Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag, some great stuff, some not
Review: I really like some aspects of this book and other features make me want to throw it out the window.I'll start with the good 1. Attachment parenting is a great way(but not the only way!!) to connect with newborns 2. Parents who want to co-sleep, nurse toddlers, not let their children cry to sleep. etc. will get words of encouragement not found in many other parenting manuals.
3. The child develop section is very good and pretty comprehensive as is the health care/illness section. The acetominophen dosage chart is very useful. Now with my complaints: 1. The breastfeeding section is skimpy and lacks any realy tips for problems situations, weaning(other than child led), and pumping (something I did, with great difficulty, until by baby was 12 months while I worked). I nursed until my son was 25 months and I was 5 months pregnant so I was very ready for him to wean and could have used some real tips other than "let him decide when to stop." Setting perosnal boundaries is necessary in ALL relationships. Also there are many ways to nuture/comfort a toddler besides breastfeeding. 2. He often states his opinion as fact. That Attachment parenting is the only way to get connected to your child is not a scientifically proven fact. There are many well adjusted people who were not raised this way and his implication that parents who do things differently are "detached" or disconnected from their children is absurd. 3. No practical advice on weaning a child from the family bed. I think co-sleeping is great, but not always necessary, to a point. In some circumstances there comes a time when the parents are ready for the baby or toddler to sleep alone. Absolutely no valuable help is offered for easing the transition and we had to figure it out on our own when the time came for us. Also, some babies really do sleep well on their own form the start. 4. Contradictory advice. For example, he states that you should only have one child in the bed with the parents. So what do you do when you have a newborn baby and a toddler or twins? At least one child will have to sleep on their own, so do you move the toddler to their own bed(easier said then done, esp. with NO help from this book) or not let the new baby in the bed? 5. Ridiculous guilt for working moms. While I agree that staying at home with the baby is really best for at least the first yesr, American maternity leave is only for 3 months. How is that the mother's fault? She shouldn't have to justify the decision to work outside the home, there are many reasons why she would need to do it. Basically, there are some good ideas here but some important information is lacking. Also, the author is often too dogmatic and unrealistic. I don't think there is any school of parenting that works perfectly for every family, so no one should treat this, or any parenting guide book, as a "bible."
Rating: 
Summary: A very helpful and thorough book.
Review: This is a huge book that covers every topic possible for the first two years. Contains tons of charts, pictures, Q&As,lists and short tips on everyday issues. Covers both medicial and developmental issues. I only gave it four stars because it is very biased towards attachment parenting ideals and makes parents feel guilty if they don't follow it 100% - such as co-sleeping, breastfeeding, or (heaven forbid!) being a working mother. Also, it's a bit confusing in organization and can be hard to find what you're looking for. Also recommended: The No-Cry Sleep Solution, Gentle Baby Care and Baby Signs.
Rating:
Summary: Glad to see not everyone loves this overrated book.
Review: This book is so revered in some circles, I was almost hesitant to submit a tepid review here. I'm not going to go into a long rant about why I think this book is not the parenting "bible" that people make it out to be...partly because I've got a toddler sitting next to me who wants to play. In those first few bleary-eyed months of our first baby's life (including a trip back to the hospital for jaundice), I thought of at least a half dozen instances when this book failed to give me specific enough info with regard to certain questions and concerns I had about our newborn, which like all newborns, came without an owner's manual. Now, over a year later, I can't remember them, so I'm just going to keep it general here. One thing that has frustrated me about this book on multiple occasions is Dr. Sears seeming refusal to give specific advice with regard to preferred brands and models of certain products, e.g. when I consulted the book about vaporizers and received information so brief and general as to almost seem useless. Now I can understand if Dr. Sears is trying to avoid commercializing his books by mentioning too many brand names...but, ironically, his website has advertising plastered all over it, so go figure. As general as much of the information is in this book, it seems like 660 pages is about twice as long as it needs to be. With regard to the whole "attachment parenting" controversy, I went into parenting with a certain skepticism about the practicality of the concept; which, coincidentally, was excerbated by a conversation between some of the more dogmatic and opinionated "attachment parents" one is likely ever to hear, overheard by my wife and I at our local taqueria the night before our baby boy was born. However, after reading the vaunted "Sears book," I found myself getting behind the rationale pretty quickly. As a Buddhist, suddenly it made perfect sense to me: give your baby all of the attachment it needs in its early years, and it won't be "needy" later in life. My wife and I actually became pretty gung ho about attachment parenting for awhile...until it began to take a bit of an emotional toll on us. As a stay-at-home daddy, I ultimately opted for a more "middle path" approach, wearing our baby for a couple of hours per day--until either my patience or lower back became weary. We wore our baby, and responded immediately to his needs, as often as we could, but ultimately we decided that neither of us had the emotional make up for strict adherence to the attachment parenting concept. Incidentally, at 16 months old, countless people have told us that our baby is the happiest, smilingest, least fussy, baby they've ever seen. If you've got the time, and the emotional make up for attachment parenting, more power to you--just make sure you're clear about why you're doing it, and not just being trendy--otherwise just trust that age old parenting advice: follow your instincts and/or intuition, don't get too much advice (since parenting is the one thing that even the least opinionated people seem to have opinions about, it can be confusing), and do the best you can. This book is a good book, but not a great one.
