Diapers

Posted on January 4, 2005 by Katy K.

Well, I’m stil way behind on my book reviews, but amnachaidh suggested that I post reviews of the cloth diapers we’ve been using here. And, since someone else emailed me asking for the same info, here it is:

We’ve tried four kinds of diapers so far, and five different covers. Here’s the breakdown:

Diapers:
Kissaluvs size 0 – these are soft terry diapers with snaps, and cost about $9 each. We loved them for the first two or three weeks because they were small enough to fit, and they can snap down to be out of the way of cord stump. Now, though they still fit at the biggest place, they’re just not absorbant enough for him anymore. I’d say great for newborns, not so great afterwards.

Snugglebottoms and Snugglebottoms with Velcro – these are flannel contour diapers, with or without velcro (hold in place with a cover if there isn’t velcro). They cost about $17 a half dozen, which makes them the cheapest non-prefold diapers I’ve seen. These work just fine, though I prefer them with velcro. I don’t like them as well as some of the other dipes, I think because they look worn and crumpled all the time. It’s irrational, but there it is. For the long haul, I don’t think flannel will last as long as some of the other fabrics out there, and velcro tends to go sooner than snaps. Also, they have more sizes than some of the other diapers out there, which makes them a little more expensive per diaper, though still cheaper than premium diapers.

SugarPeas 2 size – these are usually hemp blend fitted diapers with snaps, and run about $12 each (or $14 for organic cotton). They have a snap-in doubler, which we like to get with the microfleece topping that keeps the moisture away from baby’s skin. These are our favorite fitteds. They are really absorbant, very pretty. The two-size concept means that they have lots and lots of snaps, so you’d need only two sizes of diaper all the way through, while getting a better fit than with a one-size diaper. The snap-in doubler means they still dry quickly. The only bad thing I’ve ever heard about these diapers is that they aren’t the trimmest fit out there, though this doesn’t bother me. They aren’t the cheapest option, but you can get a bulk discount some places, and they will last forever.

FuzziBunz – this is a pocket diaper with a waterproof outer layer, and a microfleece inner layer. You put your own filling in the pocket these two layers make. The diapers are $15 each, plus whatever you put in them ($4.50 for a good hemp insert.) This makes them the most expensive diaper we’ve used, but they are really nice. No cover means only one layer to put on a wriggly baby, and they are quite trim. They come in 3 sizes. They are especially great for night, when you can double stuff the pocket. Again, the microfleece keeps baby feeling dry. Happy Heineys are a similar diaper, but with velcro – haven’t tried them, but I’ve heard the fit isn’t quite as good. FuzziBunz have two rows of snaps, one to adjust the fit at the leg and one for the waist – we’ve not had a leak yet. They have a high resale value (around $10), too, so if you don’t want to save them, you can get most of your money back.

Covers:
PUL covers:
Litewrap – I guess it’s fine, but neither of us really like it. No reason why – maybe it leaks more, or is harder to put on?

ProWrap – This is the basic cover, and it does work just fine.

Bummis – This one we really like, though it will soak through if the diaper is too wet.

Bumkins – This is nice too, though it can leak out the back vent if the diaper is too wet.

Wool covers
We didn’t want to try wool at first b/c they do absorb the pee, and this sounded gross. Also they run around $20 each, which is pricey. But now we’ve tried a couple, and they are our favorites. They just don’t leak, and you don’t have to be as careful with the fit. With a PUL cover, if any of the diaper underneath is showing, it will leak, so you have to get it nice and tight with nothing showing. Wool just holds the moisture in no matter what. We’ve used both the SugarPeas Wool Cover, which works with snaps like the diaper, and the Aristocrats Wool Soaker, which is a pull-up stretchy thing. We love them both.

Buying the diapers
Everything I mentioned above except for the Snugglebottoms is available from Naturalbabies.com. They have a kind of confusing web site, but the owner lives in Northville, and I always get things super fast. Everything she sells is also available on other sites, so you can look around and sometimes find better prices (though she does price matching, too.) The Snugglebottoms are only available from http://www.babybunz.com/ Check out diaperpin.com for diaper and store reviews, and to find stores carrying specific diapers.

I haven’t bought any cloth diapers used. Some stores, like http://stores.punkymoms.com/ have exchange programs, where they’ll give you store credit for used diapers you send them, which they then sell for you. I have just figured that even if we buy the most expensive diapers we’ve used so far – SugarPeas and FuzziBunz – we’d probably spend around $900 (as opposed to $400 for prefolds). With the cost of disposables at around $2000 per child, and the cost of cloth spread over two babies, we’d still be spending a quarter of what we would on disposables.

