The Mother of All Baby Books: An All-Canadian Guide to Baby's First Year

by Ann Douglas

The Mother of All Baby Books is the instruction manual that Mother Nature forgot to include with the new arrival — a hands-on guide to coping with the joys and challenges of caring for your new baby. It's a totally comprehensive guide that features a non-bossy, fresh, and fun approach to Baby's exciting first year. Based on the best advice from over 100 Canadian parents, The Mother of All Baby Books is the ultimate guide to bringing up Baby in the Great White North. The Mother of All Baby Books

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting, Reference, Canada

616 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Ann Douglas sparks conversations that matter about parenting and mental health. She is a bestselling parenting book author and the former parenting columnist for The Toronto Star and CBC Radio. Her most recent book -- Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women -- has just been published in Canada, the US, and the UK.

Ann is also the author of Happy Parents Happy Kids, Parenting Through the Storm: How to Handle the Highs, the Lows, and Everything in Between, and the creator of The Mother of All Books series: The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, The Mother of All Baby Books, The Mother of All Toddler Books, The Mother of All Parenting Books and The Mother of All Pregnancy Organizers.

A passionate and inspiring speaker, Ann delivers keynote addresses and leads small-group workshops at health and parenting conferences. If you've already met Ann via one her books, you know what you can expect from one of her presentations: to be inspired, informed, and entertained. Not only will she shift your thinking about parenting: she’ll move you to action as well—and in a way that leaves you feeling confident and capable as opposed to anxious, guilty, or overwhelmed.

You can connect with Ann on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this was a bit of a mixed bag for me, there are some sections that I found very helpful and that I think I'll return to when my baby is at that stage. In particular I found the chapters on baby-proofing, starting solid foods, and sleep learning quite useful.

Others, like the health and safety section that had a long list of ailments your baby could possibly get (some of which are illnesses babies are protected against in routine vaccinations in Canada) and treatment which was often the same for different illnesses, were a waste of space.

There are also ample do / do not statements in here with no explanation or evidence to back them up. I am beginning to realize this is common in baby, breastfeeding, and pregnancy books and it really pisses me off! Don't tell me what to do, especially in a scare-mongering tone; give me the data and reasoning behind dos and don'ts, even your personal opinion if you make it clear that's what it is, and then allow ME to decide.

Also this book is hopelessly heteronormative. The underlying assumption is the birth parent is mom and mom is married to a dad. A brief discussion of postpartum sex was laughably heterosexual.

There is also no mention (to be fair I skimmed some parts so it's possible I missed it) of race or ethnicity and how that might be relevant in any topic presented in the book. I mean, the cover has one baby on the cover and the baby is white, so expect the book to follow up on that bias.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I was happily reading this book and kept telling my husband about how much I like this book & that it ranks # 2 as far as baby books go (Baby 411 is the absolute BEST one) & I have read ALOT of baby books. Anyway I get to this sentence that really makes me mad - it is better to smoke & breastfeed than to not breastfeed at all - I tried to breastfeed my son for 3 months and we just could not do it. He was born with low blood sugar thanks to my diabetes & was given a bottle as soon as he was born. On top of that he had severe jaundice that required us to supplement and he preferred the bottle over having to work for milk. I never felt a let down of milk, I pumped every 30 mins. for 2 weeks straight & all I produced all day long was 2 oz! After going to 3 different lactaction consultants (not to mention the several nurses while in the hospital) none of which could help my baby latch on properly I finally gave up when he was 3 months old. I now have a BOTTLEFEED baby who is 7 months old & is already learning to walk, according to his Dr. he is way ahead of his peers developemently. I babysit a exclusivly BREASTFEED baby who just last week has learned to turn over (my son was turning over both ways at 3 1/2 months old) & has gotten sick double the amount of times that my son has. I feel bad enough about bottlefeeding without hearing sentences like that, I smoked for 11 years and quit a year before getting pregnant because I didn't want to expose my child to that let alone breastfeed a baby while smoking. I don't think that statement makes bottlefeeding mothers feel very good about their decision, we already get enough grief from everybody else and don't need books to make us feel more guilty. And besides second hand smoke can contribute to lung cancer, bottlefeeding can't. If you ignore that one sentence in the book then it's a wonderful book.

[J9 Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly excellent resource for anyone looking to learn the fundamentals of looking after a baby from newborn to a year or so. As well as chapters that comprehensively cover everything from caring for the baby to breastfeeding to safe sleep to health and safety, it also contains some very useful tables and charts throughout that I will return to as and when needed. For example: a rough timeline of developmental milestones; recipes for purees for when you start to wean your baby; a step-by-step guide on baby massage; how to babyproof your home; etc. It's especially helpful for those expecting a baby in Canada, as it's completely tailored to this country, including information on how to dress your baby for the extreme seasons we get here, what to expect from the Canadian healthcare system (both pre- and post-natal), the specific regulations on car seat safety in Canada, and so on.

