Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5

This is my absolute favorite book for parents: Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five by The American Academy of Pediatrics.

My sister-in-law gave this to me when I was expecting my son, and I absolutely love it. It addresses all stages of child development, initially month by month, then by year. It has a section on first aid for young children. It’s informative and yet easy to read. I think it is a wonderful parenting resource and a perfect book for parents of young children. I suggest giving it to moms-to-be as a baby shower gift, because it is one I refer to all the time!

I recieved this as a baby shower present with my son, and since, I've given this at every baby shower I've gone to. It provides excellent, level-headed advice, gives suggestions for special cases, explains illnesses, and provides useful milestones for children. I read it religiously for the first 9 months before learning that the main lesson they were giving me was to trust my instincts and love my child-everything else just works itself out.

A big fat book from the American Academy of Pediatrics gets four stars from me because I simply haven't found anything better, although I'm not a huge fan, I find it to be trustworthy and fairly complete. The first 500 pages are tips and warnings and developmental milestones and so on. The remaining 350 pages is an encyclopedia of diseases, childhood conditions, and illness symptoms than a worried parent can use to get an idea of whether or not their little one really has measles, or just hives.

This book is absolutely awesome!! I have never referenced a book as much as I do this one!! This book is a must have for parents everywhere!!