What to Expect the First Year, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Great resource for new moms (and dads)
Review: This is a great resource for new parents. I find myself going to this book often when I have questions about my baby. I have not sat down to read the book through beginning to end, but rather use it as a reference book when I have a question about something. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Hefty and helpful guide
Review: This is a perfect book to keep handy for easy reference. It's got information on almost any topic that comes with a baby. The question and answer format makes it easy to read and a good index works for finding your specific problem. As with any book, you don't have to follow everything here, for example, it's not the best for breastfeeding, nutrition or sleep issues. (Check Jack Newman, Sears or Pantley for those topics) Otherwise a great book to have in your libarary.

Rating:
Summary: you get what you expect!
Review: This is THE book you want to read if you're a first time parent and don't have much experience with babies. You're given very practical explanations on how to deal with your newborn and it helps to solve all the simple troubles you go through everyday, from treating fever and skin rashes to deciding which toy to buy.
It is very helpful up to 7/8 months of age of your child, then it becomes less accurate.

Rating:
Summary: Instilling the fear ...
Review: While these types of books are fairly well informative, they also instill fear into expecting mothers. What happened to our mothers and our mothers mothers? They didn't have books like this and yet they still managed quite well to do things naturally and based on instinct. For the most part, we all turned out well. These books make people paranoid to the extent that they are worried about whether they can even do ANYTHING whilst pregnant. I certainly am not going to worry about what I can or can't eat (my mother ate normally), whether I'm able to use certain skin creams (in the old days - if you had to, you had to) etc. I will use common sense and not be scared to breathe by these books. Women; make your own decisions and things will work out as good if not better. Use this book as only a guide, but don't feel you have to do exactly as they say.

Rating:
Summary: Good reference on illnesses and development
Review: While this book definitely says some things about breastfeeding that I DO NOT AGREE with, I have not used it for that. It is super for finding answers to all kinds of health questions. It is well indexed making it easy to find exactly what I am looking for. Amazingly enough I often find fuller answers here than anywhere else except the web. For example this book reassured me about the snorting and gurgling sounds my newborn made and told me more about hand and mouth disease than any other book on my shelf.

The month by month/question and answer format also makes it easy to read for entertainment (in little spurts) during the early months when mommy-brain is in full bloom.