What to Expect the First Year

Parents-to-be are likely to find themselves quickly immersed in this highly authoritative manual by the collaborators of What to Expect When You're Expecting . Nearly 700 pages of snappily written, friendly advice, constructed in the form of chatty answers to hypothetical questions, are arranged on a month-by-month basis. For each of 12 months, there are a guide to the progress the baby may be expected to be making at this stage, a list of potential health or other problems and paragraphs on the myriad questions all new parents ask--on subjects as various as in-home care, birthmarks, circumcision and breath-holding. Other sections cover what to buy for a new-born, first aid, recipes, adoption and even how to enjoy the first year, in terms of the parents' own activities, such as social life and sex. An extensive index leads the reader to information that wouldn't normally be accessed using the month-to-month arrangement--and also serves as an indication of the book's all-inclusiveness. Illustrated. 65,000 first printing; first serial to Working Mother magazine; author tour. (June)