Rating:
Summary: Glad to see not everyone is "ga ga" over this book.
Review: I'm not going to go into a long rant about why I think this book is not the parenting "bible" that people make it out to be. For one thing, if it had more specific advice about situations that arise with a baby (since they don't come with an owner's manual, and they have this interesting habit of having medical situations arise outside of normal office hours), and product advice, it would be a better "on the spot" guide. 660 pages for a book whose info and advice is often so general, seems about twice as long as it needs to be. With regard to "attachment parenting," if you've got the time, and the emotional make up for strict adherence to it, more power to you--just make sure you're clear about why you're doing it, and not just being "trendy"--otherwise that age old parenting advice, follow your instincts and/or intuition, don't get too much advice (since parenting is the one thing that even the least opinionated people seem to have opinions about, it can be confusing), and do the best you can..."Take the middle path," is some sound advice, too. This is a good book, but not a great one.
Rating: 
Summary: In Bondage to Baby??!
Review: Although there is some (scant) practical, concrete, commonsensical advice in this book (you may have to dig a little to uncover it...), I found this book really irritating and not especially user-friendly. My irritation stems chiefly from the incredibly idealistic, almost naive slant the book espouses -- the authors seem completely oblivious to the realities and challenges of day-to-day existence, with baby. Case in point: If I faithfully followed all the advice the Sears' suggest, I would be (A)extremely delusional, psychotic, and feeble from lack of sleep (B)emaciated and malnourished from not eating (C)filthy and rank from not showering or bathing -- all because the book seems to preach an idealistic mantra that baby must be waited on slavishly at all and any hour of the day and night. There is a striking lack of practical tips on how to comfortably integrate the baby into daily family and work life and the household -- such that the parent is left with the impression that he or she is essentially a slave to the baby, no matter what, where, or when. If I adopted the Sears agenda, I would never have the opportunity to brush my teeth, tie my shoelaces, or make a cup of coffee. The book leaves me with extreme skepticism of the Sears' all-encompassing "attachment" philosophy -- sure, it's warm and fuzzy, and very touchy-feely, but where are the functional, doable, workable tips and useful pointers?? Personally, I found reading this book and trying to implement its strategies to be an incredibly frustrating and not-so-positive experience.
Rating: 
Summary: All Parents are Working Parents
Review: The Sears are thoughful and caring individuals that write books for all parents and all moms as well. It's a great book to have and make references to over and over again. I love it because it goes right to the points and concerns of parents while never making us feel guilty or sad for something we may not currently do or for something we missed. As many of us know, they are Christians and it is not hidden in their work and is not preachy in any of their books. Also recommended: Mommy-CEO, 5 Golden Rules by Parenting Coach and Family Columnist, Jodie Lynn. Again, this author is a Christian and is far from being preachy to parents or to blame for things we have not done or thought of but like the Sears, helps us to realize all moms are working moms, God leads the household and dads are extremely important to the child's development. I would love to read a book with the Sears and Mrs. Lynn as co-authors as they have kindred spirits but can tell it like it is without hip words or prepared speeches to make parents and grandparents feel terrible about their previous parenting skills and styles. BRAVO to these incredible authors who have depth in their wisdom and are sincere people for taking the time to care enough to write articles and books speaking out and teaching us how our life at home and the life of our young children, and all kids, are the most important thing in life. If every person followed Lynn and Sears guidelines, the world would not be hurting nor as spiteful and rushed as we are today. I am buying these books and giving them away for Christmas to friends and family with a note to read them and do the same in passing their message on.
Rating:
Summary: All U need in one
Review: Perfect guide for the first, second, the third child.......
Rating:
Summary: Oh please
Review: I know this isn't a popular thing to say but I can't stand the Sears' advice. They seem to think the answer to all problems is either wearing your baby in a sling or breastfeeding. Gee, does it ever occur to them that most women in America have to work. Many of my friends who read this book ended up feeling guilty and that their children were going to grow up to be horrible people if they didn't breastfeed them until they are old enough to go to college. Breastfeeding is unquestionably the best way to go but the Sears' fanaticism is terrible. And, of course babies need to be close to and held by their caregivers as much as possible, but the non-stop advice to "wear" babies is pretty unrealistic for most people. The good advice is on developmental issues like walking, crawling, toys etc., But, get the American Pediatrics Association Guide instead for good, sound advice on raising healthy happy babies (including plenty of information and help on breastfeeding).
Rating:
Summary: THANK YOU WILLIAM AND MARTHA
Review: It is wonderful to find advice that supports an instinctive and heartfelt approach to parenting. From the start, our "high-need" baby insisted on being held constantly, frequently breastfed, rocked, slept with at night, walked under the bathroom heater -- insisted that we become attachment parents before we even heard of such a thing. This book gave us the confidence to trust our instincts and allowed our entire family to continue enjoying and respecting each other. We highly recommend this book. A proud papa of a happy and healthy 4 month old.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource
Review: I have this new revised edition and am impressed with the amount of information covered - physical, medical and emotional issues are included. There are very nice pictures and charts also. The book is strongly for natural birth, co-sleeping, using a sling, and breastfeeding and these find their way into many entries, so it's best if these work for you, otherwise you may feel left out or made to feel guilty. I would also recommend: Gentle Baby Care and The No-Cry Sleep Solution with a foreword by Dr. Sears.
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