The Baby Instruction Guide

Rating:
Summary: BABY CARE FOR DUMMIES -- and some of us need it!
Review: My husband and I, expecting our first child, had so little experience with babies that we found most books of "baby basics" weren't basic enough for us. We wanted BABIES FOR DUMMIES. If that's what you need, too, then this book is for you. It recognizes that in today's world, not all parents -- not even all mothers -- have ever babysat for an infant, changed a diaper, or even picked up and put down a newborn baby.

The book is basic -- REAL BASIC -- and that's its strength and its weakness. It features concise, step-by-step instructions with photos that clearly illustrate techniques like picking up a newborn, washing him/her with cotton balls, and giving the first bath in a baby tub. It's great for the simple stuff, but for more complex topics that need more discussion than a bullet-point list and some photos, you will want another book. Because everything is discussed in the same bullet-point lists, more complicated topics such as introducing babies to pets and siblings (why would you want this primer if you already had a kid?), and worse, resuming your sex life after childbirth, are reduced to such simplistic directions that they might as well not have been attempted, because there's no room for "how" or "why." For example, the book tells you to evict pets from your bed before the child's birth. But why should you do that if you plan to put the baby in his/her own crib? Also, some things that the book states as absolute truths (e.g., it's safe for the child to sleep in your bed as long as you don't take alcohol, drugs, or medicine; pets should never be allowed in the baby's room) actually contradict what I have seen in other recent sources, and should have been more honestly presented as one opinion among many.

Despite its limitations, I am glad I bought this book because of the clear illustrations of simple techniques, and the user-friendly spiral-bound format.