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Birds and Bees

Posted on October 24, 2004 by Katy K.

Well, OK, so this first one looks kinda like it’s about that S thing, and the second one definitely has lots of stuff about bees in it… is that reaching too far? Anyway, both mainstream fiction of the sort typically marketed to women.

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner *Warning to my ttc friends: a major character in this book is pregnant.* (I couldn’t tell from the book description, honest!) This book was described as “chick lit, but deeper”, which does pretty well as a highly superficial description. That is, you won’t feel your brain cells either being numbed by the shallowness of characters or plot, but neither is it so dense that you’d need extra sleep and a study guide to get through it. So. Cannie is a moderately successful journalist, fairly content with her life. Then her ex-boyfriend – whom she dumped – publishes an article in a major women’s magazine called “Loving the Larger Woman” in which he describes the difficulties of dating a fat woman. Meaning her. Suddenly her life seems to be falling apart, and her mother’s newly lesbian identity – complete with gravelly-voiced girlfriend – isn’t helping. And then things get more complicated. The characters are genuinely funny, and the plot manages to be amusing and still say something about the important things in life.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Kidd Monk So I finally read this book after probably dozens of library patrons told me that I must read it. It is a really good book. It also has a plot that sounds so improbable as not to function, yet somehow, the story flows so smoothly that I didn’t notice until I tried to describe it. Here’s the outline: 14-year-old Lily Owens lives with her emotionally abusive father and a black nanny, Rosaleen, in the south of the 1960s. She’s burdened with the guilt of having killed her mother in a horrible accident when she was four. When her nanny gets into trouble trying to register to vote and her father won’t do anything to help, saying only that Rosaleen will probably be killed, Lily decides it’s time to leave. The pair run away and find refuge in the house of three black beekeeping sisters. Told in beautifully poetic language, it’s a thoughtful portrayal of Lily’s coming of age amid the tense race relations of the 1960s.

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Lord of the (Teething) Rings Part III

Posted on October 23, 2004 by Katy K.

OK, only one book reviewed this time. What can I say? I’m still reading.

Guide to Natural Family Living by Mothering Magazine This was another attempt to find a really liberal parenting book for my friend Teb. I think I (or actually, my husband) did pretty well finding it. Though I couldn’t find the title she requested, Liedloff’s The Continuum Concept, it is quoted here. Unlike most of the books I’ve read so far, this book covers everything from pregnancy through the teen years, with special sections on Difficult Issues like death and divorce. But liberal. Or is it conservative, when the book tells you not to take even Tylenol during pregnancy, and that you really should do the best you can to stay home with your child. Another concept I found a little radical: the no-punishment method of child-rearing. Not that nothing happens when they misbehave, but that you should first try to understand them, and then, if they were deliberately misbehaving, you should reason with them, or help them come up with a good way to make up for what they did. There’s plenty of good advice in here, too, from dealing with sexuality at different stages of life to alternative healthcare and schooling options. This book won’t tell you when your baby should be crawling, but it is a good resource for instinctive and attachment parenting styles. It shares one of the features I most admire about Mothering magazine, which produced it: even when I disagree with their conclusions, everything is meticulously researched, with citations given for multiple studies on both sides of an issue.

This leads me to an update on Babywise and Gary Ezzo Again, my dear husband was disturbed enough by what I told him of this book (recently reviewed) to do some background research. This has forced me to take back my half-hearted semi-commendation of the book. Turns out, the man has no medical background, and not even an undergrad degree. The book has lots of flat-out medical misinformation, and has led to a couple of hundred cases of Failure to Thrive and dehydration in babies whose parents followed the advice. The American Association of Pediatrics has issued warnings about the book, but it’s still really popular. Holy cow! We will be pulling all his books from our library, though, which is a small step. My current advice: don’t read the book. If your friends are reading it, pass on a warning. You can find more info at www.ezzo.info

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Escape

Posted on October 11, 2004 by Katy K.

Once again, I try to prove that I can think of things besides babies. So, two alternate reality fiction books, and escape by retail therapy.

