Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five (Revised Edition) [Paperback]

Penelope Leach (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 15, 1997

Penelope Leach's Your Baby & Child is the most loved, trusted and comprehensive book in its field--with almost two million copies sold in America alone. Newsweek says that it is not only one of the best parenting books, but also "by far the most pleasurable to read."
  
This new version, completely rewritten for a new generation, encompasses the latest research and thinking on child development and learning, and reflects the realities of today's changing lifestyles and new approaches to parenting.  
  
Penelope Leach's authoritative and practical style will reassure, encourage, inform and inspire every parent-to-be and new parent. Your Baby & Child is the baby book that responds fully to every parent's deepest concerns about the psychological and emotional as well as physical well-being of his or her children.
  
Dr. Leach describes--in easy-to-follow stages, from birth through starting school--what is happening to your child, what he or she is doing, experiencing and feeling. She tackles the questions parents often ask and the ones they dare not. Whether your concern is a new baby's wakefulness, a toddler's tantrums, a preschool child's shyness, aggression or nightmares, or how to time your return to work, choose day care or tell a child about a new baby or an impending divorce, the information you need to make your own decisions is right here.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penelope Leach's Your Baby & Child has been a beloved favorite for years. With this new, revised edition, Leach has updated her information and approach to reflect new findings in the field of child development, and to respond to the changing needs of today's families. Leach has utter respect for children and their parents; she explains development, child care, and parenting concerns clearly and without condescension.

Each developmental stage--newborn, settled baby, older baby, toddler, and young child--is discussed in terms of feeding, teeth and teething, growing, excreting, crying, sleeping, playing, and everyday care. For each stage, an additional set of appropriate topics is discussed, including muscle power, speech, child care, and appropriate toys. Colorful and expressive photos display infant, childhood, and toddler behavior. With her common-sense, child-positive approach, Leach carefully dispels negative parenting attitudes, and teaches readers how to stop, listen, and learn from their children. --Ericka Lutz

From Library Journal

This updated version of the child-rearing standard by renowned British psychologist Leach is touted by the publisher as the "essential guide fully revised for today's family." Although the five chapter subdivisions based on the child's age remain the same, and some of the opening essays on each age are lifted almost verbatim from the 1989 edition (Knopf), critical updates in some areas of concern, such as SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), make this an essential purchase. In addition to physical growth and progress, Leach addresses the psychosocial needs of children. She also includes parent concerns and responses similar to those found in Workman's "What To Expect" series. Public and academic libraries would do well to stock the new version of this primer on children and their development for circulation as well as for the reference shelf.?Lisa Williams, Moline Southeast Lib., Ill.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; Revised edition (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375700005
• ISBN-13: 978-0375700002
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for parents of young children July 30, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I wish I'd had this book when when my daughter was born - I would have been a better and more confident parent. Penelope Leach writes a straightforward, easy-to-understand book that no parent should be without. She helps us understand why the child does the things he does, and once we understand why he's doing it, it's much easier to handle. Whether you're coping with a baby who won't eat or a toddler who throws tantrums, Leach gives you simple, easy solutions to try. Hers is a kinder, gentler form of parenting, in which we try to understand the child rather than simply trying to force him into some mold. I recommend this book highly.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book all around December 27, 2002

By Lori Freeman

Format:Paperback

Of the several books on parenting/childcare I've read in preparation for becoming a first-time parent, this is my favorite, the one I come back to time and time again.

The content is amazing. Some have described it as "wordy," but I can only say that if you want bullet points, you should look elsewhere. This is well-written, thoughtful communication. Most of the advice is quite balanced and thorough, including large, non-judgmental sections on bottle feeding even though Leach, like all conscientious professionals, is clearly pro-breastfeeding. On some issues she shows a clearer bias, for example circumcision (she disagrees with performing circumcision for other than religious reasons); however, on these issues after further research I have not found her information to be inaccurate.

The book is organized into sections based on time periods in the baby's/child's life, and further by various topics of concern within each time period, for example dental care, excretion/toilet training, social development, etc. This is not, however, a book for comprehensive lists of developmental milestones.

In addition to the content, the book is very attractive, with full-color photographs, some of them stunningly beautiful, throughout - not the tiny, crude illustrations or fuzzy black-and-white photographs offered in other books.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Reliable Reference for Parents February 7, 2004

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Even though Penelope Leach lives in England, her ideas and information feel comfortable to me in a small town in Kansas. Leach has a great understanding and respect for both young children and their parents; she explains many situations from the child's point of view which is extremely helpful. She includes detailed information regarding development, child care, and parenting concerns without talking down to her readers. My only criticism is that a number of topics are a bit too long and dry, but nevertheless interesting, worthwhile information. Leach clearly explains the developmental stages of the first 5 years...newborn, settled baby, older baby, toddler, and young child. I enjoy the photos of real children through out the book. Penelope's positive, common-sense philosophy is very compatible with another one of my favorite parenting guidebooks called "The Pocket Parent." This little book is a quick-read A-Z compendium of sanity saving suggestions to the most challenging behaviors of preschoolers...2's, 3's, 4', and 5's. "Pocket Parent" is loaded with hundreds of practical tips, compassion and humor that serves as an upbeat, easy to read reference book along with the more clinical book, "Your Baby and Child."