Baby 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice For Your Baby's First Year

Love this book! It is full of useful information, and I go back to this book for reference quite a bit, even with my 7 month old. It's an easy read, and Dr. Brown peppers all of the facts with personal stories from her practice so the reader has real world application of the knowledge that she is sharing. It's divided up into chapters that make sense, so it's easy to go back and look up something if you have a question. Also, the chapters are marked on the side of the pages for easy reference. Dr. Brown also has a website that goes along with the book that has useful tips and helpful pictures of different rashes, in case your baby breaks out with some crazy spots and you're not sure what it is. She also gives great inside information about the doctor's side of your baby's appointments; if you need to call your baby's pediatrician, she has a lists of questions in the book that you might get asked by the nurse, depending on what's wrong with your baby, so you are prepared when you call to schedule an appointment. This book is amazing, and really helped me prepare for my child. I read it while I was still pregnant, and now with an (almost) toddler, I have to say most of the information in this book, I have found accurate.

A few coworkers (doctors) recommended this book to me. I wish I'd bought it sooner - the first chunk of the book is prenatal / maternity FAQs, the majority of the book is how to take care of a baby, broken down by topic and in an easy-to-read format where it outlines the basics and then launches into an intelligent Q&A. I spent most of my early sleepless nights with baby reading this beast cover to cover while feeding her. There are sections on sleep, feeding, poop, discipline, milestones/development, illness, and pregnancy/prenatal care to name a few, and the material is evidence based, reality based, and truly legitimately great. It's written by a breastfeeding expert and a paediatrician with impressive credentials. It certainly educated me, and I'm a doctor. I recommended it to anyone and will be buying copies of this for every darned baby shower I go to. I use it as my primary go-to resource and trust it.

I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. If you are a new parent or are going to be, this book is an absolute necessity and I swear to you that you will go running to this book countless times throughout the first year of your babies life! I know I did. I buy this book as a gift every time I attend a baby shower. The reason I like it so much is because it's easy to use as a reference... If you wake up in the middle of the night to a child with a fever, you can easily navigate to the fever section of the book where it will give you a breakdown of what you should do (Go to the Emergency Room if... Call the on call if... Wait til normal business hours and make an appointment with the pediatrician if...). And this book is not as "alarmist" as some of the other books of the same type, it's a very level headed yet informative and trustworthy guide to parenting through the first year.

Overall, this handy, little book proves to be very useful and educational. It was gifted to me when I was pregnant with my first child, and I really appreciated the concise, easy to understand format. I was so impressed by it that it has become one of my go-to gifts for new parents. I will say that this book is very conventional and slightly biased. You won't find much "crunchy," pro-organic, pro-homeopathic advice in this book. I consider our family to be mostly conventional (in terms of medicine and vaccinations), so it didn't bother me at all. If you're looking for more natural, homeopathic advice in raising your child, this book won't be for you. Even if you consider yourself more "crunchy" than not, you might still find some helpful information in this book, especially with breast feeding, sleep requirements, timeline for common milestones/achievements, first aid information, and what to look for/when to call a doctor type situations.

My husband and I both loved this book. Have used it (earlier edition) with two of our kids. Great for new parents who have questions about everything. We felt it was a trust-worthy source and yet we weren't bogged down with information overload. The chapter layout makes it easy to find the topic you need. The answers, feedback and suggestions are extremely helpful and the writing style is very accessible. It was a good book to read front to back, as well as a "go to" when we had specific questions that came up in the first year. This book comforted us many times when we felt like we didn't know what we were doing or why our baby might be acting a certain way. Now I buy this book for all of my friends who become new parents.

This is THE book for parents to get knowledgeable and understand baby in the first year. When everything is so new at the beginning, and so much of the information fed to new parents is dated or plain wrong, this book written by pediatricians and reviewed by pediatricians makes is much easier for first time parents. It's easy to read and the scientific information is presented in a fun way, which makes you want to keep reading. As baby grows new chapters become relevant, so we've had this book on our livingroom coffee table for 6 months and it's not going anywhere.

very useful for first time moms

We consult this book for everything and anything. It is truly a users manual for a new baby. The book covers everything from common illnesses (with a handy 'what is that rash' chart) to sleep training, to developmental milestones. This book has saved us from many un-needed trips to the GP and middle of the night phone calls to the grandparents. The topics are explained clearly and concisely and points the reader to other books for the in-depth details. This would make a great gift for new parents. And if nobody gives it to you -- buy it for yourself! I

Daughter-in-law is delighted with format and content. Info is accessible, concise, and reassuring.

I preferred the pregnancy 411 book as thevadvice is repeated often in baby 411. As well as its more geared towards Americans mayernity leave standards and as I live in Canada I skipped a lot of pages.

Bought for a friend to use and refer to. Nicely divided into clear chapters covering questions asked by parents, which are very interesting and useful. I'll update how my friend finds the book.