About the author: Dr. Paul Roumeliotis is an expert on early child health and wellness and a health communications pioneer. His educational content has reached millions of people online and he is regularly featured on television and radio. He is an adjunct professor of pediatrics and former director of Multi-Format Health Communications for the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. Dr. Roumeliotis believes that the future of healthcare is in communicating health information in a variety of media formats, thereby making it available to the largest audience possible. It was this vision that inspired him to become a writer/publisher/producer of multi-format health and wellness resources, including becoming the world’s first online pediatrician with a website that has been visited by millions since its launch in 1995.

About the book: Baby Comes Home: A Parent’s Guide to a Healthy and Well First Eighteen Months communicates the latest science that explains how positive or negative early childhood experiences can have lifelong consequences. The book begins by describing the vital changes that occur in a baby’s brain during the first 18 months. It then explores the new “Science of TLC”, that shows how tender, loving, and caring relationships with babies help to positively shape their brains. The book then presents important practical information on safety in the home and outdoors, baby routines/patterns, immunizations, injury prevention, nutrition, and more. To complete this useful guide, the doctor also reviews common baby care issues and concerns as well as illnesses and conditions commonly seen during the first few years of life. Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, daycare teacher or child caregiver, this book is an excellent reference resource for your baby’s current and future health, wellness and prosperity.

My thoughts: Since it takes a village to raise a child, it is quite useful for not just parents, but all members of a community to know how to contribute to raising healthy children. With the number of people in my community who have had or are having babies, I find myself gravitating naturally towards books such as this one to see how I can best fulfill my role as aunty. I go through these materials reflecting on what my role is in making sure that babies and children get what they need.

Baby Comes Home: A Parent’s Guide to a Healthy and Well First Eighteen Months underlines the importance of the first few months in a baby’s life. It walks the line between demonstrating the scientific validity of suggestions by quoting studies and translating these into a daily routine a parent can implement (and an aunty can reinforce). In an effort to make the material approachable to a very broad audience, a very commendable objective, many definitions are given; there is an attempt at simplifying the language which makes the writing sometimes takes on a condescending edge. Although there wasn’t much that caregivers other than parents could really implement, it is a wealth of very interesting information that makes interacting with babies of that age all the more fascinating.

As for parents, just like with all the other books they are going to read on this topic, they are going to have to strike a balance between what information in this book they are going to implement and what they won’t. The format makes it easy for parents to either read through and decide what they want to use or not, or to consult specific chapters as their baby grows and develops. Many questions that I have heard parents wondering about are reflected in this tome; no doubt Roumeliotis channeled the many questions he received from parents into his work.

Baby Comes Home: A Parent’s Guide to a Healthy and Well First Eighteen Months is a good volume to add to a parenting collection; easy to navigate and read, it will come in handy often enough to warrant eventually buying another copy that isn’t bent, dented, and bruised.