Child of Mine (Paperback)

by Ellyn Satter (Author) "WHEN FEEDING IS GOING WELL, it's like a smoothly flowing conversation..." (more)
Key Phrases: breastfeeding your baby, mother principle, vulnerable children, Child of Mine, Feeding Your Older Baby, Feeding Your Toddler (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Confused about feeding your baby or toddler? Child of Mine, by noted nutritionist Ellyn Satter, is an essential guide for every new parent concerned with nutrition and appetite. Satter's advice is thorough and straightforward: "You can't control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn't try. You also can't control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn't try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her."

Child of Mine provides information on all aspects of feeding, from pregnancy through the toddler years. Satter begins with historical and social perspectives on infant feeding, describing how formula was developed and discussing the social movement that lead to accepting a child's input into his or her own development. Nutrition during pregnancy, infant feeding, introducing solid foods, building positive eating relationships, and avoiding eating disorders are all discussed. The sections on breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, and on the regulation of food intake (particularly the relationship between parental attitudes and children's eating habits) are especially recommended.

Satter provides specific nutritional information (including charts, diagrams, and nutritional breakdowns) interspersed with a no-nonsense, experienced perspective that will help you establish good eating habits that your children will benefit from long after they're out of diapers. --Ericka Lutz

Review

"An excellent source of solid nutrition information. . . . it espouses a philosophy of moderation and common sense that fosters good health, good eating habits, and, most of all, a loving relationship between parents and children. —Washington Post

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 463 pages
• Publisher: Bull Pub Co (September 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0923521143
• ISBN-13: 978-0923521141
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #719,820 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

93 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN TO FEED, BUY THIS BOOK, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense (Paperback)

So there you all are, the five of you, finally sitting down at the dinner table. You, the mother, have managed to deliver a hot (or at least warm), nutritionally balanced (there is something green on the table), and home cooked (or close to) meal. Carefully, and with a sense of well-being, you dish it out and cut it up and place tidy plates of food in front of your first-grader, your pre-schooler and your toddler. Your husband helps himself. And as you, yourself, raise that first forkful to your lips, your first grader begins to push his food aimlessly around the plate, your pre-schooler shovels huge bites of pasta into his mouth, then pushes his plate away and announces he is waiting for desert (without having touched his broccoli), and your toddler throws all her food on the ground and screams delightedly, "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh." Your sense of well-being vanishes, and you wonder, with your head in your hands, what, on earth, you've done wrong.

If this scenario recurs almost daily at your house (as it does at mine), then you should BUY THIS BOOK. It is one of those rare parenting books that actually gives you answers. It delivers them up in a friendly, no-nonsense style, based on the author's experience as a mother of three and as registered dietician/clinical social worker. Ellyn Satter has seen it all, and we can all benefit from the wealth of her experience. After reading this updated and expanded edition, I have learned to let my children serve themselves from the serving dishes on the table, and then to sit back and not worry about what else happens. Satter's philosophy regarding feeding is that it is the parent's job to determine the what and when of feeding: what food gets offered and when. And it is the child's job to determine if he will eat the food and how much. Elegantly simple; eminently powerful.

The book offers straight-forward advice on feeding your child, from pregnancy through childhood. The sections on infant feeding are informative, educational and, (imagine!) non-judgmental. Satter's advice on the debate between breast feeding and bottle-feeding is comforting and credible. The book also covers introducing solid foods, building positive eating relationships, and avoiding feeding disorders. If you've read and benefited from earlier editions of "Child of Mine", you'll love this new edition, which includes the anecdotes and lessons of Ellyn Satter's many years of experience dealing with families and food.

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Satter's Other Books are a Better Buy, June 23, 2004

By	Lisa Manske "natural mamma" (Wauwatosa, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense (Paperback)

I bought this book after reading "How to Get Your Kid to Eat . .. But Not Too Much" and found this book to be redundant. The book itself is good, but if you read Satter's other books, you don't need this one.

In addition, I found "How to Get Your Kid to Eat" to be more concise with basically the same information. Busy parents can get the same help with feeding their children in a much shorter book.

This book focuses heavily on infant feeding, both breast and bottle, as well as starting solids. As a breastfeeding mom, I found the chapter on breastfeeding to be average. You're better off with a good breastfeeding book, as you'll need one anyway. The bottlefeeding information presented is very important, as it is tempting to try and control your child's eating when you use a bottle. This book helps you avoid that. There aren't many books on bottlefeeding. Again, though, the important facts about sharing control with your child while bottlefeeding are in her other books.

I highly recommend Ellyn Satter, especially to parents with eating issues that they don't want to pass on to their children. One of her two other books is a better, more comprehensive read, though.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for all parents, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This book is the best I've ever read on the subject of infant and toddler feeding. The advice on breastfeeding, starting solids and feeding finicky toddlers is practical and down-to-earth--unlike some books which insist on rigid meal plans and servings-per-day which are just not realistic when feeding toddlers. The author emphasizes the loving relationship between parent and child, and discourages letting food become a battleground. She stresses a healthy attitude toward eating such as allowing kids to listen to their bodies in order to regulate intake, rather than forcing them to "clean their plate" or making them feel bad about eating when they tend toward overweight. All in all, its a very readable book with lots of usable information.