Rating: 
Summary: There may never be a more profound or amazing book...
Review: Breathe a sigh of relief and never second guess yourself or your loving, instinctual, attachment feelings again. If you've ever wondered which of the "expert" parenting methods are the "right" ones, read "The Vital Touch" not just for one more insight, but to follow the one expert that counts -- you.
Rating:
Summary: this has enlightened us as parents!
Review: how exciting it is to find a book that supports your "maternal instinct" as a way of parenting,when there are so many experts out there trying to guide us on dealing with common american childcare problems such as sleeping through the night and colic,whereas in sharon hellers book she compares our society with that of less advanced more primitive cultures and she finds that fussiness & colic & sleep problems are in fact as american as apple pie.this book has enlightend us as parents to do what we feel is important (massage,parental touch) all supported quite favorably according to the research done by sharon heller as having a profoundly positive affect on our infants. this is a "must read' for any parent.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite parenting book!
Review: I am a psychologist, specializing in work with children and families. I'm currently not working, because I'm staying at home with my two daugthers. I have read countless books on the subject of babies, children, families, etc., and have found this book to be the most incredible I've ever read. I truly believe this book will make a difference in your life, and the lives of your children. It's worth every penny, and then some.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't seem to be based on hard science
Review: I bought this book because my son refused to sleep in his crib -- only when being held or in bed with us. I wanted a book that would basically tell me that it was better that way. This book did that. I felt, however, that her theories were not based on hard science but instead on anecdotal evidence. I still think carrying and holding is the best for a child, but I would like to see a book that supported this theory with more experimental evidence. This book also seems to be a little dated since nearly all hospitals now support breastfeeding and rooming in.
Rating:
Summary: Keep your child close and comforted.
Review: I read this book while pregnant with my first child three years ago. It's eye-opening to contrast the United States with other cultures that promote almost constant contact with their babies. The author shows how our society's emphasis on placing our babies in "containers" (strollers, pumpkin seats, swings, etc.) instead of holding them more often, leads to sensory deprived, more isolated children. There is information on the benefits of the close contact of breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and helping your children become securely attached (think Dr. Sears.) This book is a wonderful comparison between the laid-back childrearing practices of most of the rest of the world and prudish America. You won't want to put your baby down after reading about the wonderful benefits of the vital touch.
Rating:
Summary: Keep your child close and comforted.
Review: I read this book while pregnant with my first child three years ago. It's eye-opening to contrast the United States with other cultures that promote almost constant contact with their babies. The author shows how our society's emphasis on placing our babies in "containers" (strollers, pumpkin seats, swings, etc.) instead of holding them more often, leads to sensory deprived, more isolated children. There is information on the benefits of the close contact of breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and helping your children become securely attached (think Dr. Sears.) This book is a wonderful comparison between the laid-back childrearing practices of most of the rest of the world and prudish America. You won't want to put your baby down after reading about the wonderful benefits of the vital touch.
Rating: 
Summary: Mother-baby intimacy does not equal dependency
Review: Imagine being a mother in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. You go out into the bush and give birth to your baby, carry her back to the village, strap her on your hip in a sling, pull out the breast at the first whimper, and sleep with her at night entwined in your arms. All the other mothers in the village are doing the same. When you need a helping hand, you hand her over to a line of bidders who happily take her. As for your baby, life is experienced within warm, enveloping, reassuring human arms. How simple is life for mother and baby.This is the way biological evolution designed us to parent. But in a blink of evolutionary time modern society has turned the intimate mother-baby relationship on its head: Such closeness, we are warned, creates later dependency. This leaves the modern mother conflicted, torn by a biology that begs her to keep her baby close to best assure her baby's safety, and by a society that warns that such closeness is psychologically unhealthy. In my book The Vital Touch, I explore how deeply touch impacts on virtually every aspect of your baby's development -- even the age at which he or she starts to walk! -- and dispel the notion that intimate parenting in and of itself creates unhealthy consequences. You should come away reassured that intimacy with your baby is normal and healthy, and with ammunition to fight the warnings of the touch police that you are "spoiling" your baby.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: Part 1: The Power of Touch
Chapter 1 Parenting in the Machine Age
Chapter 2 Newborn Harmony
Chapter 3 Holding Holds Babies Together
Chapter 4 The First Connection
Chapter 5 Rock of Love
Chapter 6 Sensory of Nourishment Part 2: Out of Touch
Chapter 7 Container Craxy
Chapter 8 Sensory Overkill
Chapter 9 The Body Forbidden
Chapter 10 Breast or Bottle?
Chapter 11 Co-sleeping Taboos
CHapter 12 Crybabies Part 3: Getting in Touch
Chapter 13 The Self-Reliant Supermom
Chapter 14 Finishing Touches Some of the many topics discussed in this book:
Independence vs. Interdependence
Bonding
Touch and Growth
Why Massage Creates Magic
Attachment: THe Mother
Father's Role
Influences on Attachment
Newborn Sensory Preferences
Childhood Sexuality
Breastfeeding Benefits
Rating:
Summary: This is the most important parenting guide I have ever read.
Review: The Vital Touch affirms every nurturing instinct within me. Heller's convictions have given me the courage to parent "from the heart" and to care for my child in ways that are counter cultural within the United States. She brings wisdom from families, villages, cultures around the world to us so that we might rely on healthy and loving alternatives to the American absolute values of independence and self-reliance. She gives new parents permission to create an environment of tender care, interdependence, safety and reassurance for our infants and toddlers that will enable and empower them to become confident, self-assured, peaceful adults. I recommend this marvelous book to every parent (and grandparent) of a young child.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful proof that our babies were designed to be touched!
Review: This book was great for refuting those that try to tell me to put my baby in her own bed at night, use a playpen, stroller, etc. instead of being in touch contact with me most of the day. When my second child was born he had pneumonia and was in NICU for a week. He was hooked up to all kinds of sensors and under an oxygen tent. Whenever I would go in to see him and touch his back, his vital numbers would go way up. He knew I was there and responded positively to my touch. They slowly went back down when I left. :-( Touch is vital and this book shows why.
|
