This book provides a fascinating perspective on the effects of biology on culture and vice versa. The author cites studies, and provides explanations of biological processes, that all relate to the questions of how babies grow, develop, and learn, and how the different attitudes toward childrearing in different cultures affect babies, adults, and society. There is some really interesting information here and it is especially enlightening to read about other cultures -- some fairly similar to ours, some radically different -- and how people in those societies conceptualize babies, parenthood, infant behavior, and so forth.

As a parent in modern Western society, if you are familiar with the concepts/philosophies of "attachment parenting," you will find a lot of the ideas in this book familiar and validating. From that perspective it can sometimes feel like the author is subtly pushing an agenda -- this might be the book itself, or might just be in the eye of the beholder. Certainly the author does a good job of presenting the pro's and con's of particular parenting practices from the perspective of the Western world (for example: breast-feeding is widely acknowledged as superior nutritionally, but can be difficult to manage in the context of a working parent's lifestyle). What is perhaps most interesting about this book is the way it really highlights the fact that most things we might think of as universal -- our ideas of how a baby "should" fit into a family unit, how parents "should" raise a child, and so forth -- are very much cultural constructs. This book is bound to get any intelligent person thinking, and prompt him/her to take a hard look at his/her assumptions about parenting, and about society's attitudes toward children in general.

As another reviewer wrote, the book does get repetitive at times and tends in certain sections to rely too heavily on a single researcher or study. In a few places the same information is reiterated repeatedly over the course of a chapter or section. On the whole, though, it's a very worthwhile read for anyone, parent or no. ( )

A great introduction to ethnopediatrics (the study of how culture and evolution affect parenting). My judgement is skewed by the fact that my wife read this first and couldn't bear to not talk about the content :) Small can be repetitive at times and relies on the same cultures, but her work seems very well researched and thought out. A great sensical assesment of what every parent should learn: don't let culture necessarily override the evolutionary symbiotic relationship of parenting. ( )

I love this book! It is so fascinating and makes a great case for what babies were designed to need. ( )

This was a fascinating read. The author relates the parenting practices of different cultures around the world and talks about how certain parenting styles are due to the biology of human babies. As a simple example, babies were designed to be breastfed, biologically speaking. But in Western cultures, we've decided to diverge from those biologically-based practices to gain more convenience and independence from the traditionally more intimate parent-infant relationship. I like how the author says that there's nothing wrong with that, as long as we're aware of the trade-offs of choosing that different path. Babies will continue to be just fine, as long as they're not completely neglected. But for me, the book reaffirmed certain parenting choices we've already made:
* Breastfeed on cue for at least one year (although the book convinced me to try for two years due to the biology of baby development)
* Share the bed with our children for at least the first couple of years (co-sleeping has been shown to prevent SIDS, for example)
* Respond to cries quickly (because crying doesn't just indicate hunger or a full diaper but also the baby's developmental need for touch)
* Carry the baby as much as possible (to help with on-cue breastfeeding and responding to cries quickly)

These happen to be the choices my family has made so far, but I recognize that in some cases the trade-offs for the other side of each choice make sense for certain families. I think this book does an excellent job of giving you a full picture of each parenting choice so that you can make an informed decision. The book was a little slow-going for me at first, but once I got to the chapter comparing cultures, it really picked up and was very interesting. ( )

I really enjoyed this introduction to ethnopediatrics. I thought the author did a very good job presenting her subject, and I found her evenhandedness refreshing. I really liked how she presented different culture's parenting choices as that - different choices about how to raise an infant, none of which was presented as a completely wrongheaded. What she did instead was give evidence of what babies need and the trade-offs parents occur by attempting to meet these needs in different ways. ( )