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde This is the third book (of four so far) in a series of literary science fiction starring our heroine, Thursday Next. The books are action-packed and hilariously funny, full of subtle and not-so-subtle references to classic literature. “Science fiction” here means alternate reality, not spaceships, as Thursday is from a 1980s England where history and the rules are just a little different. In this book, though, Thursday is hiding from the evil Goliath Corporation in the world of fiction – taking over the part of a character in an unpublished mystery, while continuing her apprenticeship with Miss Haversham of Great Expectations as a JurisFiction agent. Even here, though, it looks like someone is out to get her. Her husband was eradicated by Goliath in the previous books, and now she’s struggling to keep her enemy, Aornis, from erasing her memories of him as well. I’m afraid I’ve simplified things a great deal – Fforde seems to add another layer or two of complication to the world with each book in the series. If you’ve read the previous two books, you won’t want to miss this one, and it may even make sense. If you haven’t, avoid getting lost in this one by starting with the first one, Lost in a Good Book, in which Thursday sets out to rescue Jane Eyre, who has been kidnapped from her book.

Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling The year is 1998, and the world is our own. Mike Havel, a former Marine turned private pilot is flying a family to their cabin in Montana when his plane – and his watch, and their guns, and all the city lights around – stop working. Meanwhile, in Oregon, folk musician and coven leader Juniper MacKenzie is playing a tavern gig when the same thing happens (except she’s happily not in a plane.) The technology of the past couple hundred years has all stopped working, and only those who can adapt will survive. Yes, it requires a major leap of faith to believe that the principles that make our technology work could change overnight. This improbability is brought up several times over the course of the book, but it’s not the focus of the book. Instead, it focuses on what makes a society stripped down to the bare bones work. Our two heroes pick up a bunch of followers with useful skills – a Tolkein fan whose Legolas delusions are suddenly essential, rodeo hands, SCA members with knowledge of fighting and metal crafting. Besides practical skills, the book looks at the importance of myth and belief, as our heroes adjust to being treated as such, and the leader of a small coven suddenly finds her previously marginalized religion in demand. I enjoyed the characters, reflecting on the deeper issues, and was pulled in by the action. And yeah, as a Scadian, it’s pretty funny to read a book where SCA membership could be a life or death matter.

thepurplebook by Hillary Mendelsohn And for a complete change of pace – shopping. Ok, you might think, as I generally do, that a guide to internet shopping is pretty superfluous when you have Google. But if you do shop – or want to shop – on-line, this book is pretty darn useful. It’s divided by major shopping categories, and gives brief one or two sentence reviews of different on-line retailers, along with telling what they sell and icons saying how expensive shipping is, how easy the site is to use, etc. I do wish that her icons included general price ranges for the store, not just shipping, but this is a relatively small quibble, as one can generally tell from the reviews how high-brow a store will be. While some of the retailers were familiar to me, many of them were not – whole worlds of cool sites to browse opened up! I don’t plan to buy it for myself, especially as they come out with a new edition every year, but it’s definitely worth checking out at the library.

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Lord of the (Teething) Rings – Part II

Posted on September 25, 2004 by Katy K.

In a continuation of parenting titles, I found two more crying/sleep books, one random leftie baby book, and one Baby Tome. Yeah, I should probably find a couple more Baby Tomes with different approaches, but I’m not sure how many 700 page books I’ll make it through. As always, I’m open to suggestions of titles you’ve read or want me to try first.

Calming Your Fussy Baby: the Brazleton Way by T. Berry Brazleton My research into crying/sleep books continues with this title. Dr. Brazleton is a well-known pediatrician (I discover); he’s best known for his “touchpoints” or stages of baby development. He seems to me to be fairly middle-of-the-road in his parenting philosophy. This book, then, covers crying by age – why a baby might cry at different stages, and appropriate responses at each. Unlike Dr. Karp, he doesn’t assume a single solution in each case, but presents a variety of options. Again, it’s hard to say without trying, but his approach seems geared towards first understanding your baby, then figuring out a solution.

