What to Expect the First Year - Arlene Eisenberg

'Baby and Child' by Penelope Leach was my first baby bible. I liked it for all sorts of reasons which I will not elaborate here, just mentioning it to say that Leach's book is my benchmark for a close-to-ideal baby care manual. However, when my friend thrust her spare copy of 'What to Expect in the First Year' I accepted as there is no harm in having another book, is there? 'What to Expect in the First Year' follows in the footsteps of mega-best-selling 'What to Expect when You are Expecting' and is headed by the same authors as well as following the same rough pattern and sharing a lot of the same advantages and disadvantages. The ...  Read the complete review

What to Expect the first year is a follow up book to What to expect when you're expecting and as the first book this is also a book you cannot live without. When you first have a baby I think it can be a very daunting time and although you seem to be given advice from anyone and everyone it is nice to have the facts written down by experts to refer to. I bought the second edition of this book in 2004 after I was so impressed with the pregnancy version of this book and I was not disappointed. It says it has sold seven million copies and describes itself as the parents bible smething which I would agree with. Part 1 of the book is broken up into 16 ...  Read the complete review

Although helpful I didn't find this book anywhere near as helpful as what to expect when you are expecting. A year is a long time and especially a babys first one and this resulted in the chapters being too short with only limited information on a large number of subjects. A large part of the book is set out in question and answer style which is great if your question should happen to be the one asked but confusing if not. The sections on breastfeeding were of great comfort and did help me through what I found a very hard experience. It covers what milestones your baby should reach or may reach at each stage of his/her development. The of special ...  Read the complete review

So you know when to call this hospital, how to breathe and more than anyone should ever understand about afterbirth, so what's next? Well all you have to do now is take the little one home keep it safe and teach it all about the world. Easy eh? You weren't expecting that were you, and I bet you hadn't read up on it? Well here is your cheat sheet. Written on a month by month basis with all major topics of getting through that first sleep deprived haze that is known as the first year. What to Expect has every circumstance that will happen and another million that won't covered in good detail. The book isn't one to rent, it really should be ...  Read the complete review

Becoming parents for the first time is extremely daunting - there are so many new things to learn, new responsibilities and new things to get you worrying. As a born worrier, I wanted a reference book that could help me through those first few months as a parent. What to Expect - The First Year is exactly what I was looking for and it's become a bit of a baby bible in our house. There are chapters for each month of a baby's first year, as well as chapters on becoming a mum, becoming a dad, illness and special needs, plus many others. Although nothing is covered in immense detail, the wealth of information, advice and firsthand experience contained in the book makes ...  Read the complete review