Infant-and-Toddler-Development Books

this book is easy to read and the recipes are very tasty even us grown ups enjoy it.

I found this book so easy to follow. The recipes are quick and my 15 month toddler loves what I make out the book. I am not the best cook so easy and quick works for me. Plus my toddler is not patient.

So this recipie book gets points for lots of pictures and very interesting ideas for toddler and child foods. The only complaint that I had about the book was that they used A LOT of weird words for simple ingredients like: mangetout instead of snap peas. Can't you just say snap peas? I actually had to go online for some other ingredients as well. But over all she has some good recipies.

Am Lovin' this cookbook. Was a little hesitant to order another cookbook online without being able to look at it first, but the other reviews convinced me it was a good decision. And boy was it! This cookbook is awesome! Provides me with lots of new menu ideas vs. the redundant cheerios/yogurt for breakfast and turkey/cheese for lunch. (Not that there's anything wrong with those things). But I know my son is going to get burned out on the same stuff. And sometimes you just need a quick recipe on the nights when you're not into making a full-on dinner and little one is hungry.
The recipes are short & sweet, easy to follow and actually contain ingredients that are in your house already or are easy to obtain from your local grocery. Plus they're healthy! A nice combination of realistic cooking times and yummy food!
I didn't give this book a five star only because I think there could have been just a few more distinctive recipes for times of the day for the beginner with table food.
The book starts with information on Healthy Eating, Food-Combining, Essential Nutrients, and basic How-To's on feeding little ones. Even Coping with Feeding Problems, Managing Allergies and Sensible Shopping. A lot of info but designed to be read easily or you can choose to skip straight to recipes. Then the book is broken down into sections. The first section is baby's first foods- a variety of purees and cereals when first introducing baby to "solids". (ie- first rice flakes, carrot and potato puree, apple puree). Next, on to include a wider variety of pureed baby foods. (ie- chicken with rice and leeks, pork apple with parsnip and rutabaga, fresh peach yogurt). All home made, all healthy and best of all- easy to make. Then, for babies that are ready for soft lumps and first finger foods and on to mashed/chopped meals and finger foods. (ie- eggy toast fingers, macaroni cheese, pork with apples). Part three is for 1-2 year olds (ie- tuna pasta bake, first chicken nuggets, mini pitta pizzas). Finally, Part four is for 3-6 year olds (mini blueberry pancakes, apple and oat muffins, twice baked potato, chicken and corn pizza). There's everything from breakfast to dinner and all foods in between, including snacks, soups and drinks. There's even a section on cooking with your kids.
Another great feature is that under each recipe there's small icons that tell you at glance if the recipe is suitable for vegetarians, gluten-free, contains eggs or peanuts, ect. Also, many of the recipes can be modified for almost all age groups.
Indispensable for mommies and daddies of babies, toddlers and children!

horrible, I would really love to know who these moms are that have all the time to make all this stuff. I am convinced they must have nannies or other major help. Many of the recipes have over an hour for prep time (3 1/2 hours prep time for beef stew anyone?) If I am going to spend that much time making something for my 15 month old, I would hope at least that they were recipes she would eat. About 3/4 of the stuff she wouldn't take more than a bite of. You will also go broke trying to get all the ingredients and fresh spices needed for these recipes. Just stressed me out. Use your hard earned money for a book that is actually useful!

This book stars while you're still pregnent. I felt so guilty when I started reading this book about all the stuff I missed out on doing.

Great book, now I recomend it to all my friends. You should read it when pregnant; it gives you a lot of tips for infant stimulation and they work!

Fully applying the information in this book relies heavily upon making your own stimulating toys for baby and following a "schedule" outlined in the book. It's not a reference book. It's a PROGRAM.

I expected the book to inform me, in general terms, ways to help my baby grown and develop. Instead, most of the time in the book is devoted to describing in great detail toys that are to be made or purchased and precisely how and when to use them to teach baby, including the duration of time for activities. For example, you are instructed to make toys that have fabrics of different colors and textures or how to craft a mobile for the baby's crib. (The toys for purchase list seems quite out of date so to follow it you pretty well have to make what you need.)

There were some useful things that I gleaned from the book, such as giving my baby objects in different sizes (spoons) or teaching her to smell different items. However, I did not find the book very valuable because I've learned that I have and have had pretty good sensibilities about how to accomplish this as I go about my day preparing meals, sorting laundry, and running errands at the grocery store.

