What to Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition

Rating:
Summary: Very Good but bad diet/breastfeeding advice
Review: Overall a very good book for the expecting mom. As someone who studied nutrition and diet, found the diet advice to be misleading/wrong/dated in some cases. Otherwise, found everything accurate/helpfull. "What to expect when Expecting" is the best of the series-- Watch out for "What to Expect the First Year"--I felt it had BAD breastfeeding advice. They encouraged early weaning/to start weaning by 6 months so child is weaned by a year. Book assumes that most babies are on bottles after 6 months. Subsequently, book had me worried if I was doing right thing. I breastfed for 20 months until my guy naturally weaned. Turns out I did the right thing--Now the AAP recommends breastfeeding for a year and beyond! So glad I trusted my instincts, but the book made me worry a lot (next one, I'll know better). Was very disappointed. Lesson: Trust yourself and don't belive everything you read--even the good books contain mis-info, old-info, or info that doesn't work for you.

Rating:
Summary: A must
It has the answers you are looking for.
Review: This is an excellent book for first time or third time mothers-to-be. It is made up of questions that every mother has wondered about. This book also saves you the embarrassment of calling your doctor every day to ask them questions because most of the answers are in the book!

Rating:
Summary: The pregnancy bible
Review: I loved this book! I really don't understand why it received any low scores. I read it cover to cover through out my nine months of pregnancy. I did not find it depressing in any way. I loved the question and answer format of the book. Many of the questions asked where the same questions I had. No, it is not directed to single mother ( which I was, and still am), but I still found it very very very very very useful. I highly recomend this novel! I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: Good reference guide
Review: I found the best way to use this book is as a reference guide. It does not give the best week-by-week or month-by-month descriptions. It's geared toward question/answer format. I would not read it cover to cover but have used it as a reference guide to research topics. It gives thorough and accurate explanations about medical conditions and tips on when to call your Dr. but I wouldn't want to read about all those problems if I weren't experiencing symptoms.

Rating:
Summary: Does Eating Bread REALLY Make Me A Bad Mother??
Review: "What to Expect" was written for women who are hell-bent on finding a guide for "Doing Pregnancy Right." You know those women. They're also the ones that show up at exercise class with matching tights and leotards and extra weights around their ankles. They'll be the women who feed their children exactly 6 grams of protein and 9 grams of carbohydrates daily because that's what "What To Expect in the First Year" tells them to do. I've tried, but I'm just not one of those women. I found "What To Expect" generally helpful in the sense that it covered basic areas of interest and concern, but overall this book was just too rigid for me. It was also too repetitive...the sections that list what will happen in your monthly medical check-ups regurgitated the same 8 points over and over again. And in the chapter for Month 9 they're STILL telling you to abstain from bread, sugar and anything else you might take pleasure from eating...thanks for the reminder!! I _am_ a devoted fan of Pregnancy Week-by-Week by MacDougal. The content is relevant and to the point, the photos are reassuring (and much more realistic than that drawing of a woman in her granny coat dreaming away in a rocking chair), and you're spared the "author knows best" tone. I also enjoy the Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine. It's not as practical as "Pregnancy Week-by-Week" but there's a great dose of reality and humor in the book, which is a welcome contrast to "What to Expect." Good luck with your pregnancy!

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding.
Review: The explanations are simple and easy to follow. In contrast to the reactions of some other reviewers, we found this book to be upbeat, and much less judgmental than the other pregnancy books. This book was actually reassuring compared to Lamaze, etc. Our doctor was a real jerk who believed in hiding any negative contingencies from the mother -- the "Don't worry your pretty little head" factor -- and it was a great comfort to have an objective resource to double check with, at our leisure and in a comfortable setting. As to a "pro-doctor" bias, I found this book to be tolerant of alternative medical care, as well as tolerant in general. It is written so that ANY person can take something away from it -- without feeling guilty about their own personal decisions -- and is not aimed at a niche audience.

Rating:
Summary: The best of the pregnancy books
Review: This is a very easy to follow, comprehensive book for those who are going through pregnancy for the first time. I am a little distressed by a couple of the other reviews. Let me make note of a couple of things. First, for those of us about to enter the 21st century, and the 97% of us who live in urban/suburban areas, a hospital birth is considered *normal.* People who hang out in health food stores and want to have their children in log cabins, apparently, should be reading the "Foxfire" series of books, rather than trying to get pregnant and then endangering their future children by attempting to have them at home. And, it should be noted, the book does an excellent job of explaining what to do in the case of an emergency childbirth. Second, as for the accusations that the book has a "pro-doctor" or "pro-hospital" bias, that's like saying non-smokers have a "pro-health" bias. Third, as for the accusation that this book is too directed at two-parent/heterosexual families, all I can say is, get over it. If you want a childbirth book that is pro-feminist and anti-male, then read Sheila Kitzinger's "Complete Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth" instead. But don't whine and carp about this book. For regular people this book is simply the best.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible support for the most natural activity in the world
Review: This book can deeply damage the most wonderful experience of a lifetime. It is written with no thought to empowering woman at this important time but instead is directed to the pregnant woman who views her condition as an illness to be cured by doctors. The section on diet suggests you have all day to run around preparing the perfect healthy meal. If you are a working mother, much of the advice will cause anxiety because you can't follow it (i.e. take several days off to recover from jetlag). The content of this book will make pregnancy seem like the most devastating moment of your life. Throw it away and buy anything by Dr. and Martha Sears instead. They assume pregnant woman are capable healthy adults and natural mothers.

Rating:
Summary: Don't make this your only reference
Review: I enjoyed the month-by-month format but I did sense a know-it-all attitude; it is very suburban in its outlook and heaven help you if you're single, a lesbian, a rural parent or poor and are looking for concrete advice. As a general guide to symptoms it is fairly comprehensive, but it did tend to make it sound like pregnancy was all about "problems" and "complications".

Rating:
Summary: A Great Reference Book
Review: I have already had a child 12 years ago and needed some refreshing, This book was perfect.A great reference Book.