The Portable Pediatrician: A Practicing Pediatrician's Guide to Your Child's Growth, Development, Health and Behavior, from Birth to Age Five

This is the perfect gift to give new parents!There is a wealth of knowledge on each page. The author writes in a way that not only makes you laugh, but helps you to have the confidence and expertise that you need to take care of babies and small children. I loved the fact that she was also a pediatrician, so she gave great advice from the perspective of a mommy and doctor. I used this book quite often, after having my first born, until I had most of the information memorized. Baby number 2 was so much easier because I knew what to expect and what to do at each developmental stage. I have told every new parent about this book, given it as part of baby shower gifts, and even offered it in place of registration fees when I ran a home daycare! It is that good!!!

Forget the "What to expect books" This is your user manual with all of the hows and whys and options succinctly laid out by age and development period, and it is well wriiten with humor and facts. 11 out of 10. I give it to every new mom and they rave about it for years.Now if we could just get the teenager version!

I really do love this book. It's full of great info, and she delivers it with gentle humor.However, I agree with other reviews saying that it can be tricky to find specific info about injuries while trying not to freak out -- lots of flipping back and forth from the index to various pages. The book really seems more for reading and learning ahead of time, not in-the-moment "so do I call the doctor or what?!" type reference.I also find some of her opinions about breastfeeding to be not well balanced. For example, she places a lot of emphasis on not breastfeeding through the night due to the risk of cavities. That's pretty tricky if your child gets teeth early, or has other reasons for continuing to feed on demand past the four or six month mark. Plus there doesn't appear to be any proven link between breastmilk and cavities if you consult more authoritative lactation-specific sources like LLL or [...]. Pediatricians are notorious for their lack of thorough lactation training, and her support for breastfeeding seems lukewarm to me.She recommends Ferber, which is effective for many parents but still controversial, with little couching as a straight opinion and little discussion of other valid approaches.All in all though, this is still a go-to book at our house. We just ignore the parts that don't jibe with our parenting philosophies and what we know about our child.

We received this book as a gift upon the birth of our first child and it has been the most useful child reference book we own. It covers the most common illnesses in infants and toddlers in a very thorough fashion. Not only does it give reassuring advice about when a problem requires a visit to the doctor versus being something you can handle on your own, the advice on how to identify and treat minor illnesses (such as diaper rash) has been the best I've come across.The book is also extremely useful in it's coverage of the behavioral issues that appear at different ages and in different challenging situations. It gave us a good idea of what to expect from our first child upon the arrival of a younger sibling and has offered excellent suggestions on dealing with discipline and oppositional defiance issues as we work our way through the terrible twos. Of course, there is no magic bullet to those sorts of problems, but the author engagingly outlines general strategies that have been extremely helpful.I agree with a previous reviewer that the author does take a very traditional approach to the family bed (she's against it). However I hardly think that the author's traditional approach to childhood sleep habits is a reason to throw the baby out with the bath water, as it were. If you are planning to pursue an attachment parenting approach to child rearing and/or to have a family bed, this book isn't going to talk you out of it. If you are planning to pursue a more old-fashioned approach to childhood sleeping habits, then this book probably provides good advice (although I couldn't say from experience since we have happily gone the attachment parenting/family bed route). In either case, the medical and behavioral advice has been excellent. So I see no reason to get worked up about the advice on sleep habits if you don't happen to agree with it.Overall, this is a very well-designed source of general medical and behavioral advice. Every new parent should have it on their shelf. Highly recommended.

When our children were young, Dr. Laura Nathanson was their pediatrician. Therefore, I can tell you that the author is incredibly knowledgeable, intelligent and compassionate. I can also tell you that her book is so well written and researched that it really does give you the confidence of having one of the best pediatricians in the nation at your beck and call.There were many times when we appeared in her office with a very sick child, worries and exhaustion weighing us down. Dr. Laura quickly calmed us while she thoroughly assessed the situation, explained it to us in laymen's terms, then laid out the solution, making sure we understood our participation in the healing process. She coached us over the years into having a better idea of when an office visit was actually needed, and this gave us more confidence as parents.My son is 25 years old now and has a brand new baby. Their copy of the latest edition of Portable Pediatrician sits front and center on their coffee table for constant reference. The young parents love the sections telling them what to expect at each stage of development, as well as covering problems that might arise. She has expert insight on emotional issues, too.As a new grandmother, I am re-reading it to make sure I am current. What a comprehensive and wonderfully written book!