In the end I found it far easier to let my baby smell spices as I prepare meals and to show my baby colors and textures in the produce section of the supermarket and in the family's clean laundry. The alternative was to read this book almost daily, run around to craft stores, hardware stores, and fabric shops with a young infant, burn through precious nap time to scavenge for hard to find items, sew, saw, paint, glue, and complete projects in time to use them before she reached the next stage. Gasp. Huff. Puff. Phew.

My advice is to save your money and get this outdated book at the library just to peruse it. Take time to involve baby in your activities from a young age. Talk to her every step of the way. Let her watch you work and play. Explain everything whether you think she understands or not. Provide lots of experiences for each of her senses. Put some cinnamon in her applesauce (smell that? mmmm!), let her stick her fingers in your bread (squishy), butter (slippery), syrup (sticky), and then give her a bath (wet)!

As for nap time? Use it to nurture yourself - exercise, prepare nutritious meals, do crafts only if you like to, read things to expand YOUR mind so you'll have even more to teach baby as she grows. (What she learns from a tender age about how you spend your time is nearly as important as the rest.)

OR buy this book 2 years before you plan to get pregnant so you can complete all the projects and familiarize yourself with the program. Then you might have a shot of implementing it with your child.

If you can get past the horrible writing style (a lot of sentences begin with "So..." or "Now..." and end with exclamation points!!) you'll find dangerously out-of-date information like including raw eggs in your protein shake, placing newborns on their tummies to sleep, recommending crib bumpers, ets. The product guide should be updated to include current books, prices and web sites for purchases. And why do I need 300 pages to tell me to talk to the baby in utereo and cuddle and hold her when she is a newborn? Aren't these infant stimulation techniques obviously helpful for bonding and development? Haven't people always known this stuff?
I can't believe this book is still available.

Highly important in today's world. That we really understand that our babies are aware and "hearing" everything that goes on is critical! Welcoming these new souls and acknowledging their presence early and positively is critical for the future of the world. See birthpsychology.com for more reasons and deeper understanding!

Very informative with lots of good ideas. this book is very readable and you can start it as you start training.

This book has a lot of super information in it, but what it lacks is organization. I kept thinking "but didn't I already read that?" because it repeats the information in several different ways and places. I would have rather had the book keep every thought, issue and subject distinguishable and not so cross-referenced. It made it difficult to look up an exact issue I was dealing with, and I would lose track of where I was. We have been working on potty training with our 2 1/2 year old for two months now, and I am now looking for a more substantial book. The one thing I have learned is PATIENCE.

I bought this for my daughter and son-in-law. They have twins, so this should help. She really likes this book. With twins time will tell, but I think she's really learned a lot already.

Loaned this to a friend and have never seen it again! I liked it for the basic ideas. If nothing else, it confirmed that my thoughts were correct.

This is the 3rd book we've read on the subject, and this is my favorite. I really appreciated the examples of how to respond to my child so that she would be encouraged and not pressured. It also helped me be less frustrated by accidents. The positiveness and enthusiasm is working really well for my daughter. After 1 month of potty training with other books she still didn't tell me when she wanted me to take her to the potty. After 2 days of this book, she told me she wanted me to take her to the potty. Hurray!

Not just bad car seat advice, but actually dangerous car seat advice. The authors obviously never asked a licensed CPST (Child Passenger Safety Technician) or contacted SafeKids (www.safekids.org) before writing this chapter. Their publisher then skipped on vetting their work that endangered the lives of children. Unbelievable! If I could have given this books less than 1-star I would have...

I recommend anyone reading this book ignore the car seat advice given. It is extremely dangerous advice. The book says to buy a used or older car seat so that the gasses from the cover are gone or to purchase an organic cover and exchange. Purchasing a used seat (that you don't know the history of) is not recommended because you don't know if the seat has been crashed, misused, has missing parts, etc. all of which could result in safety issues. Also, car seats expire six years from the date of manufacture because plastic degrades so an old seat can be dangerous as well. Switching the cover with an organic one sounds like a great idea, but after market products like an organic cover are not crash tested (even if they say they are - there are no federal requirements for after market products which means a manufacturer could toss the cover into a wall and claim it is crash tested and passes) so you are essentially using your child as a crash test dummy.

If you are really worried about the gasses in the cover, purchase the car seat new and a bit before you need it. Then, either wash the cover according to the manufacturer's recommendations or let it sit and air out for a few months.

