Bite-Sized Parenting: Your Baby’s First Year

by Sharon Mazel

The most essential, evidence-based advice for baby’s first year in an easily digestible and full-color illustrated format designed for today’s busy parents.

Congratulations! You have a new baby. But what you don’t have is a lot of time to comb through the overwhelming amount of information on caring for that baby.

In Bite-Sized Parenting, Sharon Mazel, one of America’s most trusted parenting experts, presents the latest, most practical science-backed advice that new moms and dads need most, without judgment and in an engaging visual format.

Bite-Sized Parenting is designed to make parenting in the first year less complicated and stressful. Its month-by-month format and full-color illustrated infographics—nearly 100 in all—are filled with expert medical, behavioral, nutritional, and developmental details aimed at empowering parents to care for their little ones with calm and confidence.

Strapped for time? Spend a few minutes with the bite-sized overviews for targeted advice, tips, and strategies you can use right away. Want to dig deeper and learn more? Read the “A Closer Look” sections for an in-depth dive, with more nuance, guidance, and background on each must-know topic.

Each month, readers will learn:

• Your baby “by the numbers”: expected ranges for your baby’s sleep times, feeding amounts, weight gain, and more
• Age- and stage-appropriate guidance on feeding and eating, naps and night-time sleep, baby care and playing, and more
• How to tackle common first-year challenges, including soothing a crying baby, recognizing hunger and sleep cues, teething and spitting up, starting solids and gagging, feeding and sleeping challenges, stranger anxiety, and more
• Expert advice for tummy time, reaching motor milestones like rolling over, sitting, and crawling, stimulating baby’s brain, boosting language development, and more
• Support for how you may be feeling in your baby’s first year—with reassurance that you’re not alone

The perfect gift (for yourself or someone else), Bite-Sized Parenting offers the key information new parents need, with warmth, support, and encouragement.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2023

About the author

Sharon Mazel is an internationally recognized parenting and pregnancy expert, author, journalist, speaker, parenting coach, and mom of four with over twenty-five years experience in the field. Sharon reaches hundreds of thousands of new and expectant parents with her popular parenting and pregnancy guidance on social media, parenting coaching, digital resources, and parenting courses. Sharon’s social media has been called one of the “Most Educational IG Accounts” for new parents and one of the “Best Instagram Accounts for New Moms.” Sharon is the author of Bite-Sized Parenting: Your Baby’s First Year and was previously with the What to Expect book series. Sharon’s writing and guidance have also been widely published online and in numerous publications including WhatToExpect.com, EverydayHealth.com, Parenting Magazine, BabyTalk Magazine, The Washington Post, and other publications. She was also the executive producer of an educational video series at the Yale University Child Study Center.

Reviews

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

TEN STARS!! I LOVE having this resource as a first time mom and would recommend every parent to a new baby, whether you’ve done it before or not, to pick up this book! I like to think of this book as my little pediatrician in a pocket!! My husband and I both read through it and found it immensely helpful in navigating new milestones, regressions, and just every day growth of our newborn. This would be such a great baby shower gift!

[Lo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! So helpful! It gave a quick and easy snapshot of each month. With easy and practical tips and strategies to manage each month’s milestones and complications. It was easy to read each month even as a sleep deprived new mom to a 1 month old! I am sad to be finishing this book as my baby is now on his way to toddlerhood. O wish there was a 12-24 month guide too!

[Amanda Rehm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good intro parenting book. I liked how non-judgemental it was and how it laid out each month and what to expect. There was lots of information backed by research. This was a good general overview for newly expecting parents.

[Wendelle]

this book is easy and efficient to consult because it breaks down the requisite information into monthly packets, it has handy picture guides that summarize the advice, and the illustrations are adorable

[Mags (mbooksbycandlelight) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book with lots of information that is presented in a very easy way to assimilate. Loved the cute illustrations.

[Aaron Early · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far it's a great resource. Haven't actually had the kid yet. I guess time will tell how useful this book ends up being.

[Corey Robins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend for new parents. The month by month explanations of what to expect were super helpful, and I'm sure it will be great to use as a reference for future children.

[Dillon Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice and easily digestible resource. Highly recommend. Also this means my kiddo is already almost 1 year old 😭

[Miranda YEUNG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bite-Sized Parenting: Your Baby's First Year by Sharon Mazel

Being a mother for my 4 month-old newborn baby girl, I have read many books related to what to expect in the first year, parenting style, step by step guidebook and so on.

“Bite-sized Parenting” was an informative book telling parents what to expect and some suggestions and tips in the first year while handling the little monster at home. It categorized by monthly, so it’s easy to jump into the chapter you needed and you looked for. From monthly expectation, sleeping behavior, to some stimulation suggestion. These all were life-saving tips to parents.

Easy to read! If you are a newborn parent or you are expecting, I would recommend you to read this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Benbella Books and Sharon for this informative parenting toolbook!

Kindle: 320 pages
Pub date: Sep 19, 2023

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow this book is a MUST have for all parents! As a soon to be mom I feel SO much better having this book in hand for when baby girl comes. It’s so simple, organized, informative, and easy to read. I don’t have to sort through all the BS on google when I have a question.

I would highly highly recommend this book to any and all parents, grandparents, godparents, etc! Seriously my new parenting bible. Thank you Sharon for writing this book- I don’t think I would feel this calm without you!