On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam Yes, this is a third “how to get your baby to stop crying” title. I think I mentioned earlier that it’s a little hard to guess at an author’s parenting philosophy from the back cover of the book, so I was excited to find this book – a really, really conservative approach to baby care. amnachaidh, on hearing me talk about it, described this as the Ann Coulter of baby care, and it’s a pretty good metaphor. If you agree with the conservative philosophy to begin with – that you must put your baby on a schedule from birth and train him to sleep in his own room right from the beginning by letting him cry until he stops – then the advice in this book is straightforward. You can either skip over or enjoy the vitriolic attacks against attachment parenting, as you prefer. If you are liberal in your parenting philosophy to begin with, you will find this book highly disturbing. And if you are not really sure where you are, I would not recommend reading this book. While the advice on how to put your baby on schedule is straightforward enough, and may in fact be the perfect solution for your family, the science that he cites to support his views is shaky at best. As I’m currently reading Dr. Sears on attachment parenting, I can say with some certainty that the attachment parenting philosophy that he uses as an example of bad parenting throughout the book is a straw man, more extreme than AP doctors would recommend. As an example of bad science, at one point he says that letting your baby cry it out will make her smarter, and has an endnote to a study. The study that he cites was one that showed that four and five year olds who could wait 15 minutes to get two marshmallows rather than getting one right away did better on their SATs than the ones who ate their marshmallow right away. I don’t think that this proves that waiting makes kids smarter, and I certainly don’t see how a study performed on children old enough to talk and reason could prove anything about caring for a baby. He says throughout that doing anything differently than what he says will resulting in spoiling your baby – which I object to on the grounds that different things work for different babies; and throughout that one shouldn’t trust one’s emotions or instincts for baby care, or any decision-making, despite research on the subject to the contrary. This book is really popular, but I’d still say that Dr. Spock will give you advice on putting your baby on a schedule, with better science and less guilt.

Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet guide to natural baby care : nontoxic and environmentally friendly ways to take care of your new child by Mindy Pennybacker In search of more liberal baby books, I found this one. It’s one to read only if you have lots of money or are willing to ignore lots of warnings. Do you really want to know what the chemicals in paint, carpets and plastic toys can do to your child? Especially when the alternatives appear to cost at least twice as much, and often even more? (The easy way out: air out things like plastics and paint that smell when new for a couple of weeks to disperse the nasty VOCs. Use natural fibers whenever possible, and wash new clothes several times before putting them on baby.) There is some more practical advice in the later chapters on food, and a nice chapter on raising a nature-loving child. Otherwise, sadly, you have to be really, really committed to a low-chemical lifestyle for this book to have practical information for you.

The Baby Book by William and Martha Sears This is the first baby tome that I’ve reviewed, recommended to me by at least four different sources. It is indeed a wonderful book. Dr. Sears is an advocate of attachment parenting. For the uninitiated, this means he believes that the first duty of parents is to teach their children that they will always be there to take care of them. To this end, small babies should be picked up when they cry, carried a lot (whether or not they are crying) and so forth. No, he does not say that co-sleeping is the only right way to do things, and yes, he does include instruction on how to encourage your baby to sleep more at night without using the cry-it-out technique, as well as how to wean your baby out of your bed should you decide to sleep with your baby for a while but not want it to be permanent. For those of a more liberal persuasion to start with, he also includes discussions of vaccines and controversies surrounding them, though he is in general in favor of them. But this is just a small look at places where his book gives a unique view, particularly touching on issues brought up in the other books I’ve reviewed or that have come up in discussion. Overall, this book is aiming to be the only baby book you’ll ever really need. It covers pregnancy and childbirth briefly, and then focuses on baby’s major needs: eating, sleeping, development, health and comfort. Although all of the information looks like it would be invaluable to have on hand, I was very impressed with the health section. Split up by illness (with a separate first aid section), it covers what the symptoms are, treatment options, when to worry, call the doctor, and what to tell him or her. The Sears are both medical professionals as well as parents of eight children, and I found their advice knowledgeable and reassuring. Like Dr. Spock, they stress knowing yourself and your baby and finding solutions that work for you. If you want a general baby book with a liberal-ish bent, this is for you – either as a sole resource for the die-hard AP types, or as a liberal point of view to balance another book with a more conservative approach.

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Lord of the (Teething) Rings – Part I

Posted on September 8, 2004 by Katy K.

And now, by popular request, some parenting titles. If I were really, really coordinated, I would have gotten three books representing different takes on the same topic. In fact, I kinda tried, but it’s a little hard working with library books, as other people besides me want to read them. Anyway, here we have book by a Classic Expert, one very popular book, and one geared towards fathers.

