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Summary: Best book on babies I've read
Review: This is the book I wish I had read BEFORE my son was born. So many "baby experts" write books based on opinions rather than facts, which can make it difficult to decide what is "right" for your baby. Should you let them cry it out in a crib to sleep, or let them sleep with you? Should you breastfeed on demand, or is it better to schedule their feedings? Are you scarring them emotionally if you don't respond to their every whimper, or will it spoil them to pick them up? So many questions that new parents have, and so many conflicting opinions to wade through.Ms. Small has written a book that gives real answers to these questions, by showing what babies are: physiologically, emotionally and culturally. She backs up everything she says with real science, although her book is not in the least a dry dissertation. I found her information to be inspiring and reassuring. I especially liked that she didn't glamorize nor vilify, the child rearing practices of any one people, choosing instead to show how each and every culture makes compromises based on environmental and cultural pressures. This is the most important book for every parent to read. I can't praise it enough.
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Summary: Unique -- Small actually gives evidence for her conclusions
Review: Although it is isn't a "How to" book, "Our Babies, Ourselves" is by far the best book I've read on baby rearing. Meredith Small presents different cultures' techniques for raising children, then analyzes them using an anthropological perspective. Small examines how these cultures differ in such areas as nursing, where babies sleep, carrying babies, and how quickly to respond to a baby's cries. Small names specific studies as evidence. She uses research evidence, as well as her experience, to draw conclusions on benefits and drawbacks to these various approaches. She is not "objective" as one reviewer states -- she has her opinions, but she informs the reader what evidence and reasoning she bases her conclusions on. The main message I get from the "How To" baby books I've read is "You should raise your child the way we say because we're smarter than you." Whether it's "What to Expect the First Year," the Sears books (which I agree with much of) or others (not to mention "Babywise"), the most evidence these authors give is "(unnamed and unexplained) studies say we're right." Small presents the evidence in favor of quick response when baby is hungry, crying, or has another need. She also favors co-sleeping and slings for carrying babies, based on the research she presents. You can disagree with her conclusions (though I agree with most), but at least she is open with her evidence. Besides further opening my eyes to other cultures and other ways to raise babies, this book was most beneficial to me in emphasizing that evolution determines how the human race developed and why babies have the needs they do. People pushing in the 1950's and 60's for bottle feeding, putting babies face down to sleep, letting babies cry it out, putting babies in separate rooms to sleep, etc., not only did it without scientific evidence, they also were going against babies' biological needs, determined by millions of years of evolution. Now I think of evolution and what reasons babies have for a particular behavior when deciding how to deal with an issue.
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Summary: Interesting idea, but Wildly Facist and Unobjective
Review: I find that much of the criticism of other reviewers is right on target. This book is repetitive and biased. While I myself practice many of the parenting techniques advocated in this book, ie baby wearing, breastfeeding on cue, etc, I found that Ms Small often drew conclusions from the research she was citing, which is not an objective way of presenting information. She also showed a strong bias towards the !Kung San and often hearlded their child rearing practices as the most "natural". I believe many of her criticisms of western child rearing were well founded; however, I believe that she put a lot of pressure on mothers to care for infants in a particular way and put a lot of blame on mothers whose children did not turn out "just so". She also made it seem as though any irritablity your baby might display that is beyond what a parent might want is purely that parent's fault for not living up to a pre-set ideal. I know many other attatchment parents might not agree with me, but I think it's possible to raise a happy, loving child in a gentle way that does not require such a strict set of prescripts.
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Summary: Give this book as a baby shower gift
Review: Instead of reading advice from "girlfriends" or "baby-wise" sleep trainers, new moms and dads should read this book! Accessible, yet based on sound science, Small outlines just how far Western culture has deviated from providing for the biological needs of babies. The author documents how two mainstays of baby care in much of the US - the separation of babies from parents at night and the practiced of scheduled (usually formula) feedings - violate the highly evolved biological needs of babies. The book also provides food for thought on topics such as colic, which is unknown in other cultures, and the importance of frequent contact between babies and caregivers. I read this book when my first child was an infant, and have just re-read it now that I have another baby. Don't be lulled by what friends/relatives/society make you think you should do when it comes to caring for your baby. Read this book and make your own decisions.
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Summary: An eye-opening book and a true learning experience
Review: I highly recommend "Our Babies, Ourselves" to any parent interested in an anthropologically and biologically-oriented approach to parenthood, especially motherhood. It provides numerous data on how biology affects the parent-baby relationship as well as the baby's behavior and objectively presents how various cultures (including the United States') worldwide accommodate and/or neglect these biological factors and the impact that accommodation or neglect has on the parent/baby relationship. I got this book when my baby was 3 months old and for me it confirmed every instinct I had as a first-time mother who knew nothing of raising a child prior to having one. I carry my baby in a pouch any time I can; I breastfeed; I'd let the baby sleep in my bed if I could (my husband and I have a waterbed and it's not safe for babies), etc. All of these behaviors are highly, highly beneficial to babies for specific biological reasons. This is not a "how to" book, nor does it promote any particular approach to child rearing. It is objective and actually rather academic in nature, yet intriguing and easy-to-understand. Read the book! It's worth it!
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Summary: Compelling... you will rethink western parenting strategies
Review: An amazing book, I cannot put down. Anyone who reads this book will definately rethink western, specifically american, ways of infant caregiving. Small forces one to rethink the ways we provide infant care, by making us diferentiate what we do as a biological dance with an infant to what we do as forced cultural constraints. A good overview of the research that is out there... makes one understand the biological necessity of co-sleep, carrying, and breast feeding. Anyone who reads this book and then buys a crib, bottle feeds, or puts their child on a strict regime was, in my opinon, obviously not paying attention.
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Summary: Open-minded Parenting
Review: I love this book. My best friend gave it to me when I became pregnant, and I am now only reading it (my baby is now 13 months). Against family and most friend's advise, we co-slept with our daughter for the first year, and only stopped because we weren't getting any of our own sleep (waking three times a night for feeding, plus accomodating our 25 pound daughter in our bed). This book confirms what my heart has been telling me all along, all with sound research. I am not spoiling my baby, only giving her the things she tells me she needs. Just because all my neighbors are raising their babies one way, does not mean we all have to do it the same. And reading how other cultures are raising their babies really is eye opening. If you need a refreshing, open-minded reference on baby-rearing, this is the book for you.
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Summary: A Must Read!
Review: After you read this you will want to throw away 75% of your other baby books. This is a fascinating book which will be 'eye-opening' to most Americans. READ THIS BOOK.
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Summary: The Thinking Parent's Parenting Book
Review: There is a lot of solid research packed in here, but presented in a coherent, accessible way with lots of great examples. This book is for parents who want to open their minds to other ways of parenting. Rather than telling you: Do this!, Small presents the research, links biology, evolution and culture, and gets YOU to wonder about what's best. By discussing the child-rearing approaches of other cultures, Small provokes us to look at our own in a new way. I've used this book both for work (my field is child development) as well as for personal use & reflection (I'm a mother of a 17 month old). Fantastic read! I also recommend "A World of Babies" if parenting across cultures interests you.
Rating: 
Summary: a lot of wonderful information -- a lot of support
Review: A lot of wonderful information! A lot of support for co-sleeping, holding baby, and breast feeding. all Natural child rearing; all very loveing and "best for baby". A lot of good solid science for what we all "feel" is best for our babies. Very reassureing of the maternal feeling we all share. Reading is a bit tough in places; but well worth it.
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