title: Bringing Up Baby: Three Steps to Making Good Decisions in Your Child's First Years
author:  Claire Lerner 
description: At last, here is a parenting book that doesn't claim to have all the answers. New parenthood is challenging enough without having to sort through the vast supply of either redundant or conflicting advice; this clearly written, focused guide to good decision making will help stressed parents of infants find their way. Three steps are defined here: "Develop Self-Awareness," "Tune in to Your Child," and "Make Sensitive and Effective Decisions." Each step is presented briefly, along with examples and questions parents can ask themselves. This approach allows for different parenting styles and a wide variety of children's temperaments, in contrast to many parenting books on the market. The authors, seasoned parents themselves, dispense advice in a sympathetic, calm tone that is especially welcome. No quick fixes are offered here; new parents may feel they lack the time to devote to the introspection recommended here, but those who can muster the energy to peruse this succinct guide may find some relief. <i>Diane Foote</i><br><i>Copyright &#169; American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  Book I
  
  
  #  One
  
  
  #  Two
  
  
  #  Three
  
  
  #  Four
  
  
  #  Five
  
  
  #  Six
  
  
  It felt very strange, to have this feeling—whatever this feeling was. Claire
  had never experienced it before, the yearning she had to be with the newchild,
  remembering his face—how the solemn light eyes had stared at her, the way his
  hair curved around at the top of his head and lifted into a curl there, the
  wrinkling of his forehead, and his quivering chin before he began to cry.  
  
  Each family unit was allotted two children, one of each gender, and she had
  been the younger. They had waited several years after receiving Peter before
  they had applied for their girl. So Claire had never known an infant or a
  small child well.  
  
  She asked her coworkers, trying to make it a casual question, at the evening
  meal. “Do any of you remember getting your sibling?”  
  
  “Sure,” Rolf said. “I was eight when we got my sister.”  
  
  “I was older,” Edith said. “My parents waited quite a long time before they
  applied for my bro