Martha Sears

Becoming a parent was miraculous and wonderful. It was also, for me, terrifying. I learned a lot from my Sears' Baby Book. The most important thing I learned is that --I-- am my children's mother. Only I can love them like their mother, because only --I-- am their mother. And so I, a person who used to be blown around by other's opinions like dandelion fluff in the wind, learned to raise my own children and be confident in my own self. Yes, I gathered facts from the Baby Book. I gathered show more information from family members and friends and the internet and other books and that woman I met at the grocery store and we chatted for fifteen minutes, and so forth.

But after getting all the facts and information, at the end of the day --I-- was the one who was living with and raising my babies. I wouldn't always make the right decisions, but I am satisfied in myself and very proud of both of my, now adult, children.

I credit the Sears' Baby Book and the attachment style parenting I was introduced to in that book, for helping me greatly in the raising of my children and highly recommend it, to parents, expectant parents, and people considering becoming parents. show less

This is my all-time favorite book on parenting young children. Sears is an "attachment parenting" advocate, which is the way I instinctively parented my son. Breastfeeding (on demand), not forcing the child to "cry it out," that sort of thing. Sometimes, I do think Sears goes just a bit too far with not being open-minded to non-attachment solutions, but on the whole, I think he presents a gentle and compassionate book, filled with the wisdom of much personal experience (I think he and his show more wife have raised something like seven children of their own). I would recommend this book VERY HIGHLY to any first-time parents. I found it had just about all the answers to my questions, and I always felt comfortable with the advice. show less

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It gives alot of good advice, suggestions, medical tips-how to talk to doctors, what to eat, what medicines not to take, what to do if there are problems nursing, etc. It is loaded with information. But it is also very dogmatic. I'm not a weak-willed person by any means, but when I finished reading this book, I thought "I can never live up to all this. If I only nurse for 6 months, I'll be a failure." That's not the kind of stress a new mom needs show more when she starts breastfeeding. There were even a couple of times I actually though "Oh God, I can never do this. Why bother?" He also says many times how natural nursing is-anyone who's had problems with latching on knows better. Thank goodness I took a nursing class with my child birth class-it was a calm, realistic reminder that, while women have been breastfeeding as long as they've been giving birth, that doesn't mean it's second nature to anyone. Also, I HATED his suggestion that the baby comfort suck. I don't know any woman who's been able to do this without having bleeding, chapped nipples.
I would suggest this book as a reference-especially the medical information. But I would not read it for comforting suggestions or motivation to breastfeed. show less

Includes great advice about breastfeeding, but goes pretty far at insisting mothers should breastfeed at all costs, which is not always realistic, so it may make women who are struggling with breastfeeding feel worse.