Books for/about - Parenting

What to Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Authors: Heidi Murkoff Arlene Eisenberg Sandee Hathaway

ISBN: 0761121323
List Price: $13.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 4
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Summary: Good but there are better.
The drawback for this book is it clearly explains almost every possible complication. With the monthly format it is a lot to read at a time. The list of complications and possible symptoms each moth can be very daunting. Yet with all of that the book is also a great resource. It gives you many things to consider that you may never have thought of. It is much more comprehensive than many other pregnancy books. It has some nice charts in the back to help you keep track of weight, size and other notes for the Doctor's or Midwives. It also has a section for coping with pregnancy loss and also preparing for the next child. A good resource for any couple expecting a child. With over 12 Million copies sold this book now, in it's 3rd edition has been trusted by many people. The authors have also written:
What to Expect the First Year
What to Expect the Toddler Years
What to Expect Eating Well When You're Expecting
The What to Expect When You're Expecting Pregnancy Organizer

Summary: Detailed, valuable and recommended!
I would like to recommend this book especially to first time mothers because it has wonderful month by month pictures and information detailing the monthly changes in your body. The author has presented "everything" in a step-by-step format, which is very useful and easy to follow. This book will answer most of your questions. It provides also a lot of information about what may go wrong. I guess that this specific information could be presented in a milder way because more anxious mothers-to-be may get worried.

I want to advise you to do your best to avoid any stress during the pregnancy because it will raise the levels of Adrenalin in your body. This will cause an aggressive/depressive mood swings and higher blood pressure. That's why whenever you read something potentially disturbing in this book take it easy and if there are any complications consult with your health care provider.

Being a sexual therapist as well, I advised my daughter to buy in addition to this book scientist Ritz' "Scientifcally guaranteed male multi-orgasms and ultimate sex". Pregnancy is a tough period for sex no matter how much you strive to be intimate with your husband. That's why he most probably will feel bad or even rejected from the serious decrease in your intimate contacts. Scientist Ritz has made a breakthrough with the discovery of "The VIP Muscle", which generates multiple orgasms in men with or without a partner. That's' why my daughter's husband was very happy and calmed from this book (a proof that she thinks for him). Now she reads "What to expect when you are expecting" while he reads Ritz' book and prepares for "ultimate sex" after the delivery. I recommend both books!

Summary: The Pregnancy Bible
As a birth doula, this is the one book that I refer absolutely every expecting mom and dad to every time. This book addresses every possible concern and pregnancy scenario by week, month and trimester. There is a diary in the back of the book to help keep track of every aspect of your pregnancy. It is great fun to go back later and read about your pregnancy after baby comes! I recommend this book to expecting parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. The birth experience is a family affair and with this book, everyone is on the same page!

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What to Expect the First Year, Second Edition

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Authors: Heidi Murkoff Sandee Hathaway Arlene Eisnberg

ISBN: 0761129588
List Price: $15.95
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Summary: Mother of child diagnosed with autism spectrum
Having had to wait 10 years because of infertility, I was so ready for children. When Jordan came into our lives, I had so many questions only this book could answer. I got to know the milestones a baby should come across, the things we as parents are to expect and the missing details that a pediatrician can't have time to dwell on because of the busy schedule he/she keeps. Have you ever experienced that? How many of us enjoy a visit to the pediatrician that spans 30 - 40 minutes? Not many. So this book helped. When our second child arrived miraculously (we were told that we could not have anymore), this book helped us once again to determine that because of missing milestones, we had to be concerned about our baby's mental and physical health. I highly recommend this book to new moms because if you can't remember to ask your doctor every question you had, ask the book. Read, read, read. It was our baby bible. And by the way, our first book has been passed around so many times. It has gone to another state in the USA, Hongkong, China and Singapore. And I just bought another one for a colleague.

Enjoy the baby and the book!

Summary: Good information
This book provides a lot of great information for taking care of a new baby. A great counterpart to "what to expect when you're expecting."

Summary: Pages of wisdom
It is a great, big volume! The essential of this book is that it is written in simple terms and it is very down to earth. It is hard for me to imagine anyone getting through their baby's first year without this book in hand. It is informative, sensitive to the mother's, as well as the baby's needs, it is respectful of everyone involved with the child's care, it is kind, nonjudgmental, reassuring, and gives you every kind of guideline and consideration.
I have purchased many copies of this book as gifts for my friends. I recommend it to all future parents. Another great title is "Can We Live 150 Year" by Tombak. You will find there a lot of information about bringing up your child in a healthy manner. These two books make a great addition to a baby shower gift package.

