Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom

When Los Angeles comedian and television writer and producer Wilder-Taylor got pregnant, she feared undergoing this process: "a perfectly sane woman who swigs Jack Daniel's, never goes to sleep before eight a.m., and has had at least one STD gives birth and suddenly becomes a different person... [who] subscribes to three dozen parenting magazines, thinks a wild night is tossing back two O'Doul's, and never hits the hay after eight p.m." Of course, now that the author has a daughter, she's smitten; the child "grew on me every day, and by six months I was definitely her bitch." Hoping to be the voice of reason amid a cacophony of parenting advice (in the form of books, mothers-in-law and others), Wilder-Taylor dishes on sharing the parenting responsibilities with your husband ("I felt like saying, 'Didn't you get the memo? WE'RE PARENTS NOW! LOOK ALIVE!' "), breast feeding ("it hurts like a rhesus monkey biting your nipples"), meeting other new mothers (only they can answer questions like "How the fuck does this Diaper Genie work?") and other aspects of new parenthood. Crass but reassuring, Wilder-Taylor succeeds in putting fears at rest. (Apr.)