Reading it while expecting my first baby, I came away feeling much more knowledgeable and confident. It gave me the fundamental knowledge I needed to use as a jumping-off point for going more in-depth into certain topics and also helped me and my partner figure out what to put on our baby list. The latter was hugely helpful, as there are a lot of "baby lists" out there on the internet and it can be hard when it's your first to determine what's necessary for your newborn and what isn't.

But most importantly, it's written in a tone that is neither condescending nor prescriptive, giving you the basics while still assuming your intelligence and without favouring any particular parenting style or values over others.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my go-to resource for all things baby. The Internet can make you crazy, and books from American authors don’t always make sense in our context. This is perfect for Canadian parents. Every time I learn a friend is expecting, this and the Mother of all Pregnancy Books are my first gifts to them.

Ann Douglas is the CBC parenting columnist and a voice of reason in an industry that thrives on the insecurities of new parents. She is your beacon in the darkness. The hand you hold at 4am when Google has just told you your child’s inconsolable crying is probably both terminal and your fault for not buying the most expensive whatever on the market. Throw out the apps, throw out your phone, throw out the people that impose their opinions, and in Ann Douglas we trust.

[Linh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann Douglas had me at hello, when she started off the book with travel analogies. I love to travel and I totally related right away to what she was trying to say.

I found The Mother of All Baby Books super easy to read, and even though it was a hefty book, I was able to complete it in a fraction of the time it took for me to read similar sized Pregnancy / Parenting books.

While this edition was a little dated, I believe that with some creative revisions in the mind of the reader, the message is still clear and very helpful. Take for example when Douglas talks about the babymoon and using voicemail to provide baby updates to eager relatives and friends so that new parents could spend some uninterrupted time with their baby. All I had to do was sub "voicemail" for "social media" and voila, same results. I actually wish I had read this earlier (I was 31 weeks along when I started reading it), as there are some great tips on what new parents really need to buy and how to choose the one that is right for us. By the time I read that part, we had made most of our big purchases.

I also really appreciated the breastfeeding chapter as it talks about breastfeeding, bottle feeding and pacifiers, with tips and tricks for breastfeeding. While it is obvious that Douglas is a strong advocate for breastfeeding, I don't agree with some of the reviews I've read where people felt turned off because she was mom guilting them. I didn't feel like she was shoving breastfeeding down my throat at all, and in fact, she even acknowledges that some women may have trouble breastfeeding for various reasons, and may have to resort to using formula.

The Mother of All Baby Books is the 4th (pre) parenting book I've read and it's reassuring to know that a lot of this stuff has already been covered in some of the other books I've read and the message and research is very similar. My conclusion is it's a great book for those who only want to read one book.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the developmental chart near the back of the book. I wish there had been more of that throughout. I was hoping for a sort of baby owners manual, but this was a bit more anecdotal than I was expecting.

[Eleni Alpous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best (Canadian!) parenting / baby prep book of the half dozen I read. Thorough, funny, relaxed tone and incredibly helpful.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super valuable reference book with evidence-based info. I recommend for a first-time parent.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty helpful book, for the most part. There were good sections on what to expect of your body and baby as soon as it's born, and then how to care for the infant - diapering, bathing, breastfeeding, illness, etc. There are some good charts that I'm sure will come in handy in the future, as well as a long list of references and services that are available to parents. I liked that this was a Canadian book, since most child/pregnancy books are American, and things are different here.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this and thought it was useful. The only chapter that I wish I had skipped was the one on baby illnesses (though I probably should not have ready through it and only used it as a reference chapter). Like her other book, this book was practical and down to earth.

[Zoe Schamehorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is better than "What to expect when your expecting", but just barely. I did not like this book at all, and I found the writing repetitive and non-supportive. This is book is not worth buying. If you are tempted to give it a read I recommend borrowing it from the library first.

[fhsjkdhvkf · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Review written later.) I read it a few weeks ago, and while I don’t know yet how useful the information will be, I thought it was a good reference book. Not enough to convince me to buy it, though. We’ll see, I could change my mind once Baby’s there!

[Amanda Pfeifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the Bible of baby books!

I love it. I will be referencing this book for a long time!

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been very helpful. I continue to review it when I have questions.

[Sara Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are reading the Canadian Only version of this book and so far its amazing!

[Michelle]

very informative and to the point with a bit of dry Canadian humor in some of the anecdotes

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another go-to book for the next year. Following the Mother of All Baby Books, this is a great resource to rely on once your little one enters your life.