Wow! Breastfeeding, baby-wearing, co-sleeping, and even an involved father!

What a gem of a children's book I just found today!  We were at a local kids consignment store choosing books when I noticed one authored by Dr. Sears.  It was What Baby Needs by William & Martha Sears with Christie Watts Kelly.  I love Dr. Sears!  His Baby Book was the most helpful manual during my daughter's first two years of life.  My personal copy attests to that with its torn pages, pages that have been cried on, breast milk spilled on, baby food smeared on, and a cover with coffee rings and cat tooth marks...all the signs of a good read. So, I was delighted to find a children's book by the amazing Sears family.  The story is about a mom and a dad with two children who have their third newborn baby.  It depicts ways the older siblings can get involved in caring for the baby and explains how life changes when a new baby arrives. 

What makes it stand out amongst the "new baby in the family" children's books is that it portrays Attachment Parenting as normal and healthy.  For instance, the mother is shown discreetly breastfeeding, modest skin-to-skin contact is mentioned and its importance to the newborn, the baby sleeps in mom and dad's room in a co-sleeper, both mom and dad wear the baby in a sling while they multi-task, and dad is shown feeding the baby a bottle-- but it is mentioned that it's breast milk in the bottle, not formula. 

Interestingly, I picked up on the fact that baby never comes home from the hospital.  Hmmmm.  In some of my daughter's other books about new babies in the family the baby always has to "come home from the hospital".  This is very out of place in our family since she was born at home and I only plan on having home births.  Ideally in our society we would have a system in place where home births would be the norm and medically-necessary hospital births would be the exception to that norm.  Therefore, in this book, the first picture of the family is in bed.  It looks like this could have been a home birth or a birth in a birthing center.  Knowing the Sears' views, this looks quite intentional. 

Below is a picture taken from the book that I just love!  Notice Dad wearing a sling and taking the baby out while mom gets some time with her other child.  On the other page, mom is wearing baby-- and, thus, freeing her hands-- while they shop for healthy foods! Do you see how happy those kids are about celery?!!  I'm sure that was drawn intentionally, too.

It's nice to see such an involved father in this book.  Too often the dads get pushed to the side when babies are little so I love how this shows all the neat things dads can do. I must say, this illustrated father really steps up to the plate and serves as a true hero for his family.  It's practical, too, with it's tips for parents and the way it connects with older siblings.  I highly recommend this for your own family or for an expecting mom who already has kids.  So inspirational when seen in the form of a children's book.

Let me say that my daughter hasn't put this down.  She keeps looking at the illustrations and loves all of the adventures the newborn baby has with his family.  I breastfed her for 22.5 months so she knows that babies drink milk from their moms and she recognized the sling immediately.  She herself has been carried over two years in a Dr. Sears sling from his store.  We are thinking about conceiving Baby #2 in the spring or summer and I feel much more confident about her ability to be a big sister after seeing her connect with the ideas and pictures in this book.  This is the family I want to be!

Since reviewing this book, I've purchased Baby On The Way by Dr. Sears, the book before this one that details the mom's pregnancy and birth.  I've also added some more Attachment Parenting children's books to my wish list.  Check these out:
A Ride on Mother's Back: A Day of Baby Carrying Around The World by Emery Bernhard
Carry Me (Babies Everywhere) by Star Bright Books
Mama's Milk by Michael Elsohn Ross
We Have a Baby by Catheryn Falwell
Welcome With Love by Jennie Overend
We Like To Nurse illustrated by Chia Martin
We Like To Nurse Too illustrated by Mary Young