Book Review: Jo Frosts Confident Baby Care

 

I bought this from play.com on a bit of a whim, along with this which I'll try and review at a later date. To be honest I've not watched any ‘Super Nanny’ (view clips here and visit the official website here) but I'm sure you’ve all heard of Jo Frost and her magical way with children. I know she has a no nonsense, realistic outlook on child rearing, so thought it would be worth a read.

Obviously a few chapters are a bit redundant for me at the moment, but Part 1 deals with ‘before’ and talks about becoming confident parents, making confident choices and essential equipment, so that's the part that I have read thus far.

I like the way the book is written, its not really a ‘how to’ but more of a ‘try this’ guidance style, which I like because nobody likes being told exactly what to do, and more to the point, every baby and parent will be different!

There are a couple of things that I though ‘eh?’ in response to when reading, the first being ‘is it as glam as the life you lead’ when thinking about naming your baby, but thinking about it now I reckon she’s actually being a bit tongue in cheek! (but the other four tips are helpful!) 

I like in the breast feeding part of ‘before the baby’ she states ‘don't feel badly if you cant breastfeed…it’s not proof of womanhood or love for your baby’ which is good to read.

In chapter 3 (which is about equipment) she talks in depth about all kinds of things I hadn't thought about yet. The main thing that stuck with me is a the ‘other essentials’ where she suggests buying a basket (how quaint) that you can take from room to room as desired with things like a thermometer/baby nail scissors/nappy rash cream etc so that you've got everything you might need to hand, but not cluttering up your nappy bag. 

I've only read the first section so far, as parts 2 and 3 deal with ‘Your Baby is here!’ & 'Exceptional Circumstances' (such as ‘Premmies’ & special needs babies, and adoption and twins etc) So hopefully part 2 will be useful and part three will be redundant! 

Part 4 also has some useful resources about immunisation, first aid, common illnesses/ailments and a baby log (which is effectively a few pages of lined paper so you can make notes in the book, which will supposedly become invaluable)

Some favourite lines:

• Expect the best and don’t look for problems.
• Don’t expect to have a palace. After all, you have kids, and you don’t want to keep telling them no.
• It’s your responsibility to do what’s right, regardless of whether they like it or not. They’ll get used to it.

Overall I quite like the style, it's more like a friend is advising you rather than a manual for sprog-raising, but I was given a copy of 'what to expect when you're expecting' for Christmas and that's rather direct and to the point so this was a nice change and it's good to get as much information as possible in my opinion!

I would definitely recommend this, but if you were only going to buy ONE book with the aim of learning everything, then perhaps this isn't the one for you! There are also many time when Jo Frost mentions things that would be useful for second time parents, so perhaps as an 'aide memoir' in that case.