Your Baby's First Year Week by Week

by Glade B. Curtis, Judith Schuler

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Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Reference, Childrens, Family

680 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jerome · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would strongly recommend that parents avoid this book at all costs. It contains misleading and potentially harmful information that draws into question everything that these authors wrote. Errors and misleading information from the first twenty weeks includes (but is not limited to):
-Counting the months incorrectly. When my son was three months and a week, they were considering him to be four months. They will consider him six months a few days before he officially turns five months! Baffling, but not harmful.
-They recommend never taking your baby outside. Thanks for adding to America's 'nature deficit disorder.'
-They recommend starting solids at four months. Okay, sure many doctors do as well - although the American association of Pediatrics recommends waiting until six. However, as stated before, they consider four months to start when your child is actually just over three months! This is very disturbing!
-In the last chapter I read (19) they recommend serving two tablespoons of cereal twice per day to a baby that is not even four and a half months old. This could harm your baby. They also recommended in the previous week to cut back on formula (they assume that you aren't breast feeding most of the time, which is also frustrating) because of how much solids your baby should be eating, when they don't have to be eating solids at all!
-Also in the last chapter they recommended giving your baby a cracker to play with during dinner time because - their words - they probably won't try to eat it. Wait, what? Do they even know what a typical four month old is like? A baby will certainly try to eat it and could choke on the cracker pieces.
-Early in the book, when talking about safe sleep - which they don't do until (I believe) the third week, but it's not the first week which is also disturbing - they talk about how research shows that babies who sleep on their backs will be delayed in many motor skills. Then in a throwaway sentence they mention that it is probably still better to put your baby on their backs to sleep. It reads like they were legally required to recommend back to sleep but secretly want your baby to have SIDS or suffocate in their sleep.

And that is just the stuff that comes to my mind immediately. There was something to laugh or scream about almost every week. I kept going because I wanted something that I could read week by week to refresh my understanding of the development of babies. I can't finish this because I can't trust the validity of anything in the book.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty helpful so far, only in what the heck year was this written? Let the father bond with the baby, and even change a diaper or two? Uhhhhh...I don't think so. This is MY baby! ALL MINE!!!!!!

Sooo...I wrote the above at like 3 weeks or something, but by this point we've pretty much abandoned this book. Every now and then I'll remember that we have it and pick it up and try to figure out what on earth week we're on now at almost 8 months, but I'm finding it less helpful and more duh these days. I think partly because of the weird way they include stuff that's not really related developmentally? It'll be more like general info that they just put in wherever, and by the time we see it we're like, well, thanks, that would have been really helpful to know 17 weeks ago when we were figuring it out on our own!

That said, the information is good. I just struggle with the organization. And also with general laziness--it's just easier to internet things I have questions about, ha.

[Kelly Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son is only 4 months old, but I've decided to stop reading this book each week. I bought it because I loved the week-by-week pregnancy book, but I soon realized I didn't like it so much for a baby book. I know the authors say that babies can hit the milestones listed before or after the week they are mentioned, but it still stresses you out as a mom when you read something like, "your baby should be sleeping x hours a night by now" and your baby is not. Babies are just too variable for a week to week format to be very useful, in my opinion. I have another book that groups each chapter in 3 month intervals, and I find that much more helpful. That all said, there is some very good and helpful info in this book. It's really just the chapter format that I have trouble with.

[Dan Claffey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[SaraLaLa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this and Your Pregnancy Week By Week to be excellent. Both are clear cut, informative, and so well organized. In each book, however, there were some bits of information that they should have shared well before they did (although no examples come to mind).

I'm disappointed that they don't have one for the second year of a baby's life. I'll have to find another series to latch onto.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I did not finish this book. However, the reason I've decided to stop reading is that I've found some misinformation that has made me worry unnecessarily. If you choose to read this just take everything with a grain of salt.

[Jennifer Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really helping me and Steve feel better about bringing Baby Logan home. It has lots of good advice that is organized well

[Chris Mercado · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was initially intrigued by a 1st-year parenting book that was weekly instead of monthly. However, I soon discovered that outside of the first month or two, there really is not much development EVERY WEEK, and the author must have known that, too, because the author seems to have just stuffed RANDOM THINGS to fill particular weeks. For example...

It covers Club Foot in Week 12. Why Week 12? If my baby was born with a club foot, wouldn't I know before Week 12? What specifically about Week 12 needs to go over club foot?

Or Reye's Syndrome in Week 37 if it can happen from birth through childhood?

The book is fraught with such examples of things that are not really specific to THAT WEEK, but needed to go somewhere. The author should have just included a section of all those at the end, but then many weeks would have been thin on new information. Ultimately, I just think the format of Week-by-Week fell short.

There are better 1st-year parenting books out there.

