Wednesday, 27th November 2002, 5:17pm
An opinion by: Nette

 

Your Baby and Child (from Birth to Age Five) by Penelope Leach

I haven't read the entire thing, since I figure I've got five years to do that. But already I've noticed a tendency on my part to quote the book and then go on a wild polemic. This is what triggered my last one - "And you may need to plan for the days when everybody gets home late and nobody feels like cooking. Chinese take-out is not good food for your baby, however carefully you may strain it." I mean, excuse me, oh writer of book filled with lovely ethnic children, but what if your Chinese food is really, really excellent? What if your baby is Chinese? What kind of odd assumptions is she making about take out anyway? What other random ethnic groups and food habits can we just trash without thinking? I am clearly not the target audience here, since this "getting home late" business implies a certain lifestyle too.

In general, this book attempts to be an encyclopedia of child care, which means it is filled with warnings and careful, general statements. There is a lot of information in it too, but I missed the brisk, precise style that attracted me to Gail Dahl's book. Penelope Leach is infinitely more verbose and spends much more time considering every and all possibilities. Naturally it means you have to pick and chose the information from all the options she gives you, something someone with a fuzzy brain doesn't find all that appealing. But again, great photos and some other nice details, like comparisons in breast feeding plans and what really happened, charts that show how ignoring your baby's crying at night will result in less sleep, stuff like that.

Later note - okay, after pregnancy this book takes on a whole new meaning, a kind of consoling bible really. Suddenly all the many possibilities she explains in detail are interesting and informative, because you become an infomaniac about little things, how to wean or what kind of games your baby will like when. And it is very exciting when you can move on to a new chapter and get even more info on each stage. I've given this book as gifts to some new moms and grandmothers and they all really seem to appreciate it.

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