giveaway: eat, sleep, poop

As a soon-to-be-first-time mom, I was the ideal book consumer and purchased such titles as: What to Expect, Baby Love, Girlfriend's Guide to [well just about everything],  Baby 411, The Baby Book, The Birthing Book, The Breastfeeding Book (basically anything Dr. Sears). I read them all, cover to cover, as I was displaced from my homeland and living in the Middle East with little to do but sweat, eat and read books.

I was sure I was an expert in parenting after all my reading and 6 months of trial and error with one child. Then Baby #2 arrived. You only think you're well-versed in every topic until a subsequent child rocks your world a year into this parenting gig.

Baby #2 (my girl) did everything Baby #1 (my boy) didn't and then went on and did none of the things her older brother did. She vomited, but didn't spit up. She got ear infections, but rarely had fevers. She breastfed with ease and ate everything I put in front of her. She loved the car and the stroller and even slept in both. But she wouldn't sleep through the night. She hated to nap and let the world know how she felt about it. Even with two babies less than 16 months apart, I would continually run to the Web or my library of parenting books to find the answers to questions I was sure I would never ask since I was such a "baby expert" now.  

Baby Bunching moms don't have time to peruse baby books. We're reading it on the toilet while someone else is crawling around at our feet, while we're nursing, while someone is in the bathtub or while shoveling food into someone else's mouth at the table.

By the time we get to Baby #2 our parenting book cocktail is neat, we need it here and now and it will probably be room temperature. Eat, Sleep, Poop by Scott W. Cohen is the perfect mix for second-time parents. First of all, I love that Dr. Cohen is also a dad. In each chapter he gives a Daddy vs. Doctor analysis for things like sleep training, vaccines, travel and colic. It's easy for doctors to spout off about what we should or shouldn't do, but it's wonderful for a doctor to say, "Hey, I finally get this. Maybe you're not psycho for questioning 7 shots on one visit?" or "Yes, perhaps 4-months is too little to make a baby cry for 2 hours."

Throughout the book he interjects with lots of "Common Sense Bottom Line" advice. I find this comforting. We all have done this before, and we know what we should or shouldn't be doing. But when you're up late at night trying to cajole one kid to bed (since hubby is out of town) and your other kid will be up soon for a feeding, we need someone to be straight with us. Another bonus: pediatrician visit checklist, medicine dosage recommendations and flowcharts for diagnosis (aka when you should flip out and bother your ped at home.)

This book would be a great book for both a first-time and second-time parent. Not a bad one for a fresh perspective on parenting/advice books. So we're giving away the copy we received. I promise I was very careful when I read it. We're giving our copy away. To enter all you have to do is tell us the best "common sense" advice you have ever given  to another mom or received from one.  We'll take entries until midnight Aug. 23.

Congrats to our winner Janna!

Comments

[Elaine]

The best advice I ever received I learned from observing my sister in law. She is a mother of 4, two sets of bunched babies, and she is excellent at distracting them, diverting their attention away from something she doesn't want them to do and redirecting them to something more pleasing. This works very well with my 2 and a half year old and 15 month old, especially when reasoning with either one of them can be very very difficult.

[Jennifer]

A good piece of advice that I got was that if they are pooping once a day, they are eating enough, and not to worry, as each child is different (after family dr. had me all worried that my daughter was too small and may be considered failing to thrive)

[marla]

don't forget to feed yourself :)

[Aviva]

If someone offers you hand-me-downs, take them. If you don't like them you can pass them on.

[Beth]

The best advice I ever got and give out myself is the mantra- "this too shall pass".

[Sara]

You don't need to be a supermom to be a super mom. Just do your best and love your kids.

[Brandi H]

The best advice I got was to not wake a sleeping baby...with my first one, I ignored that advice and followed to the letter, what the books said about a schedule...now with my second baby...I don't have time to worry about the schedule and a clock...he sleep when and for how long he wants!!

[clare]

The best advice I've had is from my mum, she told me everyday will be different so don't try to plan too much - take each day as it comes and move on. She also said I'll cope because I have to :)

[Miranda]

Trust your instincts. If you want to nurse, co-sleep, and stay at home - go for it! Everyones parenting experience is different, just make sure everything you do YOU think is best for YOUR child.

[Elaina]

My advice helped me survive colic, "It's ok to want to throw the baby out the window. Throwing the baby out of the window is not ok."

[Baby Bunching]

Ha! Love this one.

[Erika]

My favorite advice to share with first-time moms (or pregnant women) is that although it seems breastfeeding should come naturally (we're MAMMALS after all), it can actually be quite painful, difficult to get started, etc. So I tell women not to get discouraged and to work through the difficulties of the first few weeks because usually it gets easier with time.

[Hilary]

Best advice I ever received about baby rearing: Never use your finger to check baby's diaper for #2.....'nough said!

[Bran]

My grandmother would laugh sweetly over the phone when I would call to celebrate or complain about a good night's sleep or the lack of one. She always said, "the whole first year is a crapshoot." I didn't truly understand her advice until my second baby arrived. Her advice has made me take myself as a parent less seriously and enjoy the roll-a-coaster ride of mommyhood much, much more.

[jean grow]

A lovely older woman told me (as a wide-eyed twelve year old) that her bumper sticker (which she hung in the kitchen) had the best advice for me... it said "AVOID HANGOVERS, wear a bra" and after having twins plus one, I'm happy to have listened. Getting a good supportive bra, even when nursing and huge, keeps you feeling human.

Actually, the words she used were "if you're gonna look anything like your mother, you'd better take that to heart, or you'll be tucking them into your belt by the time you're forty!" And she followed her admonition with a hefting of her own trousers, right up over her own chest... and a big smile.

[Angela]

Read the books, listen to advice, and visit the doctor - but in the end, go with your gut. No one knows your baby better than you.

[Kathleen]

You can, in fact, sleep train a four month old. And then get some sleep yourself...a colleague told it to me while handing me a sleep training book (Sleepsense by Dana Obleman). Worked wonders for me, and I've passed it on to a few other moms as well.

[Sarah]

When they're really small: Sleep when they sleep. As they grow: Always be suspicious when you don't hear a peep. But my all time favorite: It's OK for kids to be bored sometimes.

[Rachel O.]

Try to shower with a baby in the bathroom. If your bathroom is dirty, just lay a blanket out and put the baby down. Works great for babies who aren't very mobile, or very consistent sleepers yet either.

[Vanessa]

The best advice I got was - trust your instinct. Mother nature gave it to you for a reason.

[Janna]

Be flexible. Babies and families are different, what works for one may not work for another.

[Kirsty]

The piece of advice I got that I have repeated like a mantra was from my wise granny (mother of 6) ... "The only issue with baby books is that the baby hasn't read the book!" (this also goes for developmental stages, height & weight percentiles).
Reading with these wise words in my head has meant I have since taken all advice from books, people, mothers, doctors, the internet, with a giant spoonful of salt.

[Carolyn Moore Healy]

When a friend asked what she should do to prepare for the birth of her first child I gave her the best advice I could think of: "practice eating with one hand from a plate that is an arms length away." A skill every mother needs!

[Baby activity]

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