Although this is a very attractive book there is no useful information in it at all. Just a general discussion on organics without any practical or useful specific advice.

This book is very basic, like a summary of all the tips. Which, if you are buying this book you are probably somewhat up on organic and this book will teach you nothing. I really wouldn't call it a book, it's more like "notes" on how-to be organic, but not "why" to be organic. Not enough info here for me!

I got this book and was disappointed. This book is full of large print, multiple colors and pretty pictures. Very little real information or pages. If you feel compelled to read this... do yourself a favor, save your money and check a copy out at the library for free. Then all you'll waste is your time. There are much better books out there that can inform a new parent or those wishing to change over to an organic lifestyle.

I received this book as a shower gift. Although there is a lot of information that would have been useful before baby. I do reference it a lot everytime I think one of my girls might have something.

I like that this book breaks developmental stages down into age levels and sometimes even further into months. I referred to this book often when my daughter was a newborn. GREAT illustrations...photographs of real babies and parents and items! What I didn't like were the 2-page bios of babies with special needs or developmental issues. None of them pertained to my situation, and because they were so short anyone with that problem probably wouldn't get a lot of help. However, this was just a small part of the book. Overall the information given was very good, never preachy, and very thorough.

I am the mother of a 15 month old now and everytime I have referenced this book, it has been inaccurate with something. Hep B according to every other source is an immunization that children should receive whether the mother tested positive or not; this source states it as optional. I have the mayo clinic book and what to expect the first year and toddler years and they have proven to be the most accurate. I would not trust this book.

The best feature of this book is its many pictures. For example, I took one look at the picture of the baby with the "umbilical hernia" and knew my baby had one too.

On the other hand, I don't find myself consulting this book very often. The information it provides is VERY BASIC, such as how to put on a diaper and how to give your kid a bath. It would probably be most interesting to read -before- your child arrives, when you are being kept up at night by the idea of soon having to change and bathe a 7-pound squirmy thing. However, once the first week of baby care is past, I don't think you're apt to consult it much.

I would also like to add that some of the other reviews were ridiculous. I do not buy books especially on something so important because I like the pictures or many copies were sold. That to me is not making an informed purchase. This book was given as a gift to me otherwise I would never have kept it. People who really have kids that reviewed this book and have any inkling of what is fact would never recommend this book.

I totally agree with the other review that her views on boys and girls is ludicrous. It is 2003 not 1803! I would never buy this book as a new parent nor would I recommend it to anyone. I am a military wife and have seen countless kids from birth to teenagers so I am really not kidding about this! Take the time and simply read the section on immunizations or even show it to your doctor and you will know what I am talking about. Do not trust reviews just because someone sits at their computer and writes thousands of reviews everyday. Simply take a look at this book versus others out there and make your own informed decision! Thanks!

Parents of toddlers need all the help we can get...and this book isn't helping anyone! I already own all of the "What to Expect" series, and I picked this book up hoping for new solutions to tantrums and potty training troubles for my 26 month old daughter. What a disappointment!

The book has big print, goofy drawings, and bland/boring/short paragraphs full of common sense and sometimes even ridiculous advice. If you are annoyed by the useless advice your mom and mother-in-law give you, then don't even bother with this book. I flipped through it and then took it back to the store. There are no parenting answers here. Try "What to Expect, the Toddler Years" and ask your friends for tips on what works with their kids.

Details on everything you need to know and don't know to ask!

This book has been very helpful to me. I plan on using it for several more years as my daughter grows up.

This book was good for some very basic info on toddlers. I didn't like the format because it jumped from one thing to another. Most of the info seemed to be geared toward 2 years and up, and the section on feeding was boring. It was mostly about the food pyramid and RDA's. Ugh.

I found this book to be a total waste of money. Sure it has a few interesting pieces of information, but nothing I haven't heard before. This book may be useful if you have never had any experience with children. If you have been around children at all, you will find everything in this book to be pure common sense. I was looking for something with more concrete usable information.

A note to all new fathers or fathers-to-be; there are lots of pregnancy and child development books out there that assume you to be a knucklehead who can only understand life lessons by way of sports metaphors. Unfortunately, "Rookie Dad" is one of those books.