The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp This book seems to have achieved a loyal following in the past couple of years, and I seem to be one of the last people on my board to read it. Karp claims to have discovered the cure for colic, which any parent can use by carefully following his instructions. The Cuddle Cure involves following the 5 S’s: Swaddle, Side or Stomach, Shhh, Swing and Suck. You would need to read a little more to make it work, of course. I can’t really tell how well it would work, not having a screaming baby on hand to test it with, though the testimonials throughout the book are encouraging. With a chapter devoted to the thesis, one for each S, and another of synthesis, I found the book a little on the repetitive side – maybe designed for sleep-deprived parents? In any case, the ideas seem good, and the bigger your arsenal of baby-calming techniques, the happier you and baby are likely to be.

Dr. Spock’s the First Two Years by Dr. Benjamin Spock Dr. Spock is the granddaddy of child rearing advice doctors, as you all should know already. I thought I’d read some of his advice to get a traditional/conservative view on the whole thing. This book is a collection of magazine columns from the late 80s and 90s answering common questions, not really a month-by-month or stage-by-stage guide. But, I was surprised and fascinated – surprised, because Dr. Spock is not as conservative as I would have guessed him to be. He’s strongly in favor of breastfeeding (on demand through the first several months), opposed to circumcision, and, most radical, advocates for a vegan diet. (He also talks about the benefits of bedsharing, though it’s clearly not something he’d be comfortable doing himself.) On the Cry It Out vs. Attachment Parenting debate, for those who are curious, he says that before about 6 months (I think) a baby is too young to be manipulative, and therefore should be picked up when crying. Past that, leaving the baby alone may be helpful in some cases. Throughout, his mantra is “Trust yourself – you know more than you think you do.” What made his book especially fascinating is his historical perspective – he started practicing in 1944. Most parenting books will tell you, for example, that you don’t need to try to put your baby on a feeding schedule – so rigid, so unhelpful for both you and baby. Dr. Spock explains both why schedules were considered so important, and what caused the shifts in opinion over the years. This is a slim little book; most of the actual advice you could probably find in other places. But the advice is sound, and the perspective just cool.

The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year by Armin Brott The discerning reader will note that this is the follow-up book to The Expectant Father, which I reviewed a while back. My husband and I both enjoyed these books for their solid advice coming from the father’s perspective. This book is split up with one chapter per month. It outlines what milestones are reached in each month (divided up into different areas past the first couple, where development is nearly all physical.) It talks about emotional and social issues that may come up for the dad. And, it has really good advice on what to do with the baby, from the very beginning where being involved means not giving up the baby as soon as she starts crying, to good games for each age child. I was especially excited that he talked about reading to the baby in every chapter. I’ve recently run into one father-to-be who didn’t like having his emotions addressed, as it felt to him like he was being told what to feel, so I guess nothing works for everyone. But amnachaidh liked having his point of view addressed. Most parenting books that I’ve read take it for granted that the mother is the one reading the book, and make only the occasional side comment for fathers. From that point of view, having a book like this can make it easier for the father to read, since he doesn’t feel left out, and it can be helpful for the mother to know what her partner might be going through. The dad perspective aside, it’s a good general reference book.

This is just a start – if you have parenting favorites you’d like me to read, or if you’d like me to preview something for you, I’m taking suggestions for the next round now!

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Chocolate Lava Cake

Posted on September 7, 2004 by Katy K.

A last “normal person” book before I embark on a slew of parenting titles… a book quite similar to that naughty little chocolate cake with the melted center that I had at the restaurant with my mother-in-law on Sunday.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks This one came out as a movie this summer, though I only know this because we have a small poster hanging in the library. Nicholas Sparks is well known for writing feel-good novels, and this is indeed one. The story centers around Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson. They fell in love as teenagers over the summer, but split up over objections from Allie’s upper-class family. Fourteen years later, Allie is engaged to a suitable man from her own class – will she stay with him, or go back to her first love, still waiting for her? And, in the frame story (OK, this answers the last question), 50 years later, Allie has Alzheimer’s, and Noah is reading her the story of their relationship. Will she remember him? It’s not long or deep, and if you try to talk about it too much, you might start recognizing brand names on the plot devices. But, if you just want a book to make you feel warm and gushy inside, this is a great one to go with. I listened to it on CD, and the slightly gravelly voice of the narrator was just perfect for it. It’s the same narrator who did American Gods, which did throw me for a bit, as Noah and Shadow are quite different characters. But still, highly enjoyable.

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The World Is Still out There

Posted on August 31, 2004 by Katy K.

Look! I can read fiction and other books not related to babies!