[Charul Palmer-Patel · Rating 1 out of 5]

The basic premise of this book just doesn’t work. While you can have a month by month guide of things you *might* expect, having a week by week guide is incredibly restrictive and makes the assumption that all babies develop exactly the same way every week! It doesn’t allow for individual personalities, temperaments, or strengths. This in turn leads to unrealistic expectations. And as others have pointed out, some of the information is just plain wrong! The especially baffling part is equating 4 weeks to 1 month, so that a 16 week baby is considered exactly 4 months. Most approaches to counting age in the first year recognize that a month is 4.5 weeks. Their insistence on a 4 week month skews the presented timeline even further.

[Danielle W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice snippet of what to expect as my little guy grew. Each week has milestones, games to play and one or two ailments. The back has a very nice index if you’re looking for something specific. It was fun to read about what to look for and anticipate. I never took this as an end-all and had no trouble ignoring or skipping sections that didn’t pertain to me.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend suggested this book and I thought the most useful parts as a first time parent were games and activities to do with your baby. I read the third edition and there’s definitely some incorrect info like not feeding whole eggs to babies that is jarring and I thought the randomly dispersed info at the end of chapters about serious conditions wasn’t helpful pr timely.

[Cassie ♠ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive, invalid and articles in the wrong time frame.
I need to know about food allergies at around 6 months when we first introduce solids. On the 12th month when I found the section, it was already too late for that.
Week by week for the pregnancy was a must have for me. '1st year' was a disappointment.

[Rd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the games and weekly development (especially in the beginning). However, the copy I read was old (I was given it by a friend) and there were quite a few safety, food, and other things that are now out of date. I only recommend reading a current version of this, if it exists.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's great to have a modern version of a baby's growth and medical updates on modern raising baby views. There are studies and helpful game ideas to play with baby. It's been very helpful while helping take care of our newest granddaughter.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a first time parent, this book helped me know what to expect.

[Ira Ionescu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sugary water for hiccup? No, thanks.

[Nattha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid reference book

[Vonze · Rating 5 out of 5]

So grateful I found the kindle edition of this book. Week by week, it has been so helpful, informative, and encouraging.

[Alexander K · Rating 2 out of 5]

If it's all you have, it's great. There are several apps that act as a better guide.

[Huri · Rating 5 out of 5]

بهترین کتابی که یک مادر می‌تونه بخونه.
هفته به هفته تغییرات نوزاد رو توش می‌نویسه و با آگاهی بیشتری می‌تونید رشد نوزاد رو رصد کنید؛ علاوه‌بر این درباره انواع بیماری‌ها هم صحبت کرده.

[Andrew Klob · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a first time father, this book was incredibly helpful during my son’s first year of life. The book is clear that different babies hit these milestones at different times (i.e. there’s a range as to when they hit them). Of course, this book can’t cover every single unique case for every baby. While I was reading this book, my wife and I were getting advice from our pediatrician, friends and family members, other books we were reading, and from various sources online. So this book, when used with other resources, is a great way to follow along with your baby week by week. It was a lot of fun seeing what my son might do each week based off of what the book said. The recommendations for games were also very enjoyable as well. All in all, it was a great introduction for first time parents and gave me a great place to start as I learned more about my son’s growth and being a first time parent. Definitely recommend!

As a side note, this was written in the early 2000’s (though the majority of the information is still relevant) so I might recommend an updated version (if they have one) or a similar book that is more recent.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each week contains information on average height and weight, milestones, what's happening this week, and has some targeted information that is starting to become relevant. This means rather than have a long introduction talking about bassinets, first aid kits, strollers, child-proofing, etc., one topic is introduced each chapter.

Some of these topics seemed a little like scare-mongering to me, and too time-specific. That may not bother some people, but I know plenty of people who have older baby books and what's a current "fear" in the news today will likely either be removed or irrelevant in 3 years, meaning this book will very quickly become dated. Great for the author and publisher, but not so good for people with older copies of the book.

Other places have obviously *not* been updated, leaving incomplete information about some areas such as babywearing, referring to videos/audiocassettes "or even an interactive CD-ROM", or in recommending a "T-strap" stroller harness as being the "best design" when 5-point harnesses are more recommended now. (This lack of consistency may also bother some people.)

A further problem is information given too late. This is illustrated by reading Week 12 to discover advice about what to do during your pregnancy and when coming home from the hospital to help your pets adjust to the baby, advice on reflux in Week 13, by which time many babies will have been suffering for over 6 weeks, and about applying for an SSN "when the baby is born" in Week 14.

In all, this was a good book to borrow, but I wouldn't hold on to it as a reference or buy it new.

