A Baby Book

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32252, 21 March 1970, Page 4

A Baby Book

Good Housekeeping's Baby Book. By Jane Vesper. Ebury Press. 288 pp. Index. Illustrated.

This is a reference book about babies and children up to five. The advice is sensible and set out clearly. Detailed treatment of complicated ailments is wisely omitted, and the reader is referred to her doctor. The book is thus not a substitute for medical advice but a supplement to it, which can be safely used for general reference in the home. The section on how to deliver a baby is a masterpiece of calm understatement, and may reassure many an anxious husband. Mothers may find the advice on relaxation particularly valuable. There are sections on feeding, sick children, problems of toddlers, “your baby and the family” and “the special child,” such as one would expect in a manual of baby care. There is also a good discussion of hygiene The book is compiled for an English audience, and New Zealand readers maybe frustrated to find some services not available here How many New Zealand women are encouraged to have their babies born at home? How many receive home help after the baby is born, on reference to a local authority? In England, disposable nappies are an economic proposition, but who can afford to use them here except on special occasions? The “A to Z Guide” which serves as an index includes useful short explanations of matters not already dealt with in the text