No Touch Monkey: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late by Ayun Halliday My father gave me this book to read, probably because I spent some time traveling around Europe in my younger days. Here, Halliday looks back on her days of backpacking around the world, mostly with assorted boyfriends. Halliday was a much more hard-core backpacker than I – where I stuck to Europe, and generally took money with me, Halliday describes travels through Africa and southeast Asia as well as Europe, sometimes with no money for food or shelter. Halliday gets down and dirty with the stories, from her boyfriend being chased from the public restroom in Munich, to intestinal difficulties in India and dislocating her knee in Sumatra. Yep, it’s amusing. Yep, I’m glad not to be there.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett I know, it’s a children’s book again, but it’s a current best-seller, and deserving of it. Petra and Calder are sixth-graders at an alternative school in Chicago. They find themselves mixed up in the theft of a Vermeer painting that should have been part of an exhibit in the Chicago art museum. Everything around them seems to connect to the theft, but what is coincidence and what is clue? Can they find the painting before the thief destroys it? This is a highly enjoyable book, both thoughtful and fast-paced.

Firethorn by Sarah Micklem And again, I have difficulty resisting the rare fantasy book that gets starred reviews in multiple publishing magazines. But this is not your typical sparkly magic, epic fantasy. Micklem has a finely realized world with a researched, authentic medieval feel, but a developed religion based around twelve gods. The world is starkly divided between the nobles of the Blood and the commoners, or mudfolk. Firethorn, trained as an herbalist, has lost her place in the household she grew up in with the death of her mistress. After a year alone in the forest, she feels herself touched by the gods – but what does that mean, and what do they want from her? Even when she thinks she knows, things do not turn out as she expects. She decides that the god Ardor has bound her to follow a young knight to war, but this is fraught with difficulty. Not only do his companions not believe he can have real feelings for his “sheath”, but the divide between the Blood and mudfolk is so strong that Galen and Firethorn themselves cannot work around it. Firethorn is so out of place in this world that the book made for disturbing, yet gripping, reading. Alas, it’s only the first of three, and so does not resolve at all neatly.

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Minimalism – or not

Posted on August 22, 2004 by Katy K.

Panic time – I’m in my third trimester, and we have purchased not one major item for baby, nor have we registered for such. What does he really need? Which brands to go with? What do we need to know before picking up that scanner gun at Babies ‘R Us? The panic hit when we got back from vacation, and I pumped a thousand pages or so in two weeks. Here’s my run-down on the books:

Baby Stuff by Ari Lipper With the aged copyright date of 2001, I really only checked this one out because the more recent books were already checked out and I needed to read something right then. In fact, this turned out to be a fantastic book. Lipper is both a parent and the owner of a private baby store, so he has lots of experience with what works and what doesn’t, and what things get brought in for repairs. Each item has a little shaded box that lists how much you’ll need it, when you’ll need it, whether it’s a good thing to borrow or not, and important features. Then, there’s a nice little discussion of things to consider when deciding on the item. For bottles and nipples, for example, he says that whatever the brands claim, your baby will have definite opinions on this subject, and you’re better off buying a small stock in several different brands to find out. Specific brand and model advice is pretty minimal, limited mostly to brands that are so bad or so good that they need to be mentioned by name. His advice is straightforward, concise, and funny at the same time, and the whole book was quick to read. One caveat: he is a city dweller, and his advice is slightly skewed in this direction. OK, maybe if I lived in NYC, I’d consider an infant car seat an optional purchase, too. But really, for quick, reality-based advice, this book is great.

Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields I was already familiar with the authors from reading their Bridal Bargains book, and this one offers much the same kind information-packed advice. The focus is on getting the best for less, with discussions on features, safety, and places to buy followed by reviews of brands and specific recommendations, based on their own experience and reader feedback. At 700+ pages, it’s easy to get a little bogged down, though their layout makes things as easy as possible, and they also have a good sense of humor. I feel obliged to give them kudos for giving decently fair coverage to cloth diapers and where to buy them, a topic avoided in most other books. What more to say? This is the most comprehensive book I’ve seen on the subject, and since it’s updated every two years, the information is current.

