Reddit reviews Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5

After reading the few responses so far, I believe I have the moral right to tell you to not get advice on how to bring up your baby from fucking reddit.

Please?

Good God... humanity is doomed.

You want this book and this book. Good luck!

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has a GREAT book that my wife and I frequently reference. Here's the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Caring-Your-Young-Child-Edition/dp/0553386301

I picked up Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 - great all around reference from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Like others have said, none of this behavior sounds out of the ordinary. My son is about the same age and has experimented with lashing out physically (especially when he's tired). When the aggressive behavior comes up, how are you and the day care staff handling discipline? Time outs (just briefly tell him why and hold him on your lap in a boring area until he calms down) have been working well for our guy. If you don't already have it, I HIGHLY suggest picking up this book from the AAP it's literally the manual for taking care of a kid from 0-5 years and is written by doctors. Good luck!

The best guide to developmental milestones is the AAP book:

http://www.amazon.com/Caring-Your-Young-Child-Edition/dp/0553386301/

I think it's pretty normal to have some anxiety, especially with your first kid. The first two weeks are the hardest. Just go into survival mode and concentrate on making sure everyone is fed and getting some sleep. Make sure you have a good diaper changing station so you can change diapers in your sleep. Trust yourself, your wife, and your kid to figure things out. Because you'll learn as you go and it will get easier.

There are a lot of resources out there too.

The best all around book I had was Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, 5th Edition: Birth to Age 5 by The American Academy of Pediatrics. It covers all the essentials and was written by pediatricians so the advice is solid. Looks like you can get it for $5 used from Amazon.

For me it was "The Missing Baby Manual."

Good luck. You'll do fine.

Every parent should get "Caring for Your Baby and Child: Birth to Age 5" by the American Association of Pediatrics. It's our go-to whenever something new or unexpected comes up.

https://www.amazon.com/Caring-Your-Baby-Young-Child/dp/0553386301

It had a pretty good breastfeeding section. Everything in it is going to follow AAP guidelines, so just about a safe as possible. Most of the pregnancy books are also going to have some breastfeeding stuff too-- just choose one that is more medical (ie the Mayo Clinic one)

The best thing I did was take a breastfeeding class at the hospital, that was really helpful.

First: Congrats!

Sounds good that you guys are already sitting down and talking things through. Fact of the matter is that you'll never be 100% prepared to have a kid, nor will you be prepared for what your kid does tomorrow. They change so fast and it's all new to you. Your instincts to nurture and love should get you a long way, and stay smart/ahead of things when it comes to daycares, school registration, supporting your kid, etc.

When I found out my wife was pregnant I was the same age as yourself. I found that reading books written for "dad" weren't for me because they were too cliched in their approach. I purchased, and read, this book: Caring for your young child birth - age 5 by the APA. Also get yourself a copy of Baby 411. That book talked us off the ledge and kept us out of the ER a number of times.

The other thing I did to prepare was to get consumer reports to research cribs, car seats, etc, etc, etc. That helped me quite a bit to narrow down the field, and then I cross referenced reviews and pricing on Amazon and my local baby stores.

New dad pro tip: Build the crib inside the baby's intended room. Assembled, it probably won't fit through the door so if you build it outside the room, get ready to rebuild it inside anyway :)

Also, take care of your lady. She's going to go through some serious shit for the next 9-10 months. Support her, be there for her, care for her.

I have the AAP Birth to 5 book. It's been pretty helpful along with the interwebs, of course.

I received this book from Publix baby club when I was pregnant with my oldest child, I STILL refer to it with my second child. My copy is dog eared and crinkled from use, but I don't now I would have made it through my first kid without it. Now, I buy copies to included with all my baby shower gifts!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553386301

Caring For Your Baby and Young Child is the best and most-used how-to manual in our house. Link. It answers questions like "how high of a fever is too high" and "is this a thing I should take my kid to the doctor over?"

I had this book from the pediatrician and it was invaluable.

It's not geared towards fathers, per se, but is much more towards parents rather than just the mother.

I totally agree. We have the AAP Guide (this one: http://www.amazon.com/Caring-Your-Young-Child-Edition/dp/0553386301 ) as well as this "baby manual"

I like both because neither push an agenda, and are very straightforward.

Caring for your baby and young child: http://www.amazon.com/Caring-Your-Young-Child-Edition/dp/0553386301

This is the AAP's official book on the topic. You can feel safe about taking it's advice. The same can not be said of several others, including perennial favorite Happiest Baby... http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/34/6/34.full?rss=1

No matter what, do not read or follow Babywise either. Has been linked to dehydration & failure to thrive. http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/14/4/21.abstract

I love this book

If you need a good developmental reference check out American Academy of Pediatrics Birth to Five. It's awesome, it's like an instruction manual for children. Also, a pediatric physical therapist told us a couple month ago they now don't worry about children not walking until after 18 months. Good luck!