Rating: 
Summary: It's a book, not the Bible. Use YOUR intuition!
Review: I have both the Sears book and this book, given to me before and after my son was born. With BOTH these books, you have to DO WHAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY and don't feel guilty if you don't want to or can't do them. Breastfeeding, unfortunately, did not work out for me, and co-sleeping wasn't for me, either. I hold my baby a lot, talk to him all the time, rock him to sleep, and I never let him cry it out (too harsh for me). He is happy and well-adjusted for 3 months; he doesn't cry except when he's hungry and he laughs, smiles and coos often. I found parts of the Sears book made me feel guilty as hell for not practicing what they preached, and parts of this book to be too cold and unfeeling. It boils down to: DON'T RELY SOLELY ON BOOKS TO HELP YOU RAISE YOUR BABY. Use your common sense. If your baby is happy, you know you're doing the right thing.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book we have found!
Review: My wife and I checked this book out of the library for months before we purchased it. It was the single best guide we found for dealing with our newborn. I would recommend this book and the entire series, it is the second book of a trilogy of "What to expect..." The first is What to Expect When You are Expecting" the second is "What to Expect During the Toddler Years." Top rate books!
Rating: 
Summary: Some useful information, but unempathetic to babies
Review: Although this is a thick book with some useful information, I was very uncomfortable with the authors' parenting philosophy. They suggest that people who always respond to their babies' cries are softhearted fools. Instead, they suggest ignoring the baby who is crying with teething pain in the middle of the night, and suggest that if you have a baby who cries a lot you should invest in soundproofing. Some of the information on breastfeeding is dangerously misleading, e.g. the suggestion that mothers limit the amount of time babies spend nursing in the first days. Following this advice is likely to lead to problems establishing a good milk supply, according to lactation consultants and the experts at La Leche League. They also advocate early weaning, saying 3 months is a good age because it's easy to wean then, and for sure you should wean by one year. In addition, suggesting that you can expect certain behaviour at a specific age, in months, is ludicrous! Babies vary enormously in their rates of development, and this kind of month-by-month predictions can cause a lot of anxiety.
Rating: 
Summary: If you are or plan on attachment parenting...
Review: then leave this book on the shelf. And if you get it for a shower gift, throw it in the trash. Ms. Aisenberg does not support attachment parenting and the family bed. She actually suggests that a 7-month-old baby cries because he is a "mommy-manipulater", in her words, and not because he wants his needs met and the love and attention that all babies rightly deserve. You CANNOT spoil a baby! How can you possibly give too much love and affection to a child? Ms. Aisenberg also gives some of the worst breastfeeding advice I have ever seen. I would think that a nurse would know better. Most women can eat just about anything they want while nursing, and one reviewer aptly pointed out that it IS possible to nurse an adopted baby. It might be a little more work, because you have to induce lactation, but it IS possible. It is also possible to nurse a baby with a cleft lip or palate. Again, like nursing an adopted baby, it might be a little more work if you have to pump (You might not even have to pump if the baby's cleft isn't too severe that he/she can't make suction!) but it HAS been done before. Ms. Aisenberg just assumes that it's impossible, so don't even consider it. If you are going to do all the "mainstream" stuff in parenting, then you'll probably like this book. If not, then don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Don't touch this book with a ten foot pole!
Review: I would have liked to give 0 stars!While the basic idea behind the book is great(easy references for each month) I would recommend that anyone who get this as a well intentioned gift thow it out the window! The information on sleep, crying and feeding is incorrect and borderline abusive! Try Dr. Sears instead!
Rating:
Summary: I would have been lost without it
Review: Although it is still early (My new baby is 6 1/2 weeks old), I absolutely love this book! I have referred to many areas of the book to see if what my baby is doing is ok or not. It has really helped me get to where I am now. It also has helped me think of questions that I wanted to discuss with both my doctor and pediatrition. I received this book at my baby shower - and I plan to give it to everyone I know who is expecting!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointed
Review: I was hoping this would be a generic basic guide for what to expect, but instead I found it uncompassionate and sorely mistaken in a lot of areas. The entire section on sleep was totally inaccurate and cruel. This book seems to ignore that babies are helpless, living beings who need love and attention and advocates treating them like objects or pets.
Rating:
Summary: A reference - plain and simple
Review: I find WTOTFY to be a helpful reference in raising my children. Sometimes I have a question or a concern about my child and I go the book and try to find an answer. Sometimes the answer satisfies me, sometimes it doesn't. This is a subjective book, using other people's opinions about raising children. Some of the things in the book I don't like, for example, the diet, the "crying it out section", but I think that you are going to find that in any book of this kind. Some things you take to heart, somethings you don't. In general, I think it contains many useful bits of information that may put a parent at ease or help them solve a particular problem. I also use other references, like the Sears Baby Book. Between the two books, my own common sense and mother's intuition, I think that I have what I need to be a successful mother. I guess what I am trying to say is that you don't have to do everything by the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent guide for first time parents.
Review: I really enjoyed the format of this book, in question format from month one through to month 12. This format made for easy reference. Although some of the advice is idealistic, it touched on all the questions and topics I needed advice on. I would strongly recommend this book for first time parents - it helps to reassure us that we are normal and not neurotic.
Rating:
Summary: I expected less....
Review: I never expected as much help from this book as it offered but after I picked it up in those first days of becoming a new parent, I could not have been more surprised. All of my somewhat naieve questions were answered as if I were the one asking them. However, for those of you who are expecting a book to answer things the way you want to hear them answered--write your own book. This book along with all of your well meaning friends and family advice can be taken with a grain of salt. Use the information that you want and leave what you don't agree with in the book. At no time does this book say you have to do it this way only. I am keeping my copy and buying one for my best friend who just had a baby.
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