Best Baby Products by Sandra Gordon and Consumer Reports Ah, Consumer Reports! I was looking forward to this book for answers to everything – and wow, I was really disappointed. The good thing about Consumer Reports is that they do extensive, hard-core safety testing on baby products, which other books can’t duplicate. The bad thing about Consumer Reports is that they aren’t focused on baby products, and they won’t give any opinions on things they haven’t tested. So, while the advice on the few products they’ve tested is OK, most of the items list what features are available (not how useful they are), and then run down a list of brands and prices, with no advice at all. Some of the limited advice they gave seemed downright suspect to me – dress your baby in polyester because it’s cheaper and easier to care for than cotton? Also, ratings focused fairly exclusively on safety, with less discussion of practicality, reliability and other factors. They do cover cars, cameras and camcorders, which other baby books don’t. But you could get that advice in their regular buying guides, too, and just look at Baby Bargains, which will tell you when their ratings differ from Consumer Reports and why.

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Hide and Seek

Posted on August 11, 2004 by Katy K.

Another cross-section of (mostly) vacation reading – one for the car, one from a friend, and a couple to read to your favorite child. And, ok, every one involving children or childbirth. I’m working on a different kind of book, promise!

Birthing from Within by Pam England A little older than most of the childbirth books I’ve been reading, but still well worth it. This book is about childbirth, specifically from the mother’s point of view, with some attention to the partner. She’s not so much interested in natural vs. assisted birth, as in the parents getting connected with their feelings and fears about childbirth and impending parenthood. You can’t control what will happen, she seems to say, and your experience will not be the medical event your doctor will tell you about. Prepare for what you can, address your fears – and there’s also a lot on natural pain relief techniques. Birth is an important rite of passage, and learning only about the three stages of labor won’t prepare you for this side of things.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath Trust Polly Horvath to write a funny and yet touching book about a seemingly depressing subject. Primrose lives in a small fishing village in British Columbia with her parents, until they are lost at sea. Everyone else is convinced that they are dead, but Primrose, narrating, is so convinced that they will come back that the book is saved from being the mournful reflections of a new orphan. Instead, she explores life inside the village as she is passed around from one person to the next. From the old maid she was first left with, to her happy-go-lucky uncle, the stuck-up school counselor and the owner of the town’s one restaurant, the characters are full of vivid and amusing life. I especially enjoyed listening to the young, scrappy-sounding voice of the narrator on the audio version.

Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It by Andrea Buchanan Thanks to garrity for loaning me this one. So, you’re about to become a mother for the first time, talking to mothers you know, reading books on the subject, hanging out with the children of friends. Are you prepared? No, says Buchanan. Motherland is an entirely different country, and you’re reading guidebooks and talking to natives. The shock of adjusting to new parenthood has stages very similar to culture shock, from euphoria to hatred of the new culture to final adjustment. Buchanan shares her own experiences in a series of essays grouped around each of these stages. More important than the stages, though, is her firm conviction that not every part of being a mother is fun. Acknowledging this often taboo fact does not mean that you don’t love your child or are a bad parent. Life is always complex, and we shouldn’t expect parenting to be different. Though the premise may sound academic, the book isn’t, with Buchanan’s essays sharing the nitty-gritty tears, laughter, and exhaustion of the new mother.

Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Susan Guevara
Fairy Tales by Berlie Doherty, illustrated by Jane Ray
These are two lovely collections of fairy tales that I recently shared with the 5-year-old Wild Woman, and which we both greatly enjoyed. Not One Damsel in Distress, as the title indicates, features only stories with strong heroines – not modern-day fantasies, but real, strong folk heroes who have made it through the centuries. I keep a sharp eye out for collections of this nature, and this is one of the best. It’s a few stories common to collections of this nature (though mostly not so well known otherwise), and many that even I had never seen before – crack to the fairy tale collector. More important to the Wild Woman, Yolen is an amazing storyteller, able to tell a compelling story in a multitude of different styles. The illustrations didn’t do much for me, but WW didn’t seem to mind, and you can’t have everything.

The Doherty collection is mostly fairy tale standards – “Snow White”, “Rapunzel” – with a few less common stories like the Russian tale “The Firebird” thrown in. It’s not the addiction of new stories that Yolen had for me, but these are stories that every child should grow up with. Doherty is an award-winning British author and tells the stories lyrically, attentive to their original sources. However, what really makes this book shine are the illustrations. Every page is illustrated in full color with gold accents, with each tale having its own frame. The characters, while much more simply dressed than typical in fairy tales, look beautiful. They are multiethnic without making a big deal about it – just people of fairly indeterminate race but different skin tones interacting in a magical fairy tale world. If you know a child who needs a basic collection of fairy tales to love, this would be my top pick.

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