The Premature Baby Book

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Summary: Nursery Nurse Speaks Out
Review: As a Intensive Care Nursery Nurse, as well as the parent of a former premature baby, Helen Harrison's book is extremely outdated. It was a bible when it was first published in 1983, but the field of neonatal medicine is constantly changing and any book written over 5 years ago is probably outdated, not to mention 20 years ago. My hat is off to Helen Harrison for her pioneering the field of premature parenting,but there are many other more recent books which will be far more useful to premature parents than this one. Linda Cole RN

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Summary: Laurel's Primer for Parents of Micro-Preemies
Review: As the father of two identical twin girls born at 26 weeks andaveraging 2 pounds each -- I found The Premature Baby Book to be veryhelpful in gaining an understanding of premature care and treatment. Iordered the book written by Helen Harrison and Ann Kositsky (as wellas several others) and found their book to be the most comprehensiveof books on the market addressing premature birth. My only criticismof the book is that many of the statistics utilized within the bookare out-dated and present a somewhat pessimistic view regardingpremature survival and disabilities. I highly recommend this book ifyou have a premature child.

Note that my daughter, Laurel, did notsurvive. After 24 days of making steady improvement, Laurel contractedNEC and rapidly deteriorated. Laurel's identical twin sister, Caitlin,is now 2 1/2 years old and is both health and happy. However, in manyways my mind and feelings still live the trauma of my children beingmicro-preemies. In Laurel's memory I wrote a booklet (distributed forfree) just for parents of micro-preemies. The booklet is not intendedto replace the book length treatment of the issues addressed in ThePremature Baby Book, rather the booklet is designed to give parentssome basic information pending the arrival of their Amazon order...that you have the need to order The Premature Baby Book. You and yourfamily will be in my thoughts.

Laurel's Dad

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Summary: Mom to a former preemie that was one pound, eleven ounces
Review: I am a Mom to a former preemie. My daughter was born nine years ago and this book helped me understand with what was going on with our little girl. This is a great book and I give a lot of credit to Helen Harrison, Ann Kositsky for writing such a great book.

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Summary: Premature Baby Book - Great Guide
Review: This book is considered the NICU/preemie bible. Anyone with a child born prematurely would find the information in this book helpful -- although the book is rather old, it contains information that can lead you to ask the right questions, to ask for the right tests, etc. etc. My son was born prematurely but I didn't find this book until months after he was released from NICU. The moment I got it I absorbed everything I could and wished I'd had it when my son was still in NICU. It answers questions that doctors tend to dance around. The author is a very nice woman -- I've talked with her online in preemie support groups and I understand she is working on an updated version. The stories of various "outcomes" of preemies was especially moving for me. If you know someone who has a child in NICU or who recently had a preemie, this is an excellent book to recommend. I think every NICU should have a copy to loan to parents.

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Summary: Good info if your baby was born 20 years ago!
Review: This USED to be the bible of premie books. Twenty plus years later we have made tremendous strides in saving babies. Even 15 years ago I found many of the scenarios to be too depressing and no longer realistic. I do hope the author will come out with an update since so many people are directed to this book. In the meantime, I highly recommend (and use often when helping parents understand the crisis of their babies premature birth)Newborn Intensive Care: what every parent needs to know by Jeanette Zaichkin and published by NICU Ink. In 1983 we were just beginning to involve parents in their babies care and seeing them as an integral part of "the team". This newer book (1996) focuses on those things that parents can do to maximize their babies outcomes. Don't distress yourself over medical problems that are more easily treated today. Instead, empower yourself with positive information!!!