Newborn 101: Secrets from Expert Nurses on Preparing and Caring for Your Baby at Home

by Carole Kramer Arsenault

Ever wish you could have a baby nurse at home to answer your most urgent questions around the clock? Now you can!


Carole Kramer Arsenault has spent the last two decades helping parents through pregnancy, labor, and all of their new responsibilities once baby comes home—both as a longtime pediatric nurse, and as the founder of the most highly regarded baby-care service in New England. From the first trimester to the “fourth” (baby’s crucial first three months), Arsenault and her team of professional nurses have seen it all. Now, they share their expert advice



Preparing your home, including safety tips and must-have supplies
Easing through labor, whether at home or in a hospital
Breastfeeding how-tos, flexible feeding schedules, and common concerns
Baby’s essential first days and weeks, and the milestones in between
Welcoming multiples and caring for preterm babies
Techniques for soothing baby to sleep
Postpartum self-care and getting back to your routine

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

532 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Karly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with useful information for baby care, mommy care, and check ins with your partner. I liked the format of this book with information first and then FAQs from first-time moms for each chapter.

[Emily Graney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book for first time parents. Easy to read when you have a newborn to tend to around the clock! Q and A format that gets straight to the point from very knowledgeable individuals. I especially enjoyed reading the chapter on sleep! I work for a large public library system and will definitely recommend this book to interested parties!

[Valerie Brett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ended up skimming this because I did not find it helpful & even found it irritating

[Maddie Orton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this with Chris. It was kind of helpful? Probably better as a workbook because listening to different versions of “proposed daily schedules” 800 times got annoying

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to being a first time parent. It answered questions I didn't know I had

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a very informative read with lots of good info regarding preparing for a baby, labor and delivery, and the first few months at home. Feels like a good introduction/overview to what you need to know. The Q&A style helped to make the text feel readable/approachable and I appreciated Arsenault's approach to the breastfeeding/life with newborn chapters. She is knowledgeable without being preachy or judgey and generally her writing has a calming, no-nonsense vibe.

There was a lot more about labor in this book than I was expecting. She goes over some very specific scenarios and things that may not be relevant to everyone, but it's nice to be aware of certain things before they might be sprung on you in an overwhelming moment. It's nice for a first-time mom who can feel a little in the dark about what's coming down the road (hi, me!).

[Caitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the early sections on late pregnancy and birthing the most helpful. This book does a thorough job of explaining what to expect at the hospital, what going through labor is like, and other things I didn't expect in a book about newborns, but which I really wanted to know. The author very clearly has a lot of experience and so the practical advice is delivered in a way that I found genuinely comforting.

The later parts of the book didn't wow me as much, and I can see why some people find this author a bit smug and annoying. I started skimming about halfway through the long section on going organic during pregnancy, and some of the question and answer portions seemed a little redundant. Overall, though, a very worthwhile read.

[Meghan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good, some bad. There was nothing at all about baby led weaning. And for the title, a lot of the book was about pregnancy and birth. There were some things that were total nonsense (example: if your baby gets thrush it’s from the yeast from a vaginal delivery. What? Yeast and bacteria live on and in all of us all the time. Vaginal delivery has nothing to do with it a later thrush outbreak and actually helps your child have a healthy microbiome!). Can’t say I recommend this one, but I didn’t hate reading it. I haven’t read anything ‘better’ about newborn care yet, although Cribsheet by Emily Oster was amazing for the decisions you’ll need to make during the early years.

[Amanda Trumpower · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a first-time mom-to-be (Jan 2019) with plenty of experience working with kids and 0 experience with babies. Naturally, we just found out we’re having twins. 😱

This book was AWESOME. From pregnancy FAQ to an overview of labor (gulp) to very specific advice surviving life with a newborn re: feeding, sleeping, etc., this book covers it all!

Less of a clinical overview of baby development and more of a “Here’s what to do in this situation, Mom,” I highly recommend this to any first-time moms-to-be who have no clue what to do with an infant.

