The Portable Pediatrician: A Practicing Pediatrician's Guide to Your Child's Growth, Development, Health and Behavior, from Birth to Age Five (Paperback)

by Laura W. Nathanson (Author) "Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, before Managed Medical Care,parents interviewed pediatricians to decide which one to choose before the baby arrived..." (more)
Key Phrases: potty refusal, extended separation from the parents, reminder bottle, Portrait of the Age, United States, Miss Kate (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The updated edition of Nathanson's 1994 The Portable Pediatrician for Parents looks a lot like the original (are those the same kids on the cover?), but the author has done more than give the old version a spit and a polish: she adds, for example, essays on current concerns such as autism, drug-resistant bacteria and managed care. Divided into three main sections-The Well Child, Illness and Injury, and Pediatric Concerns and Controversies-the book helps parents understand what to expect from their children (e.g., most babies lose weight immediately after birth; most three or four year olds will begin to have questions about sex), how to parent them when they're healthy (everything from setting limits consistently to taking temperatures rectally), and what to do if they're sick (how to perform CPR; when to use Syrup of Ipecac). She also includes To-Do Lists ("Laugh at Four's jokes, even if you don't understand why they're funny), discussions of common but not serious problems, and an impressively large amount of information parents should know but maybe don't ("those bumps you see at the back of the throat are normal taste buds). It's an excellent-one might even say indispensable-resource for the new parent, and Nathanson has a great bedside manner: she shares her expertise clearly, confidently and sometimes with even a touch of humor.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Dr. Laura Nathanson wrote The Portable Pediatrician to help parents find the joy in parenting and gain the confidence to quickly and easily assess their child's development, medical symptoms, and behavioral problems. Parents can't always visit their pediatrician every time they have a question, but fortunately with this book they have the next best thing.

The Portable Pediatrician, one of the few child-care books written by a practicing pediatrician, offers authoritative and practical advice on:

• Keeping up with, or even one step ahead of, your child's rapidly changing needs
• Setting limits before the one year birthday
• Planning the arrival of the next baby in the family
• Coping with your own as well as with your child's separation anxiety
• Dealing with the four I's: illnesses, injuries, immunizations, and insurance coverage
• Getting prompt medical attention for serious crises -- and what to do in the meantime
• Preventing childhood obesity and eating disorders later
• Confronting complex behavior and medical problems, including ADD, autism, asthma, oppositional behavior (including potty resistance)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; 2 edition (September 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060938471
• ISBN-13: 978-0060938475
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #372,366 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, February 3, 2004

By	G. Hickory (Lilburn, GA United States) - See all my reviews

I have a few problems with this book. First of all, the lay-out can be difficult to follow. Sometimes it just seems jumbled. And, more importantly, I think the author is too obsessed with weight. Considering our country's growing population of obese children, there is some reason for concern, but her advice against snacks for toddlers is taking things a bit too far (and is in contradiction to the American Academy of Pediatrics' advice). The book is filled with advice about how to tell if your baby is too chubby, and how to keep them trim. This might be useful IF your pediatrician has told you that your child is too heavy, but could cause useless anxiety otherwise. Also, like any baby book author, Dr. Nathanson's biases show through, and may be in conflict with yours. For example, in the chapter on Nine months to One year, she advocates, "Consider a baby-harness or leash: this is the age for Cherub (she always refers to baby as Cherub) to get used to it." If this makes you cringe, you might want to pass on this particular book. In the nine months since our son was born, we've refered to this book a few times, but have found The American Academy of Pediatrics Caring for your Baby and Young Child Birth to Age 5 much more useful.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars lots of expertise, little advocacy, July 4, 2003

By A Customer

This book fit in nicely with the books that fit our parenting philosophy, which is off the AP bandwagon but in touch with current academic research on attachment and limits. And that's what's best about Nathanson's writing: it's soundly informed and appropriate for our culture.

Our newborn had transient tachypnea, and this was the only book we found that discusses it. Her position that you shouldn't let a newborn cry alone (but that it's possible to spoil a six-month-old) fits nicely between my mother's Spock-influenced rigidity and some of our friends' overindulgent parenting. We took her advice and introduced a "reminder bottle" at 2 weeks and now our baby goes easily from breast to bottle, finger to pacifier with ease (and no crying at any stage).

Unlike Dr Sears, Nathanson presents medical concepts for their own sake. She presents the variations of thought about fussiness and colic one by one, without using them to justify AP or scheduling--thus we could use them to understand the situation rather than spiral into self-doubt and sleeplessness. Her advice on breastfeeding actually has answers instead of rephrased attempts to convince us to do it.

I'm not sure this is a good choice for readers who see parenting as a cultural revolution, because Nathanson's advice is firmly centered in mainstream culture. But more importantly, it's broad and consistently helpful in its presentation of current pediatric knowledge.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Bunch, January 16, 2006

By	Mamma Who Thinks "Mamma" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

I am ordering this as a gift for a new mommy for about the 25th time. I have at least 30 different parenting books, and yes, I usually consult all of them when I have a problem,and no, I haven't found any that I agree with 100% on every single issue, but this one is by far my favorite. Dr. Nathanson is funny, she does not seem to have an agenda, and she is, quite simply, right. My favorite thing about her books is that she can explain the child's behavior from the child's point of view, which goes so far in diffusing baffling parenting situations. Once I understand why my child is having that tantrum, solving it becomes much easier. Her advice is down to earth, and extremely practical, and she is does not condescend when giving medical information. I also find her book more thorough than most. I don't know why this woman isn't revered the way some of the other baby book authors are. She's like your best friend from college who has 6 kids, more common sense than anyone else you know, and also happens to be a pediatrician.