A Guidebook for New Parents
Review of What to Expect the First Year
The casual, easy to read style and useful parenting information make What to Expect The First Year a handy reference for many parents.
"If only this little person came with a manual!" parents often exclaim upon the arrival of a new baby. These days, bookstore shelves are practically overflowing with books on the subject of parenting, but how to choose which book is right for you and your parenting style? What to Expect The First Year [Workman Publishing Company, 2003] is a popular parenting book based on the style and format of the bestselling pregnancy book What to Expect When You're Expecting [Workman Publishing Company, 2002]. Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg and Sandee Hathaway have put together a comprehensive reference that covers your baby's development month by month throughout the first year, and have included extra information on special situations such as travel with baby and infant first aid in an appendix at the back of the book.
Information on Infant Development, Month by Month
Each chapter is dedicated to one month in the development of an infant and includes sections on developmental milestones such as rolling over, grasping a toy or sitting up, what you can expect at a doctor's visit that month, age-specific topics such as introducing a bottle, and a section on common questions and concerns. The overall style is casual and chatty, and the small sections in each chapter make it easy to read in those small snatches of time between feedings and diaper changes.
Every Baby and Every Parent is Unique
The advice in each section is focused on safety and officially recommended guidelines, and the age at which topics are introduced may be earlier or later than many parents choose to introduce those changes. For example, choosing a nanny or daycare provider is introduced as a topic in the third month, while many mothers in Canada do not go back to work until their child is one year old. Whether you go back to work when your child is three months or three years old, the suggestions about how to choose safe childcare are still excellent advice, so you may want to use the index as a reference to find the information you want when you want it instead of reading this book through from cover to cover.
Parenting Philosophy
What to Expect The First Year tends towards the traditional, or mainstream school of parenting in which babies are put to sleep in a crib, are weaned by the end of the first year and learn to go to sleep by themselves by crying it out, although there are small mentions of co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding and responding immediately to a crying baby at night. If you or your partner feel very strongly that the attachment parenting style is for you, you may find that this book isn't an ideal fit. If you are open to trying, or at least reading about many different styles of parenting, this book is a useful resource to have around.
If you read and enjoyed What to Expect When You're Expecting during your pregnancy, you'll appreciate the style and format of What to Expect The First Year. This book contains a great deal of information, presented in a casual and easy-to-read style, and it can help you through every major milestone that you and your baby tackle in the first twelve months of life together.
