الكتاب حجمة كبيير جداا وحقيقة لم استطع قراءته دفعة واحد هو أشبه بالمرجع لكل حالة.. نصائح ممتازة ومناسبة لكل أم .. من أهم الامور التي استفدت منها جداول الاعراض للامراض كثييرا لا نعلم ماسبب صياح الطفل لكن هناك بكل مرحلة عمرية تقريبا يوجد جدول للأعراض ومتابعة حالة الطفل من لون البراز ودرجة الحرارة لمعرفة حالة الطفل وسبب بكاءة.... أفادني كثييراا الحمدلله .. وأخيرا أتمت سارة عامها الاول وأتميت قرائتي للكتاب:)

Baby: the owner's manual. It's a massive tome -- and of course I wouldn't expect anyone but me to read it cover to cover -- but the material is indexed and organized chronologically, so it is accessible to the stressed out parent. If you have a question in month four about what to buy your infant in the toy department, this book has the answer. For those competitive types, the handy chart of development milestones starting on page 106 will help you determine if your little one is already getting a head start on the road to those straight A's and Ivy League education.

3.5. Lots of good info! A little overwhelming at times, but a great resource to have. Probably would have given it a four, but the chapters were sometimes set up randomly at times.

We made it to one year!! It was comforting to have this book as I had NO idea what I was doing and no other resources besides the internet. However, it wasn’t the best resource if you really need to dig into something, like feeding or sleeping or another specific developmental area. It keeps it pretty surface level, though it does have some information that I needed at point of use and the things I learned were helpful.

But, because it’s trying to be so generic and apply to “everyone,” I feel like it actually makes assumptions about people’s class, race, situation, values, culture. Not always, and not on purpose I’m sure, but that’s just what happens when you try to appeal to everyone - you actually target the mainstream, which are wealthier white women, with steady parenting partners. So whatever you read in here, you have to come at it from a little distance and allow yourself some grace.

I feel this is especially true with regard to the sections on breastfeeding. I feel like a lot of assumptions were made and that those who choose not to breastfeed are dismissed more quickly. There could have been more time spent on formula feeding and combo feeding. Again, I get why the book is structured the way it is in following the most basic, average path, and that it’s impossible to allow for every feeding situation or even to capture a “normal” situation or really prepare you for what it will be like, but maybe the tone could be adjusted.

So overall, good to have. I read the whole thing. I don’t know of another book like it. But not the best tone/approach, especially if you need advice with something specific to your situation.


Update after second read in 2023: Much less helpful, and more opportunities to roll my eyes, the second time around, though also much less time to even have a question, let alone look up the answer, before it’s all moot.

Znakomita książka, najlepsza jaką miałem w rękach w tej kategorii. Zawiera mnóstwo szczegółowych, fachowych informacji, które są bardzo przejrzyście uporządkowane i łatwe do odnalezienia. Jest napisana językiem lekkim i przyjaznym, często dowcipnym, a zarazem nigdy głupawym lub upupiajacym (co jest częstym problemem w tym gatunku).

It’s a good framework for things to know in the first year. It’s not totally comprehensive, but it gave me a good foundation of things to discuss with my pediatrician and doctors.

One of the chapters in this book was on what to buy to be ready for baby, which I wished had been included in the pregnancy book, because of course I was doing the buying and gift-registering before she was born.
This book is set up similarly to the pregnancy book - month by month - and I tried to read it the same way. The problem is while everything was spot on week by week during pregnancy, baby growth, especially after the first couple months, varies from kid to kid. So when she was going through a sleep regression in her 4th month, I was desperately googling why she wasn't sleeping... the book didn't say anything until several months later. But it did include a section on teething long before her first tooth ever showed. Also, they include averages of ounces of milk/food/sleep per day but again this is so variable from baby to baby that it was just frustrating and worrying when I thought she wasn't eating enough or was gaining weight to slow, or too fast. A different way of organizing this book by subject, with much shorter month by month sections, would probably make more sense. And sometimes less is more - with babies varying so much, including an "average" is often not helpful and can be just confounding instead.