There are parts of the book that are a tad helpful but they sort of get swallowed up with brainless advice to "get down on the floor and play with your baby." Well, duh. In fact, many of the exercises this book illustrates are things that I found myself doing with my daughter out of instinct before I even read the book. This is not an endorsement of my awesome parenting, just an example of how obvious the lessons are.

And I really could do without the author wagging her finger at new dads, telling us to immediately drop the idea of sex right after child birth. Again, duh. Anyone who needs to read that out of a book is pretty out of touch as it is, and Susan Fox's inclusion of that piece of 'advice' is insulting.

My mother, in her newfound grandmother bewilderment, bought me this book. I will keep it as a source of reference and will occasionally go back to it to see if I am doing things right. But for the most part, "Rookie Dad" tells me lots of what I already know.

I absolutely hate the condescending tone which the writer takes in her assumption that all Dads are mainstream sports fans or jocks. There seems to be a little bit of good stuff here, but I'm finding it hard to wade through the dumbed down writing style. Most of the "games" are no brainers that any attentive dad will come across anyway.

I previewed this book at B&N and knew I had to have it. It has a huge number of exercises and games to do with your kid, which is great for me because I only know like 3 things to do. I highly recommend this book.

Got this for my hubby for Christmas last year. He opened it a few times. Was not impressed with the "games" they had in there. Pretty obvious type things, or variations of the same game, or just strange ones. To actually purchase a book and then have it give "airplane" as an example of a unique game to play with a toddler? Come on! Who doesn't know how to fly an infant around on their arms, or to bounce them on their knee? We're new parents too, so it's not like we knew all the games there are...but the ones we didn't know were just lame. Not worth a $1 in my opinion! Wish I hadn't spend the $$ on this, we ended up giving it away.

This book was a gift for my friends husband, as they just had their baby. He really does like the book. I thought it was a good idea to buy, as it gives new dads some good ideas what to do with their newborns, other than stare at them :-)

This 154 page puff piece represents little more than an excercise in self indulgence and ego gratification by an author with minimal qulifications and scant, if any empirical research to support an erratic collection of new age style child rearing suggestions. This work is geared for parents seeking to raise a super baby not for readers who are looking for an objective treatment of subject matter relating to child development and potential giftedness. Superior books in this area include The New First Three Years of Life by Burton L. White and Your Gifted Child by Smutny, Veenker and Veenker.

It was not possible to read the entire book. The title is misleading (do you also think the title means that brillant babies will become powerful adults?). The writer deals more with the life adults (not parents) should live, rather than how babies will become brillant or powerful.

The chapters of the book can be read in any order, there is no structure and nothing left to remember after a chaotic listing of every issue the author choses to pick: emotional mastery, a model of the mind and body (yes, such a model exists), how to redesign the subconscious, program it, and grow through relationships ('the closer we become to another person, the more we grow'), and even how to be better connected with one's own god.

It is a book which oversimplifies everything, misrepresents the seriousness of the issues under mention, and purports to offer you the secret of a happy life according to the soap opera beliefs of its author.

I regret buying this 'book' which was written in order to be sold and not read.

I expected a deep book about stimulating your infants minds to make them turn into Powerful Adults.
What it seems more to do, is give some very convincing evidence that you need to stimulate your infants, and be present, supportive. Then it jumps into what one needs to do for themself to make themself a powerful adult, or rather a happy adult. That's my take.
This book is an adequate introduction to where our negative mindsets come from and what we might do to change them. But it undertakes this huge endeavor in just 150 pages. If you've got some major baggage, which this addresses, I think it's going to take more than 150 pages with a few good anecdotes and quotes to help you discard it.
The book came highly recommended to me, however I was disappointed.
I'm sure there are other better books on stimulating/educating/parenting your children. And there are better books about making yourself an even better person. I happen to be reading Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for the first time, and it seems to do a much better job of BOTH, and it's not even a parenting book.
If you DO want a quick read on how to not neglect your children, and make yourself a positive thinking, pleasant adult. Check it out. It wasn't horrible. It is an easy read. And all the ideas and comments presented are right on point.

I first read this book during my childs infancy and found it quite interesting.

As the parent of a 'Gifted Child' this book has been an invaluable reference if only for the chapter on powerful and positive parenting alone! Putting into practice the parenting methods on pages 16-27 have made an extraordinary difference in my child's well being and 'very superior' performance level.

I highly reccomend this book for all parents.

This book had a very powerful impact on myself which I didn't expect but it has also helped my neice and nephew whose parents followed it's advice closely.

