Great Expectations: Baby's First Year

Publishers Weekly

The mother-daughter team who coauthored two other Great Expectations books open this outsized parenting manual with a chronology of what to expect-day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month-during baby's first year. They follow with a how-to section (feeding, diapering and other baby care issues), a shopping guide (analyzing features of strollers, cribs and car seats), a review of parental issues (mostly mom's physical and mental needs) and an A-Z of baby medical problems. This layout breeds a lot of overlap; some issues-car seats, breast-feeding, crib hazards-are covered repeatedly. While the authors mention that 35% of children in America are born to single mothers, the target audience is the traditional nuclear family, preferably one with ample financial and social resources. They're very modern in their trust-your-instincts advice, stressing that parents are wise enough to choose their own parenting style-comforting crying babies vs. ignoring them, etc. Likewise, they don't fret about boosting baby's I.Q. with fancy toys. Philosophical issues aside, the eye-catching charts and diagrams are bound to catch the eyes of bookstore browsers. (July)