A straightforward survey of child development during a baby’s first year written largely in a question and answer style. I especially appreciated the “Developmental Milestones” section (to see what the average baby should be doing per month) and the “Baby Basics at a Glance” boxes (to see what each month of your baby’s first year should look like in regards to sleeping, eating, and playing). Like What to Expect When You’re Expecting, I didn’t read this cover to cover but only read the sections which I had interest in or questions/concerns about.

This book has some basic information that's useful, and tables for common OTC drugs based on weight and type of suspension at the back that are great for when internet access is out and you need to look them up. And this book helped teach my husband how to change a diaper.

However, some of the information is just not great. I would recommend skipping the whole section on breastfeeding and reading some better books on it instead. The growth, eating, sleep, and sibling sections have been spectacularly unhelpful for our family. And a lot of the stuff is just redundant, not to mention some of it is confusing. Overall, a basic book with an okay knowledge base, but I would recommend getting more in-depth books on topics you need to know about, as well as looking for more up-to-date information on websites such as BabyCenter, Kelly Mom, or WebMD.

I have greatly evolved my opinions of this book since starting it in the hospital! Throwing this on the “did not finish” pile, and I think we’re unlikely to pick it up again.

Early opinion – helpful! As we sat in the hospital waiting for our daughter to be born, we really enjoyed reading the early newborn sections on baby care, bottle feeding, and especially how weird new babies can look. I remember also enjoying the earlier chapter on “buying for baby” many months ago, as a way to cut through the endless recommendations for baby stuff online, and understand that you don’t really need all that much to begin with.

But now that we’ve been through the first and especially second month chapters, we really feel rubbed the wrong way by this book. I am an adult. I do not need cutesie wootsie baby language to tell me how to care for an infant. I need information, facts, and advice delivered in a palatable way. This book apparently cannot serve that need. Just flipping to a couple random pages, I see babies referred to as “your cutie”, sleep as “nighttime z’s”, and the line “there’s nothing quite the same as having your mommy or daddy around to hold your hot little hand… and administer specially prescribed doses of love and attention.” Blech! Is this written for me, or for the baby to read?

There’s obviously way more information about breastfeeding and pumping than these adoptive parents could ever need, and a lot about baby boy health issues that don’t apply to our situation either. I can skim past all that stuff. But the last straw for us was “The New Face of Fatherhood” section in month 3, with its reference to rocking a baby with one arm “while checking last night’s scores or today’s market prices on your smartphone with the other” – because you know, men only care about sports and investing, and women don’t care about those things? Shortly followed by the parenthetical exclamation “(instincts – you have them, too!)” How incredibly patronizing, especially in a section claiming to recognize that men and women don’t have to fulfill traditional, gendered parenting roles anymore.

There’s plenty of useful info in here, and I liked the idea of reading each chapter month by month, but maybe we’ll just keep it around as a reference book now and pick it up as needed. Not worth reading the whole thing, for us. Read enough to add it to my 2019 list.

An honest to God, very helpful book for parents-to-be. I really like how the book does not instruct one-sided ways or approaches to parenting. It includes the pros and cons and different perspectives of very contentious subjects of parenting, such as breastfeeding vs formula vs pumping vs supplementing, etc. You get a lot of information, and you choose (or feel reassured) what works for you is best.

I learned a lot of things I didn't know about, and I wish I had finished this book before I gave birth, but I read this throughout the first year of my baby's life and finished by her 13th month. WTE is very thorough and inclusive. I wasn't expecting a lot of topics to be included because of how old this book is, but there are chapters to support and inform fathers, adopted children, special needs children, and so on.

I had an older edition of this book which I found helpful, because like 60% of advice for new moms not only changes wildly from decade to decade, but is frequently contradictory. If you are only reading newly printed material, you are missing out on CONTEXT. The specific edition I had (2nd?) Was concerned about baby's cholesterol levels. No one in the year 2019 or 2020 has ever inquired about my or the baby's cholesterol.

I began reading "historical" pregnancy documents out of frustration about the lack of good information about childrearing and pregnancy. Reading the older texts helped to provide context for the information I was recieiving now and to help me explain things to people who offered well intentioned advice from a different time. It felt much more polite to say "oh yes! That is the advice that was given in the 8o's. This is the advice that is given now...."

Any who. Just do what your guts say is right.