OurColony.net

Not as AP friendly as I hoped

Customer Rating:
Seems like a fine book, but not the one for me. I bought this hoping for a book for my son that reflected our family style, (family bed, home birth). I was disappointed that in it the family is preparing a nursery for the baby and it spends several pages discussing the mom and dad leaving the house to go the birth center/hospital to have the baby. Obviously all fine things, but not the things that I was hoping the book would help explain. I found the book spent way too much time talking about how mom was feeling, with only a very brief page showing a picture of the baby in the tummy. For me the only redeeming factor was the mother nursing the baby.

Excellent for curious big siblings

Customer Rating:
When our 3 year old started asking how baby was going to get here, and our lame answers like "at the hospital" weren't good enough, my husband and I didn't know what to do! We were looking for a book that explained the process in a way he could understand, without too much or too little detail. This book arrived as a present, and it was perfect! The story is warm, and has optional sections that help parents answer more detailed questions in a way the children will understand (and without struggling to figure out what to say - not a good way to make a toddler think everything will be okay!). Another good thing, the book has a page on breastfeeding, which I'd also struggled to describe in an effective way.

We have the Sears Baby Book and while we don't consider ourselves attachment parents, we do appreciate their viewpoint. I agree with other reviewers that this book would be helpful to attachment parents, but I also believe it is instructive for anyone looking to get an older sibling up to speed on questions he or she may have but may not always know how to vocalize.

Excellent pictures, you may want to use your own words

Customer Rating:
This is an excellent book to explain pregnancy and birth to a small child. The pictures are very clear, colourful, realistic and entertaining. My 18-month old especially likes the one where mummy is feeling "yuckky" and where the children are making cookies while waiting for the baby to be born. The only slight drawback is that the text is probably geared to older children and is linguistically and culturally US focussed (naturally, due to the nationality of its authors). This needn't be a problem though (unless a child was reading it) as they suggest using your own words anyway.

A must for expecting families!

Customer Rating:
I borrowed this book to read to my oldest two children during my last pregnancy. I was so impressed at how it accurately and gently describes the changes a new baby brings to not just the mother's body, but also the whole family's life. It was reassuring and sweet. I bought it to have for next time because we all loved it so much. It really helped the kids know what to expect and to feel involved.

Great book

Customer Rating:
My 2 1/2 year old daughter loves this book. It really helped her prepare for the birth of her sister and gave me some ideas of how to handle her during our home birth. I would definitely recommend this book to any family that practices attachment parenting.