BookMama Review- The Wonder Weeks by Hetty van de Rijt

I'll be honest, I don't have a whole lot of time to sit around and read books, but being a first time mom I can't pretend that I have any clue what I'm doing. Sure, I "google-wack" (John's term) a fair many of my questions, but come on, how many ill-informed yahoo answer or babycenter forums can you read before you start to think that nobody actually knows what they're talking about? Those places scare me more often than provide me with any real information. That's where books come in. If chosen carefully, you're pretty much guaranteed to get information that is generally well researched and with a bit of real fact behind it. There are a few books that I've found to have been critical to my successfully surviving nearly 6 entire months of motherhood. The first one I want to share is "The Wonder Weeks" by Hetty van de Rijt.

What's in this book that would be useful to you?

Not long after having a baby you'll find that as soon as you start falling into a rhythm, something will change and everything is different again. This book describes them as "fussy periods" and they apparently are precursors to developmental leaps. The book tells you when to expect these "fussy periods," what they will entail, how to cope with them, how to support your little one through them, and what developmental discoveries they'll make. It sounds simultaneously hookey (seriously, "fussy periods?") and logical (Duh babies go through a series of developmental growth spurts) but I've found the information to be hugely supportive.

Recently Kaiya has gone from the happy baby she usually is to an often intolerable fuss-pot. She always wants to be held, started sleeping poorly, wakes up crying, refuses to nap, and has developed a shy streak around people. I referred to the book to see if there was a "fussy period" associated with her current stage (she was 25 weeks 5 days at the time). Sure enough, at 26 weeks they predicted the emergence of another fussy period, with pretty much those exact behavioral changes. It goes on to explain that this stage is the "stage of relationships" and she'll be learning how to perceive distance between one thing and another, which will bring with it a number of other discoveries in the world around her. It's described as being both amazing and scary, thus the fuss.

It's kind of awesome to read something that attempts to explain what she's going through and also gives tips on how to both support her development and ease the dauntingness of it.

The best part? You don't have to read it all in one sitting! I mean, "ain't nobody got time for that!" You can read up to the "wonder week" baby is about to have, or just read about the one you think they're going through now. It's an easy before bed chapter or "while I'm rocking a crying baby" desperate read. I love books that break down into easy and relatable chunks:)

I'm not delirious enough to think I'm any good at writing anything close to an actual book review, so I'm including a couple links to actual reviews of this book below:)

http://www.rookiemoms.com/book-review-for-new-parents-the-wonder-weeks/

http://www.thelifeofrylie.com/2010/09/book-wonder-weeks-review-giveaway.html

And, if you're interested, I'll make it that much easier for you and give you the Amazon link (I bought the kindle version):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wonder-Weeks-Development-Predictable/dp/9079208043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380852945&sr=8-1&keywords=the+wonder+weeks

What "baby books" have you read that you've thought super educational or useful in some way? Comment below to share your favorites!