Rating: Summary: Helpful! Helpful! Helpful! Review: I would recommend this book to anyone who really wants to know how to avoid purchase the items their child will need without wasting vast amounts of money on names. The authors give you insight into the baby business and they do not hold back. They even rate certain brands and manufacturers--helping you to not only base your purchases on price, but on safety also. When I first purchased this book, it was overwhelming the amount of information it contained. However, now that the baby is here, it has helped us to make many decisions about the gifts I received and the purchases which we have made. Even if this is not your first child, purchase it. The knowledge is invaluable and the book is user-friendly. I especially loved that they give phone numbers and email addresses whenever possible. Congrats on a great job to Denise and Alan
Rating: Summary: From a 1st time mom-to-be Review: Excellent book!! Don't leave home without it! As a first time mom-to-be, I had no clue as to what brands of baby items to buy, let alone what I needed to buy for baby. This book has been a savior. I highly recommend it to those needing advice in what to buy for a baby. You won't be disappointed. If you are going to spend the money anyway, why not buy what is quality and recommended? This book tells you just that.
Rating: Summary: Essential Guide to Baby Products Review: This book provides the information every parent needs to make wise and informed decisions about what to buy and from where for a baby. I frequently refer back to my copy for advice and guidance when I am contemplating a purchase. It's an invaluable reference!
Rating: Summary: Helps you make wise decisions for your baby. Review: My wife and I found this book to be a great resource as we were preparing for our first child. We continue to recommend it to our friends who are expecting. A big part of the reason we appreciated the book is that the authors didn't tell us what to buy and what not to buy all the time. They gave us lots of information, and we made decisions based off that data. A word to the wise. The authors are NOT a consumer advocacy group, such as Consumer Reports. I believe they have written this and their other books out of a real desire to help others; they do a very good job informing their readers about how to make wise purchases; however, they don't do in-depth research like a large organization does. Denise and Alan Fields give good information and a lot of anectdotal advice, but base your buying decisions on reseach from many resources, including this book. This book is not a panacea. Think of the authors of this book as very well-informed friends who are willing to give you their opinions on a lot of items. You will still have to do the hard work of research. But I'm sure you will, because after all, it's your child we're talking about.
Rating: Summary: Everything you want to know...and then some! Review: I originally purchased this book to check the recommendations for a couple of larger items. I ended up bringing it with me when I registered for ALL of my baby items. In fact, I once went to Babies 'R Us to make a purchase and refused to buy anything, because I had left this book at home. I went back only after I had consulted my Baby Bargains book. I have loaned the book to a couple of friends and they found it just as helpful as I did. Even though my son is now 16 months, I still find it useful. The information doesn't end with newborn purchases. I also found the information regarding internet links extremely handy. Don't leave home without it!
Rating: Summary: Too Much Bias and Not Enough Savings Tips for ALL Moms! Review: I wholeheartedly agree with the other review that talked about this -- as a mother of a bottle fed baby, I find the tone and content of parts of this book to be very hostile towards not only myself, but ALL bottle-feeding moms in general. The authors state several times that breast feeding is proven to be the best, and while I do not disagree with that per se, the tone as well as some other items in the book seem to be rather condemning or, at best, highly dismissive of bottle fed babies' mothers' concerns. True, the authors do state that sometimes it is necessary to bottle feed -- but then list only two VERY narrow examples (adoption and people who physically cannot breastfeed), then go on to make a statement that said, at least to me, that if you found breastfeeding 'hard' that these formulas offer an 'easy way out'. It seems odd to me that a book supposedly meant for ALL new moms would want to off-put about half of them with such a censuring opinion on bottle feeding. I know I bought this book to save money, not be scolded and preached to by the authors for the choice I had to make in feeding my child! I also find it extremely odd that bottle-feeding moms are censured in the book while moms that go back to work are given resources and help, while stay at home moms' concerns for saving and making money are totally ignored. It seems to me that in this issue, it's less of what is best for baby and more of that this is what the authors did. I know I would have found it much, much more helpful to get 2 pages on options for moms to work out of the house than the preachy formula article in the feeding section! To sum up, later in the book the authors talk about bad baby gifts and say that baby bottle warmers should not be purchased because "this may be offensive to a breast feeding mom...remember new moms have very sensitive feelings". It seems from my perspective that only the feelings of breast feeding moms who work outside of the home were considered by the authors. Someone on another site recommended babycenter.com, which I wish I had found before I bought this book. I got basically the same information, only with reviews by many moms with a variety of backgrounds, for FREE! In my opinion using babycenter.com in the first place would have been my biggest baby bargain!
