Lovely Little Shelf

The Book: Baby 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for Your Baby’s First Year, by Denise Fields

The Story: This is an advise book dealing with the first year of being a parent.  There are different sections covered: picking a pediatrician, getting your baby to sleep, formula and breastfeeding, soothing a fussy baby, diagnosing and treating different illnesses, introducing solid foods, and a slew of other stuff.  Each section is tabbed on the side and indexed in the back so you can easily flip to the information that is relevant to what you’re looking for.  It is mainly set up in Q&A format, but there are parts that deviate away from that.

What I Thought: I’ve read and flipped through a handful of parenting-through-the-first-year books that I haven’t bothered to review.  They all are pretty much the same and are generally kind of scary and condescending.  I’m reviewing this one because I thought that it was so much better.

We got this as a gift when Isaac was 2 weeks old.  I know that it is a book you’re supposed to just kind of flip through and get info when you need it.  Shaun and I both read it cover to cover.  He literally used it as his bathroom reading material for a few days.  It’s that good.

The questions that were asked were questions we were asking and the answers were written in a clear, easy to understand way.  What I liked was that the authors kind of came at every question from every angle.  There was a lot of “Some people will tell you…” or “They used to believe that…” and I liked that because being a new parent, people through advice at you from every angle.  They examined all of that and said what to pay attention to and what to skip.  Helpful.

I liked the tone that the authors took when answering the questions.  It didn’t make me feel stupid or like I had messed up if I was already practicing something different.  A lot of times the questions were prefaced with, “Every first time parent thinks this.  It is normal.”  Especially with questions about eating and sleeping this was such a relief.  I felt like Isaac is gassier than other babies, maybe to the point of having reflux.  They explained that most parents thought this at one time or another and had the test that doctor’s use to tell the difference.  Just knowing that it was a common concern and babies are just like this made me feel normal and like a better mom.

Because Isaac is still so little, a lot of the issues covered are issues we haven’t gotten to yet.  It is reassuring to know that we’ve read ahead and kind of have an idea what’s coming and resource to help us when we get there.

Conclusion: If you are pregnant or headed to a baby shower any time soon, I recommend you go grab this one.  I love it.