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	SIGN with your BABY Complete Learning Kit: US DVD Version, Book, Training Video (DVD), Quick Reference Guide Publisher: Northlight Communications Authors: Joseph Garcia
ISBN: 1932354018 List Price: $49.95 Amazon Price: $31.47 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 5 Reviews: Summary: Great! The video is amazing and the Quick Reference Guide is very useful. We are starting signing with our infant (7 months) and can already see some response. I strongly recommend it. Summary: It's pretty good My daughter uses a few signs.. and it does help at times, but I wish they had an easier to use dictionary of signs...a DVD would be great and easy to make that dictionary on. But I love the quick reference card. We made a copy and have it up on our fridge for easy use. I have to admit.. I am not as dedicated to the process as they say you should be... but we get enough signing in to get our basic need for sign met. Summary: Very effective resource!! This is one book i would recommend to all who plan to use sign language with their babies. It gave specific instructions on how to start (i.e., with milk, more and eat) and what you can expect your child to learn. I like that it showed how babies make their first signs (not how adults do them) since we saw all of it with our daughter. I believe this book is really effective as long as you are also willing to learn. We started teaching our daughter at 7 months and she started signing at 9 months. By 10 months she can use 12 signs and by 13 months she is now able to use 30 signs!!! Need I say more?!! Summary:

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Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons

Publisher: Random House
Authors: Tim Russert

ISBN: 1400064805
List Price: $22.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 4
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Summary: a great father's day gift
I gave this to my Dad for Father's Day while he was in the hospital recovering from heart bypass surgery. It is a great book to pick up and read a story or two at a time.

Summary: A must read
This is a must read for just about anyone. It would be a great gift for your father. It has a lot of moving stories and some funny ones as well. I have read it and now I am going to give it to my father as a gift, it is a great book. I also now will probably buy Big Russ and Me.

Summary: KAREN & HER DADDY
MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, KAREN & HER DAD ARE AS TIGHT AS 2 PEAS IN A POD. ALTHO THEY LIVE 700 MILES APART, THEY REMAIN CLOSE. THUS, I THOUGHT SHE WOULD ENJOY THIS BOOK & I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. IT'S FOR ANY DAUGHTER WHO LOVES OR HAS LOVED HER DAD UNCONDITIONALLY. IT BRINGS BACK ALL THE WONDERFUL MEMORIES THEY SHARE BUT MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN. I WOULD RECOMMEND IT FOR ANY SON OR DAUGHTER WHO ENJOYS WALKING DOWN MEMORY LANE.

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Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health (Revised Edition)

Publisher: Collins
Authors: Toni Weschler

ISBN: 0060937645
List Price: $23.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 5
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Summary: Wonderful, Wonderful Resource
When I bought this book, my husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for almost two years. It took us almost a year after buying this book to get pregnant. While I didn't chart my monthly cycle consistently, we did end up getting pregnant. I'm sure there were a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest one is the greatest gift this book gave me: a much more solid and informed understanding of my own body. My sincere thanks to Toni Weschler for this, and for providing this wonderful resource.

Summary: Truly Exceptional and a Must have!
I was deeply impressed and pleased with this book. I am a Ph. D in Sexuality and know a lot about fertility and conception. I absolutely agree that the information is essential especially for young women because it will put their mind at ease about several normal, physiological changes that happen within their bodies.

I also agree that the FAM method is better than the "rhythm method" and that's why I highly recommend it to my female clients. I am happy that this great book becomes more and more popular. It is truly the "bible" when it comes to how the female body functions. I would like in addition to it to strongly recommend scientist Ritz' "Scientifcally guaranteed male multi-orgasms and ultimate sex", which I believe is the equivalent of this book for the male body. Also if your husband has any sexual problems (premature ejaculation, low libido, (semi) impotence and even infertility he will find a lot of first class and science-based information in it. I highly recommend both bestsellers.

Summary: Excellent book.
I'm REALLY glad that I bought the Taking Charge of Your Fertility book. At first I thought, "Yeah, yeah... how hard can it be to understand how to get pregnant?!" I've come to realize that I must have forgotten some of the stuff we learned in 6th grade health class. (I'm 37.) Actually, the book gives more info than health class but it is written in layman's terms, not scientific mumbo-jumbo and it has a bit of humor tossed in too. Also, I was amazed how how thick the book was! I seriously thought it was going to be about as big as a child's book but it has 496 pages! (But there are pictures too... it's not all words.) So.. I've bought the BD BBT thermometer and am temping every morning. We're just starting our 3rd cycle of trying to get pregnant.