Rating: Summary: Book is Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde.... Review: I'll agree with most of the reviews here that this book really gives you the low-down on most essential baby items. For example, it helped me navigate through the rather complicated jungle of baby cribs and furniture to find what worked best for my money and for my daughter -- I went with Pali as recommended and it really is top notch quality stuff for the dollar. I would never have known this without the help of the book. I do agree with several other reviewers that the book tends to censure certain options in baby care (someone mentioned cloth diapers earlier). The worst of this is on pages 228-229 where the authors compare baby formula and certain direct mail pieces sent out by formula companies to new moms to -- get this! -- cigarettes and beer! I both breast and bottle feed and found this comparison to be highly insensitive the the majority of moms out there who either bottle feed exclusively or who are like me and do both, as well as offensive (comparing formula to controlled substances, come on, is that REALLY necessary?). This mini-article also calls for an end to direct marketing of formula, which is extremely odd considering that (a) all the mail pieces I get from my chosen formula company usually have $8.00 off coupons, (b) the free bag I got at the hospital had a ton more coupons for formula wipes and diapers and the like -- this IS supposed to be a book about saving money and these things saved me a LOT of money (if I were to guess, to date probably at least fifty bucks if not more than that). If you're a bottle feeding mom in any capacity, and you still want to buy this book, do yourself a favor and rip out those two pages. I also agree with earlier reviewers that coupon sites and ways to earn coupons for baby essentials like diapers, wipes, rash ointment, etc should have been addressed as I know I depend on them.
Rating: Summary: Educational, Safety-aware, and Dollarwise tips Review: This book did lay out price savings for just about every possible thing you need to buy as a new mom. I found the categories of things you need helpful as well as the pricing and shopping tips within. I liked that they laid out web links so you could verify their findings. For the most part I found the tips to be accurate. Sometimes the pricing was off. I'd say, get this book, you'll get the savings back in tips, but compare its advice to advice of actual moms. It is always good to get reality checks against your geographical region.
Rating: Summary: Excellent choice for fist time parents-to-be. Review: The Baby Bargains book is an excellent choice especially for first time parents-to-be. If you have never had a need to buy baby items before you can feel very clueless as to where to start and what to buy. Baby Bargains does a great job giving directions as far as what to buy and what not to buy. The book is very organized and easy to follow. It was helpful for bargain hunts but I found it much more useful regarding safety issues and ratings. The ratings really helped when I went to the store to register. It was a wonderful guide. I highly recommend this book as a resource.
Rating: Summary: Excellent resource for first time parents Review: I initially bought this book because I was interested in saving money on all the numerous items I thought I would need for my new baby. But what I found out is that this book really was an excellent resource on letting me know exactly what I would need and when. In terms of saving money, and finding bargains...well, I'm not so sure that this is what has happened. Though I live in France and one might think that the same products could be more expensive as a result of buying these products in a foreign country,I have noticed that the top-of-the line recomendations from the authors are of the best quality and as a result more expensive, no matter the country. At the end of their book, the authors provide a handy checklist entitled "Smart Shopper Tips". I found this a great help when I went in to purchase a particular item. Rather than remembering everything the authors said about a particular product, I just ran down the list and checked if the product conformed to the most important safety and convenience standards as noted by the Fields. This book also lists numerous web sites where products can be purchased and viewed. I checked about 15 of these sites and found (just as the authors promised) the products available as well as other helpful information. Overall, I recommend this book as a wonderful guide on how to buy (which you will have to do, at least with a first baby) intelligently and with foresight.
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