The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)
by James Sears, Martha Sears, Robert Sears, William Sears
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Book Summary Information
Author: James Sears, Martha Sears, Robert Sears, William SearsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-03
ISBN: 0316778001
Number of pages: 769
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780316778008
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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Book Reviews of The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)
Book Review: It's a guide book, and a good one, not a guilt trip...
Summary: 4 Stars
When my first son was born 4 1/2 years ago, I had read the "What to expect" series, and felt pretty prepared. After a LONG ten weeks of colic, my son settled down. At 4 months he started sleeping through the night in his own room (after a few nights of limited crying)and would happily play by himself on the floor for long periods of time, or sit quietly in his stroller while I went about my business. He weaned himself easily by age one and never seemd to miss the breast after that. I remember hearing about "attachment parenting" and thinking, those people must be CRAZY! I would NEVER have my baby in bed, or wear him all day in a sling, or breast-feed for more than a year! I felt very smug, like those people were just too "soft" or weird, or hippie-dippie, that you totally didn't need to do all that, just look at my son! He's doing great, without any of that stuff!
Flash forward four years, and my second son is born. Same parents, same techniques should work, right? The first few weeks were great, no colic! So we thought it would be a breeze, after all, we were experienced parents, we knew what we were doing this time, we'd done it all before. Well, I quickly found out that what worked for my first son just wasn't going to fly with my second. I got out my old "what to expect" books, and "The Baby Whisperer" which I'd found so helpful the first time. They were useless. This stuff just wasn't working with baby 2! He's a very different kid. After totally railing on attachment parenting for four years, I suddenly found myself doing it by default. Then my cousin gave me her copy of "The baby Book", and thank god! I suddenly realized that that's what this baby needed. He needs to be held all the time, needs to sleep near me (at first in a co-sleeper right next to my bed, now in his crib two feet from my bed, and usually at least for part of the night right in my bed) At 9 months old, he still wakes every 3 hrs to breast-feed, and gives no signs of wanting to stop. This book made sense, it seemed logical and really struck a chord with me. More importantly, it worked. Had I tried to follow the advice in the other books, I know we'd all be a lot worse off!
Do I do everything the book says and treat it as gospel? NO! DO I feel guilty when I don't agree with the book? NO! Am I tired? YES! Do I wish my son would sleep through the night? YES! But I know that letting him "cry it out" won't work, and forcing him to be independent too soon won't work either. I also now know that not all techniques work for all babies, and some babies just need MORE. I take the advice that works for me, tweak the other stuff to make it fit, and above all, trust myself to know what is best for my baby AND myself.
While the Drs. Sears do advocate the mother's role over the father's, and strongly indicate she should not work, (which I can see might be off-putting to some) don't be so quick to assume it is biased or old-fashioned. While I completely support women being able work (something they couldn't have done 50 yrs ago) and think that for some women it's the right choice, the biological fact is that (for now anyway), women are the only ones who can physically bear children, and as such have also have the inherent ability to know how to care for them. For me the biggest point this book makes is that maternal instincts are REAL, and there for a good reason, and should be listened to over what anyone (even themselves) says in a book. Babies are only babies for a short time, and their needs are real and deserve to be met. They are not something that should be forced into what is convienient for parents. Everything they suggest in their book is natural and makes logical (if not always practical) sense.
Sadly, our society these days seems to be out of touch with these basic facts, and I think that the people who criticize the Sears' ideas and "attachment parenting" concept (myself included back then) are doing so as a defense mechanism, because deep down we know, under all the women's lib and equal opportunity fathering, that it really is the ideal way to parent. The fact so many people who gave it poor reviews because it made them feel "guilty" should speak volumes to this. Also, if you look at our country's family leave plans, you'll find them shockingly shorter than just about every other first-world country. The same goes for supporting mothers who do choose to be full-time moms. Or stay-at-home dads, for that matter. With work being a more than full-time job for just about everyone these days, and a society that increasingly places little value on family time (check our gov't holidays and average vacation times and work hours next to Europe's and you'll see what I mean) I know that to many this book might seem totally impractical or even ridiculous. But maybe instead condeming it as such, we should recognize it as an ideal to strive for, and do what we can to be better parents, not at the total expense of ourselves, of course, but fully realizing that parenting IS a sacrifice, that our babies and young children count on us to care for them, and despite the pressures of society and work, we need to find a way to make it a real priority, and not an after-thought. This book can help steer you in the right direction, and give you a lot to think about beyond just the valuable info on basic baby care and milestones, by providing a philosophy and practice that gets back to the real root of what it means to be a parent.
More The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition) reviews:
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Summary of The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)
The "baby bible" of the post-Dr. Spock generation, already embraced by hundreds of thousands of American parents, has now been revised, expanded, and brought thoroughly up-to-date -- with the latest information on everything from diapering to day care, from midwifery to hospital birthing rooms, from postpartum nutrition to infant development.Dr. Bill and Martha Sears draw from their vast experience both as medical professionals and as the parents of eight children to provide comprehensive information on virtually every aspect of infant care. Working for the first time with their sons Dr. Bob and Dr. Jim, both pediatric specialists in their own right, the Searses have produced a completely updated guide that is unrivaled in its scope and authority.
The Baby Book focuses on the essential needs of babies -- cating, sleeping, development, health, and comfort -- as it addresses the questions of greatest concern to today's parents. The Baby Book presents a practical, contemporary approach to parenting that reflects the way we live today. The Searses acknowledge that there is no one way to parent a baby, and they offer the basic guidance and inspiration you need to develop the parenting style that best suits you and your child. The Baby Book is a rich and invaluable resource that will help you get the most out of parenting -- for your child, for yourself, and for your entire family.
In their excellent (and hefty) resource guide, The Baby Book, attachment parenting specialists William Sears and Martha Sears have provided new parents with their approach to every aspect of baby care basics, from newborns to toddlers. Attachment parenting is a gentle, reasonable approach to parenting that stresses bonding with your baby, responding to her cues, breastfeeding, "wearing" your baby, and sharing sleep with your child. For those parents who worry about negative effects of this attention, the Sears say, "Spoiling is what happens when you leave something (or some person) alone on the shelf--it spoils."
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