Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5

This comprehensive guide is a parent-friendly reference book that I highly recommend to new moms and dads. Anxious parents welcome kind support and easy to understand facts so that they can become more confident in making the many necessary decisions regarding their children. "Caring For Your Baby and Young Child; Birth to Age Five" is conveniently formatted and offers an abundance of helpful, sound information addressing the many questions and concerns that arise during the early years. It is especially helpful in explaining common health issues thereby often relieving a worried parent on the spot about those many wonders and fears that occasionally come to mind. Although this book covers a wide spectrum of information, I noticed that the advice relating to discipline strategies and child development insights for the 2-to-5-year-old isn't as extensive as the medical information or the specific infant behavior suggestions. I would like to also recommend another helpful reference book to fill that need. "The Pocket Parent" is a troubleshooting A-Z guide focusing on challenging preschool behavior and is written in the same friendly, non-judgmental style as "Caring For Your Baby..." Parenting, especially in the early years can feel scary, lonely, and quite frustrating. These two books are very compatible, having the same underlying positive perspective and philosophy for raising healthy, happy children. Keep them handy whenever you need some fast answers, strategies, or just a little 'verbal hug' to reassure you that you are not losing your mind and that everything is going to be OK.

This book is just full of useful information and it's presented in a clear and helpful way. First, a month by month guide to infant development and psychology. Then some helpful sections on child proofing your home and finally a large and valuable section on health issues and emergency care. I didn't expect the AAP to write such a handy and easy to read volume.

This book has come in handy for all of my questions and concerns. It has useful sections on development in different age stages, and the back section of the book goes into detail about infant and child illnesses. This health section in the back has been useful when I've tried to determine whether to call my child's pediatrician or what might help my child feel better, as well as how long he might be contagious. The sections on development have useful checklists too. It's the only parenting book I've purchased so far. I usually just check them out from the library but it is well worth purchasing.

For children in the first five years of life I recommend Caring for Your Baby and Young Child edited by Steven Shelov and distributed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This comprehensive guide is divided into two major sections. The first half of the book is arranged by age so whether your child is a newborn, 15 months old, or three years old you can easily look up your child's age and find out the major issues concerning safety, feeding, sleeping, fears, common problem, etc. for that time period. Doing this periodically will prove quite useful. I do it from time to time to get a fresh look at my own children. The second half of this book is encyclopedic. Common problems of the first five years of life are arranged in alphabetical order so when your child has an ear infection, or a sore throat, or a head ache you can quickly turn and get a brief, authoritative answer to your question. Alan R. Greene, M.D., F.A.A.P. Dr. Greene's HouseCalls -- Pediatric Wisdom for the Information Age http://www.drgreene.com