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	The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids Publisher: HarperCollins Authors: Ph.D., Madeline Levine
ISBN: 0060595841 List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $15.72 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 5 Reviews: Summary: Shares key insights on motherhood as well as parenting strategies As someone who has studied motherhood intensively for four years (and lived it for seven!) I wish I had a 10-star review in my back pocket to award to "The Price of Privilege." Dr. Madeline Levine provides a compelling body of work to fill in a missing piece of the current round of discussions about modern parenting among privileged families. Through my own work and life experience, I have come to the realization that highly educated, professional women face a specific set of challenges when they make the transition to motherhood. Our culture makes it very difficult to stay authentic to our selves and avoid the traps of perfectionism. Dr. Levine does women a real service by taking these challenges seriously rather than dismissing them. Contrary to much popular wisdom, she describes a generation of upper-middle-class kids as a new type of "at risk" child who is particularly prone to emotional disorders. (In a radio interview she said that these kids had previously been used as a control group in studies of low-income "at risk" kids, until the researchers astutely observed that the privileged kids had challenges of their own.) "The Price of Privilege" will be appreciated by readers in different ways. Levine draws upon her 25 years of clinical work with teens to provide perspective and developmentally appropriate parenting strategies. For readers with teenagers, the focus on the kids may be most appropriate. For parents of younger children, I highly recommend the book for the chapter on mothering, "Having Everything Except What We Need Most: The Isolation of Affluent Moms." In the media, the concerns of affluent women are often dismissed as whining and complaining from a group of women who "have it all." Dr. Levine gives these concerns her compassionate attention. She skillfully negotiates the boundary between bringing these concerns to light while doing her best to avoid blaming women for all that is wrong in families. Levine says that "My hope is that every mother who reads this chapter feels the sense of relief that comes when what we intuitively know to be true is recognized and validated." Thank you, Madeline Levine, for putting new life and gravitas into the old saying, "When Mama ain't happy, nobody ain't happy." Summary: Where was this book when I needed it 5 or 10 years ago? I picked this book up almost by accident. But boy, am I glad I did. In "The Price of Privilege" (246 pages), author Madeline Levine, an accomplished psychologist who excels in dealing with troubled teenagers, examines the dangers and effects of teenagers growing up in an affluent environment. ("Affluent" is defined as a household earning $120,000 and more.) I have to say that I was blown away by the observations in this book, even if, thankfully, I certainly have not experienced the worst-case scenarios described in this book with my own kids, who are now 19 and 16. Among many other things, Levine explains how "rewarding" kids by promising material things ("if you get an "A" on your test, I will buy you X or Y") has a long-term negative effect on kids. Levine also goes into depth about internal vs. external motivation, and why praise is often "bad" warmth for kids. As to "chasing perfection", Levine observes that "the pursuit of perfection is a diversion from the messiness of real life". So true! The main proposition made by the author is that, while of course it is important that we put our kids in a position to get good grades, even more important is that we help our kids with building their inner "self", which will prepare them for the long term. Reason why overinvolvement in our kids' lives is actually counterproductive. I cannot emphasize enough what a wonderful job Levine does in describing the dangers of putting too much pressure on our kids. Which does not mean that she endorses a "slacker" attitude either. This book is about how we can best prepare our affluent kids for the long term. And it's not like the author is making a hypothetical or theoretical or academic case, giving ample real life evidence from her own practice and from studies around the country. I certainly recognized mistakes I have made, which I now wish I could've avoided, making me wonder wishfully, where was this book when I really needed it 5 or 10 years ago... Summary: From a grateful mom While most of the reviews have focused on Dr. Levine's acumen in dealing with teens, I have to say that this book was most helpful to me because of the way it deals with the problems of moms. I have two daughters, one troubled, one not. I've always been made to feel that my troubled daughter is somehow the result of awful parenting decisions I've made. Dr. Levine has helped me sort out the mistakes I've made, both with my daughter and myself, while maintaing perspective about the fact that not all things are in my control. Her warmth comes through on every page (not incidentally, she considers warmth "the silver bullet" of healthy relationships). But also her ability to stand in the shoes of often beleagured moms, without being critical or condescending, makes it easy to take her advice. Makes me wish she wish she lived down the street. Great and useful and ultimately optimistic book. Summary:

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	Child Development: Working with Children and Adolescents, Second Edition Publisher: Prentice Hall Authors: Teresa M. McDevitt Jeanne Ellis Ormrod
ISBN: 0131108417 List Price: $95.35 Amazon Price: $95.35 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Authors: Marc Weissbluth

ISBN: 0449004023
List Price: $14.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 2
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Summary: Forty lashes for the Editor of this Book!
Many, many people swear by the methods in this book. I'm sure the author, a pediatrician, has helped many families with sleep issues. However, those families should also get a pat on the back just for struggling through this horribly written text. The editing is terrible-- you read in circles until eventually finding something useful. The chapters are quite repeditive as well.
The worst thing about the book is the guilt factor-- the Dr. reminds the reader on NEARLY EVERY PAGE that if the reader does not establish good sleep habits for the child, the parent is doing actual damage to the child's brain development. This line of reasoning is extremely heavy handed. I've read enough parenting books, however, to see these tactics for what they are. The author needs the reader to buy-in completely, declare the author a genius and recommend the book to friends.
The sleep methods here are based on a cry-it-out method similar (but not identical) to those advocated by Dr. Ferber. The Ferber book, however, is a much more pleasant read.