These children are both in advanced classess at school. Their teacher's always comment on their above average intellegence. My sister and I both believe that it was Dr. Mike's sage advise that produced this result because genius or brillance does not run in our family! :-)

I always send this book to my friend's when they are getting married or are expecting a new addition to their family. Thank you, Dr.Mike you have added so much to all of our lives with this helpful book.

PS I learned more about how my brain works from this book than in all my years of schooling!

I just purchased several baby books. I also ordered Your Baby's First Year by the AAP and Your Baby's First Year Week by Week by Glade Curtis and liked both books much better than the Baby Steps book. I felt like the book was not organized in an easy to read format. I like to see nice headers for the paragraphs to make it easy to find things. I did not find the book easy to read and have barely used it. I felt like I was reading a college text book.

This book is full of good information, organized by 1 month per chapter. I only wish there was more information in each chapter, because I'm only reading the month my son is old, and its a quick read. Then I wait another month to read the next chapter. My biggest complaint, and I saw someone else said this also in a review when I ordered the book, is the print quality is awful. The printed text is blurred or smudged or missing in some places. Not sure I would order this again.

While I have enjoyed reading the chapter that corresponds with my son's age, the information really isn't what I expected. The book is more "scientific" than I had originally thought or hoped for -- but it's easy to understand and gives a good frame of reference - it's a good way to look ahead to see what's next for your baby's development.

This book is an easy read and is nice and clear on what to expect with your little one. I found it very useful to give my mother-in-law because she some how she forgot normal development and had way too many expectations for our daughter for her social/emotional development. Good luck and I will be passing it along to family and friends.

I purchased this book because I want to make sure that I keep a keen eye on my child's development the first year. This includes, knowing when something is wrong, knowing when he is behind in developing and normal activities that my child enjoys each month as they progress. This book provides all of that in a concise month to month format. Each chapter is broken down into the following sections: Overview, Images in Development (includes, to name a few: Motor Control, Perception, hearing, cognition, vocalization), Developmental Close-up (includes, to name a few: sleep/wakefullness, motor reflexes,crying, colic).
I don't have a lot of time to read about these things and don't want a book that talks over my head and this book is perfect for this requirements. For example, one of the things my infant does is to bend his arm at the elbow and place his palm nex to his head while the other arm is straight at his side. I thought this was just a cute thing he did but upon reading the book realized this a reflex called "tonic neck reflex" and should disappear by month six. If it has not then my child needs to be tested for a neurological disorder.
As a parent, it is imperative to know what to look for as your child develops. A pediatrician can only diagnose what he sees or what you tell him about. I would not have known to look for this reflex and its continued existence past 6 months without this book. This is just one example of how this book has helped me.
I recommed this book over the Dr Spock books anytime. If you want a book on how to calm your baby in the first three months of life you HAVE to get the book and DVD called" The happies baby on the block".
Happy hunting for the perfect book!

This book had great ideas if you were going to have the shower in someones home, but if you are having the shower at a restaurant or reception place it may not be so useful.

I was a little disappointed with the book. It has all the basics, but nothing unusual or innovative. (I also bought "Themed Baby Showers", and found it more interesting and helpful. It was only $8.00, had some simple illustrations.) The Ultimate Baby Shower Guide had no illustrations, other than photos of the author's friends' children. It does contain scriptures, which were a nice touch, but I was disappointed the book wasn't more creative. I had hoped for something really unusual.

This book is certainly not for everyone. The basic party how to's were very basic-nothing new. The recipes are hardly "international"-unless you are someone unfamiliar with salsa. There are a lot of games, but again, nothing new. just your basic count the jelly beans kind of things. There's a weird section with a bunch of poems written by baby and the last chapter tells you how to get salvation through jesus christ.

I thought this book was great. It was easy to understand and I wasn't overwhelmed by too much information. It has a lot of great ideas but also helps you come up with ideas of your own so your shower will be personalized for the guest of honor. I liked it! It was worth the money!!

I sent this book to a friend of mine whose friends are starting the journey towards motherhood, thinking it would be useful over the next few years. While it seems that the book contains lots of helpful hints and information, readers should be aware that there are also many religious overtones in the book. The author repeatedly praises and refers to God and offers religious quotes/stories. I was a little surprised to see this in a book about baby showers, especially there is not indication from the book's description that there is such a religious slant. Regardless, seems like a helpful guide.