Caring for Your Baby and Child is actually two volumes in one. The first half offers a comprehensive parenting manual. Written in a warm accessible style and illustrated with more than 300 helpful drawings, the manual covers a wide range of topics, from preparing for childbirth and choosing a pediatrician to bonding and basic child care, and just about every other concern or question that parents have.

Detailed, accurate, and up-to-date, Caring for Your Baby and Child is an essential child-care resource for all parents who want to provide the very best care for their children--and the one guide both parents and pediatricians can safely trust.

The first half of this hefty text serves as a comprehensive parenting manual, and includes a month-by-month guide to the first year, nutritional information, basic care instructions, and physical, emotional, and social developmental milestones for children up to 5 years old. While the American Academy of Pediatrics represents the mainstream child-rearing philosophies embraced by thousands of baby doctors, it does not reflect the entire gamut of child-rearing theory. (There's no discussion, for instance, of breast-feeding past the first year or co-sleeping.) The second half of the book includes a thorough, easy-to-navigate emergency first-aid section, plus detailed information about childhood illnesses, immunization schedules and side effects, and family structures, as well as a discussion of behavioral issues. Caring for Your Baby and Young Child is useful, sensible, and carefully researched, and makes a trustworthy addition to any parent's bookshelf. --Ericka Lutz