Summary: Mostly useless
To say that Marc Weissbluth's method doesn't work gives this book too much credit, as it implies that there is actually a method to be found somewhere in it. Now it is certainly possible that Weissbluth had some method in mind when he was writing, but he completely failed to convey this method, if it in fact exists, to the pages of the book. The man's inability to effectively communicate is truly astonishing. He has an abnoxious habit of completely dancing around the point he is trying to make, instead of just making it. For example, he never comes out and says that for the first three to four months of a baby's life, you can't expect any regular sleep patterns. Instead he just starts talking about establishing sleep patterns in your three to four month child. Furthermore, chapter headings mean nothing to this man. There is almost no organization to the book, so it is nearly impossible to reference something you may have read earlier. To give another example his teaching style, he repeats the mantra "never wake a sleeping baby" a number of times. Later he advises you to wake your baby if it is time to wake up. On yet a different page, he explains that you can in fact wake a baby if it is necessary to maintain their sleep schedule. Perhaps he should have written "seldom wake a sleeping baby". If you have a photographic memory, and can instantly index everything you have read, maybe you can figure out what it is you are supposed to do.

As far as content goes, Weissbluth spends alot of words telling you that your child needs sleep. Its really important that you child gets enough sleep. And it isn't good if the child falls asleep and wakes up too soon, the sleep needs to be of sufficient duration. Well duh, if I hadn't already assumed that I wouldn't be reading a book that claims to tell me how to get children to sleep. He also includes alot of testimonials from parents who have used his method. Other books have used these with some success, mainly to show you that you child's behavior, as atrocious as it may seem, is really quite common, but Weissbluth botches these too. He will have some story about parents who came to him with a sleep problem, and he tells them to put the child to bed thirty minutes earlier, and everything is magically cured. But he includes no mechanism to explain why this supposedly worked, so unless you have the exact same problem, you learn nothing from this.

The closest thing I could find to a method was to simply let children cry themselves to sleep. Maybe that is what all of Weissbluth's research boils down to, but if that is the case, then this book only needed to be about a page long. But even if that is what he meant, I have known several children, one my own, who don't cry themselves to sleep, but instead work themselves deeper and deeper into a frenzy when you do just let them cry at night. I only tried this because it was doctor recommended, and it didn't work.

So, if this book is so incoherent and impossible to use, why do so many reviewers claim the method works? Remember when I pointed out where Weissbluth never quite said that babies are incapable of having a regular sleep schedule untill the age of three to four months? Well, I suspect that most people read this book before that point, and then whatever they interpreted this book to mean they should try appeared to work because their child naturally developed normal sleep habits by that age. This is what happend with my second child. We really didn't try anything, and it worked. He developed good sleep habits on his own. It is only with exceptionally difficult children (like my first child) that you realize that this book really isn't doing anything for you.

Finally, I called this book mostly useless instead of completely useless for a reason. While I don't believe that Weissbluth has discovered anything to improve a difficult child's sleep habits, it does appear that he has at least observed and documented what normal sleep habits are like. He also points out the somewhat counterintuitive notion that sleep deprivation can actually make it harder for a child to sleep than being on a normal schedule. This could be useful to prevent messing up a normal child's sleep schedule, but it doesn't help if the child is difficult and simple won't get enough sleep in the first place.

I am convinced that if you have a child with a real sleep problem, that none of the experts really have a solution. If there were a simple solution, it would be be too valuable not to be common knowledge by now.

Summary: Best Baby Sleep Book
I ordered this book after weeks of sleepless nights and being close to losing my sanity with my first baby. This book gave clear, well-researched information on what a baby's sleep patterns should be like. It gave me a better understanding of the importance of establishing healthy sleep in infants and how to achieve that practically. It also gave me reassurance on letting my baby cry and that it was okay because I was trying to establish healthy sleep for my baby - which is vital for her growth and development. I found this book very well-balanced and unbiased (not colored by any particular parenting philosophy -- the main emphasis being good sleep habits). The book could be a little more well-organized - there are so many nuggets of helpful advice that you have to look for. Another good thing about the book is parents' testimonials on how they got their child to sleep - they are encouraging and reassuring. Definitely order this book!

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