Watch My Baby Grow

by D.K. Publishing

One baby, one year, one extraordinary project

Watch My Baby Grow is a unique pictorial event that unlocks the secret world of the newborn baby.

By following the journey of one child and her family, Watch My Baby Grow looks at a baby's developing abilities, from birth, through every key milestone over the course of a year. Written in conjunction with the acclaimed Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Watch My Baby Grow takes a scientific approach to a very personal experience, covering every area of a child's development and looks at the world from the baby's point of view.

With photos of one baby's development week by week from newborn to 12 weeks, and then monthly up to the age of one year. Plus information and pictures of other babies, with colourful and vivid graphics throughout. Full of eye-opening and helpful information such as the evolutionary reason a baby is unable to make speech-like sounds for 4-5 months, why crying sounds the way it does, the reason that various early abilities and reflexes exist and much more.

Watch My Baby Grow takes an inside look into the life of a newborn baby, with a scientific celebration of the changes that occur in a baby, in order to better understand the world of a growing infant.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published December 15, 2014

About the author

Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sandra]

This was a quick and interesting read. It's not so much a parenting book as a book to help you gain insights into your baby's development throughout their first year. While I found that interesting it's not quite what I was looking for.

[Iowa City Public Library]

There are many books on infant development that contain pages and pages of text. Authors use word after word after word after word to explain the science behind this and the philosophy behind that. These books are great. They are fascinating and I want to read them someday. But if you are a new parent, your attention span is limited. You are tired, overscheduled (or unscheduled), and if you have extra time, it’s probably not devoted to reading anything extensive. However, there is a natural curiosity to know what is happening and what is coming up next. It is an exciting time of rapid development with changes occurring weekly. That is why I really like DK’s Watch My Baby Grow. This book provides week by week (for the first month) and month by month information on developmental milestones during the first year. But, like any DK book, it also has a lot of visuals, charts, and photographs. It provides a perfect mix for a tired, but curious mind.

The book follows the growth of one baby, Melisa, through her first year. The editors took a picture of Melisa at regular intervals to depict her development. The photographs are beautiful and well-laid out with Melisa in a white infant bodysuit amongst a white background. For scale, a white rabbit stuffed toy was placed next to her for each shot. The photographers had specific photos they wanted to capture in their depiction of infant development. Not all of them worked and there are little blurbs about what they wanted to photograph and why they were babyunable to do so. You will also find dedicated sections on newborn life, the development of the senses, physical and intellectual growth, communication, and personality.

Watch My Baby Grow is a fun and rewarding book.

[Sarah Nelson]

I seem to be writing for ever younger children this year, so this book was a nice resource on (early, early) child development. The writers of this book followed one baby from infancy to her first birthday, tracking growth, learning, triumphs and trials. Packed with gorgeous photos, this book is really an enjoyable way to learn.

[Kevin]

The babies in this book are extremely fat, and there're lots of photos.

[Mirela]

Not useful for a first time parent if wanting to learn information about how to care fo a baby, but helpful overview of baby development and milestones from birth to 1 year.
Laden full of pictures.
Has some facts about how babies are raised around the world.
Nothing groundbreaking, but easy and pleasant read.

[MK]

By photographing one baby for a year and documenting her growth, this book shows the order in which your baby grows up.

Although children's growth varies greatly from person to person, and the speed and timing of growth varies from baby to baby, this book will be helpful to parents.

[Youstina Gergis]

It was not what I expected at all, it has very minimal information about baby development, no parenting tips or hints on how to engage those baby developments. The book was also all over the place addressing development by topic rather than by age and for me that was very confusing! The first portion of the book was completely useless to me, more of a photo album to the baby!
I didn’t have the temperament to finish it, I would rather use the time to read something useful.
I don’t recommend it.

[Deepak]

Lovely book so one can know what to expect.

[WALAA ALHAMEEDI]

Good references for you all mama in the world

[Kate Bryant]

I enjoyed the various research findings mentioned throughout

[Lindsey]

I think this book gave some great ideas of photos to take each month--it also had information about what is going on each month with baby development. I wish there had been more personal antedotes or input from mom instead of the clinical and very general statements like: "mom's scent is...."

[L.K. Chapman]

I bought this not long after my first baby was born, because I wanted a book to tell me about what sort of things I could expect my baby to be starting to do at different ages and to have a bit more information about my baby's development, but without getting a book that was too much like a textbook.

This book works really well for what I wanted as there aren't big, daunting walls of text and there are lots of lovely pictures. I haven't actually read it cover to cover, I'm finding it works really well as a "coffee table book" that I can dip into when I have a spare few minutes.

I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a bit more information about their baby but who doesn't want something very in-depth, just a nice book to pick up and look at every now and again while baby is having a nap!

[Kelly]

By chronicling one baby from birth through her first year, DK succeeds in creating an enjoyable and informative book. Contributing writers and consultants provide developmental information based on recent scientific studies; you learn not only what new skills a baby will be learning when, but why. Text is broken up into basic prose, highlighted facts and figures, and memorable quotes. In true Dorling Kindersley style, almost every page is filled with beautiful photographs of baby Melisa and her family. This is a must read for new parents, but anyone interested in child development will be entertained and educated.

[Ashley]

I found this book interesting enough, and good for picking up and reading for five minutes in between feeding my new son! However I would say there could have been a bit more content and slightly fewer/smaller photos, and the first 48 pages are basically a personal photo album for this baby which I didn't find particularly useful.

[Maria]

DK publishing for the win, as usual. The baby in this book is so cute that I don't even care what the words say. But in case you do, there is some pretty good information in here.

[Shirley]

Super cute baby and easy to understand info about child development. Great book for basic info.

[Erica]

I happened to see this at the library and thought it would be a fun (and apropos) tropic to learn more about.

[Kacey]

I loved that this book is filled with biological explainations for baby's behaviors but also that it emphasizes evolutionary and cultural distinctions.

[Ryan]

Helpful DK book that gathers some developmental anecdotes in an informative, engaging format.