decades has demonstrated a grand repertoire of innate hardwired newborn capabilities, including a wonderful capability for very young babies to interact with, and respond to, their parents beginning the first hour of life. My reasons for recommending this updated work begin with all the reasons that the parents who have reviewed this book here have already so eloquently stated. Beyond that, let me add: Marshall Klaus is a neonatologist from UCSF, co-editor and author of Klaus and Fanaroff, a solid neonatology textbook, and a careful and very observant researcher and scholar. Phyllis Klaus is a brilliant and thoughtful psychotherapist. They are an amazing team. The book is beautifully illustrated and fully referenced. Much of the work cited are the classic, seminal studies in the field. It should be required introductory reading for every pediatric resident and neonatology fellow on the planet.

I justt loved all the photos in here of newborn faces and behaviors. every baby in this book is two weeks old or less, and it was so interesting to learn aout the skills they are born with.

Newborn was my favorite and most immediately helpful relevant and useful book in my collection. I read it when I was pregnant and when my new baby was napping and it was great guidance! It has lovely pictures and descriptions of newborns with all of their miraculous skills, instincts and reflexes. It shows an hour-old infant boldly rooting his way to breast and latching on without assistance for the first feeding. Explains what is happening in the brain, the limits of the focus range and attention span in early days, the different mental states like quiet alert etc, shows how the baby interacts, what they need and why they look so funny. I cant recommend it highly enough for a new mama. The rest of your baby books wont be useful for a few months. THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT NOW!