[Maggie Hauser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the Q&A style of writing and I found great value in the last few chapters (bringing baby home, baby's first month, second month, etc). Seemed to strike a good balance between the "typical" flow of labor, delivery, and newborn life AND the fact that babies, parents, and situations can be vastly different so there is no one way to approach/do things.

[AJNels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical advice, with a focus on late pregnancy and the first three months. Adaptable to different parenting styles. This is exactly what I was looking for from the What to Expect books, which I just couldn’t get into.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for parents to be on what to expect from birth to 3 months old. The Q&A format makes it easy to read. The language is clear, the author shows a lot of empathy and the information is comprehensive and supported with references to scientific studies.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was great for the pre-birth info but was light on post birth. As a dad I felt it was overall quite informative with interesting perspectives that seemed well thought out and prepared me for what my wife was going through.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed skimming through this book and all the questions and answers it held. I do believe the author educationally set this book up and it is an informational and helpful read. Although, I’d have to say it is a bit dated so it’s best to take each piece of advice as a grain of salt.

[Jamie Banze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend for any new parents! It has so many tips for preparing for baby, getting through pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding & postpartum care, and bringing baby home from the first week to the first few months. This helped me so much!

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful with some good information, but didn’t care for the format of the book with the random questions and answers! Would have been more helpful to write the book with headers and information underneath that could easily be identified.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful thorough book from pregnancy to infant stages that I may refer back to again in the future.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved! Covered a great range of topics and addressed so many things I wanted to know about!

[Anton Nikolov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found the book quite rich and informative and really liked that it is based on a lot of practical experience. In my opinion, a must read for new parents.

[Robin Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information and handy to have, but doesn’t have anything of value that you can’t just read online.

[futuregypsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my favorite baby book I've read so far. The format was easy to read and didn't feel like I was reading a textbook. It also was based on current medical advice, which was what I was looking for. The author also didn't assume anything about your family situation (like grandparents being around) and I really liked that she used the word "partner" frequently. It was also great to have sections concerning the non-gestational parent and what they might be experiencing. A++

[Caitie Elam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best pre-parenting book I read. Way more informative than most of the top-selling pregnancy books I’ve read. I always recommend this one to new mom friends!

[Alex Milidrag · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was gifted to us and was a nice way to occupy my mind in the final week before our due date, but also has some inclusions that disregard the latest science.

The main offenses surround mother/baby sleep science - it states that bedsharing is unsafe (in reality, the lowest SIDS rates in the world are in countries where bedsharing is the norm) - like anything, there are rules for doing it safely, and some families are better candidates than others. I wish it had gone into some of the benefits and ways to do it safety, or even just referred to their existence, instead of simply dismissing it. There is a ton of data on how beneficial for baby's development sharing a sleep space is, and it's disappointing to see this data ignored in favor of safely parroting the cultural norm (or the norm here in the US). Another troubling section suggests that if your baby is crying for an extended period of time, you might just put them in a crib in another room and let them just CIO.

I did like the general format of questions and answers.
In short, this one had some good info and some bad - wouldn't personally recommend it to another new parent.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that helped me through my pregnancy! Well through the end anyway. It answered all the questions I had and a whole bunch I never thought to ask. No where have I found the information that I found out from this book. Not even the prenatal classes went this in depth. I would recommend this book to any first time to be moms out there.

[Kellie Bush · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great book for me to read while pregnant with my first child. It gave me a great overview into the stages of labor, breastfeeding (holds, techniques), and schedules to make life with a newborn easier.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm expecting a baby within the next month and this book helped feel much more prepared. I appreciated the simple and direct language of all the comprehensive topics. It helped me learn a lot while also realizing that yeah, maybe I do know how to have a newborn... We'll see if that part holds true.

[Frank Tobia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good overview of the basics. Lots of examples.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written book & has a lot of useful information to help new parents. As a Pediatric/Neonatal nurse & fellow IBCLC, I would highly recommend this book!