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is unreal to believe that this first year of my baby's life is coming to an end. Time has flown by so fast and we have so many more to look for in the future. This book has been great for us, and though I did not diligently read it a week it at time as it is laid out I did read the whole thing through out the past year and benefited from it. I was very interested in Glade Curtis' Baby's First Year, because his version of What to Expect in Your Pregnancy Week by Week was the best pregnancy book I experienced out of the dozen that I read.

Each chapter was broken down into a week of your baby's first year. Typical height and measurements as well as highlights of milestones of a baby's social, emotional and intellectual development. It was great to jump into and look to see how to evaluate AppleBlossom's progress. It was neat to see that she is much smaller in height and weight, but faster advanced than the average child with walking and interaction. Without hesitation I recommend this book to any new family. You may not need all of the sections, but those that you do are invaluable.

*Thanks to Da Capo Press for providing a copy for review.*

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of broad information with some specifics of what's going on, developmentally, each week, which can be useful when you're watching the baby thrash around like a turtle on his back and you wonder if he's working on rolling over or just itchy. It suggests developmental games for each week, but a better source of them is found here. Organization is a little less than stellar, as each week in the book also contains non-age-specific information as well, and that non-specific information is really scattered about. (Sunscreen and sunblock, for instance, is scattered across at least three different weeks--something like 11, 18, and 20, I think, so not even consecutive.)

Not the best reference I've ever seen, but it's useful enough to justify the $8.50 I paid in a used bookstore. Mostly it'll hang around the house and I'll skim it from time to time, but it's not a cover-to-cover read.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this cover to cover while I was pregnant with my first child and have since kept it around (along with a few others) to skim through or look up specific topics as needed. I'm now expecting my second child in a couple of weeks and pulled it back out to re-read about the first few months and help me get back into infant mode after being in the toddler mindset for so long. I agree with a lot of the reviews I've read, I don't think it would be as helpful to read week by week because babies all develop so differently but I found it helpful to have the information in my head before my daughter was born and then refer back to later. I still tended to rely much more heavily on the information I received from the pediatrician during all of those first-year checkups; however, it was nice to have a source for general information so I wasn't constantly calling the ped with questions. I particularly liked the "how to treat at home" and "when to call the doctor" sections for various conditions.

[Private Account · Rating 1 out of 5]

*The RIE parents handbooks is a much easier to read and understand way to look at your baby's development over his first year. They have a simple chart that shows where the earliest 3%, 25%, 50% and 75% of babies are doing things like rolling over talking or walking. This book with it's "your baby may do this this week or he may have done it ten weeks earlier or he may do it ten weeks from now" was really annoying.
*This book was extremely establishment and full of all kinds of diseases to freak you out about. Just like those pregnancy books--I think the first year would be a lot more fun without all this bs to worry about.
*This book is the quintessential "normal" year first year for most parents and their babies. This book should be titled How to Raise an Epsilon or How to Be Just As Miserable As the Average Parent

[Kristyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this week by week reference mainly useful when my son was a small baby. By about six months or so it was sort of unnecessary to check on his progress that frequently, and a monthly reference was more appropriate. Anyway, I was diligent about reading this every week for the last year, and I think it became a small excercise in commitment for me by the end of the year. The information is generic, broad in nature, and accurate. I remember thinking some of it would have done me more good if I had read it earlier though, the section on choosing a stroller comes to mind. It was hard for me to resist the minor anxiety attacks I felt when Nathan hadn't achieved a skill by the age the book thought it possible; and I also remember thinking "he did that weeks ago!" several times.

[Lucy Bilik · Rating 5 out of 5]

First as a parent we have to understand that ALL babies develop differently! We as a parent want to push our child's development and he/she may resist your attempts. That is what my little guys has dome many times. In some areas he was ahead and some he was quite behind, but all in all he was developing within acceptable range.

I have read many other books and websites that list babies milestones and expectations and therefore was pleasantly pleased with this book. It lists a great variety of different games that parents/caregivers can play with the baby. It also addresses varies if not most of the illnesses and what you can do about them at home and when to call dr. sections.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to others as well.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like how this book broke down the year week by week (which I found easier to remember at first rather than months as most books break it out). However, I didn't really like the layout of the other information that was sprinkled throughout the book. I don't want to read about possible diseases or dangers and issues that may or may not be related to the current week that my baby is at. I would've preferred the author break those topics into a separate section so I could read about it on an as need basis.

Overall though, I found this book useful and helpful. I'm sure I'll be reading it again when the next baby comes along.

[Patricia DRG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, really gives you a good sense of what your baby should be doing and how you can help him/herr develop. Easy to read and not overloaded with useless info.

Added comments: So I still think this book is great for *typical* children. For children who face more challenges in their early years this book will just remind parents of the milestones their children have not reached yet. Delays need to be addresses and it is good to be aware if your child is delayed and get early intervention in your home asap. But once your child is delayed and getting help, put this book away and start talking to professionals. They will keep you sane and focused on the future.