The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)

By the title of my review you can tell I refer to this book as my baby encyclopedia! It's great. Lots of helpful information for the first years of life. Information is easy to find. I have also read, but do not own yet, the fussy baby book and I really liked that book too. I realized I was doing attachment parenting and didn't even know it!

This is one of the few books on parenting that is lacking in BAD advice. Most of the advice is positive, supportive, and aimed toward understanding your infants needs. Dr. Sears actually says that it is good for our children to eat saturated fats, which is so true. Although unfortunately they make the mistake of recommending soy milk or rice milk for growing children, rather than raw grassfed milk. This book is extremely detailed, so much so that I wonder what all the details are about. It's almost like Dr. Sears home doctor companion because I am certain that it will be hard to find a question that is not answered in the book.

For those who want more nutrition and attachment parenting see Healing Our Children: Because Your New Baby Matters! Sacred Wisdom for Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting (ages 0-6)

Don't waste your money on a bunch of baby books ... this one is encyclopedic and contains everything you need to know.

A friend of mine just lent me this book because she said everything I did with my 2 1/2 year old is in the book, which I had never read. I had the What to Expect books that someone had bought for me, but I didn't really like them and I did my own thing. I didn't realize it was called attachment parenting, I thought it was just common sense. I had a natural homebirth from the beginning with my husband and midwives. Sure, we were scared when they left us without an instruction manual, but we just figured it out. I nursed and slept and was on her schedule, which worked out for us. We coslept with our baby and I carried her in my kangaroo pouch wherever we went. Intimacy was not a problem, because we don't have the "night time only rule" in our house. We have a pretty laid back kid who loves to travel via airplane and car. She's never had a schedule, she's too busy having fun. We know friends who are tied down to schedules and their kids seem to cry an awful lot. Who wants to hear a kid cry all the time? Not us.

The Baby Book is the perfect gift for a first-time mom, pregnant friend, or any new family. It is written with a light, gentle and positive tone, but is eye-opening at the same time. On the surface, it seems to be a "baby guide" like so many others on the market, but The Baby Book is different.

Dr. Sears and his family coined the term "Attachment Parenting," which is a philosophy of parenting that embraces instinctual bonding behaviors like breastfeeding, babywearing and cosleeping. If these terms are foreign or even off-putting to you, that's okay. The Baby Book contains all the fun facts to prepare and guide moms and dads with new babies. It just adds another dimension, empowering parents to care for their children with respect, and encouraging them to develop a deep relationship that can carry them through countless tough decisions in a lifetime.

Rather than parroting the tired mantra of "check with your doctor," The Baby Book presents the data you need to make informed choices on your child's behalf, or tells you where to find it if you want to know more. And you will want to know more after you read this book. It will give you the sense that it's okay to question the status quo and make your own way as a parent.

If you think you are the type of parent who likes to take charge of your child's health and well-being, rather than leave it up to an "expert" who hardly knows him (aka the pediatrician), I would also recommend reading Healing Our Children: Because Your New Baby Matters! Sacred Wisdom for Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting (ages 0-6) by Ramiel Nagel.