Baby by the Numbers: A Parent's Quick Reference for Essential Baby Facts and Figures Book

For the most part, I liked this book and think it has a lot of useful information. That said, I found the author a little bit irritating and self-righteous. If you can get over that, which I did, the book does a good job of doing a literature review of work supporting pre-conception planning, natural childbirth, breastfeeding, etc. It does not do a good job of presenting a balanced literature review, which is fine, but should be noted if you're not 100% sure you want natural childbirth because the author is clearly telling you that you are a selfish parent who will cause irreparable harm to your child.

Another point of irritation is that the author goes to great lengths to tout the benefits of natural childbirth, breastfeeding, etc, but in a throwaway sentence extols circumcision as a positive religious bonding event without even acknowledging the ongoing debate about circumcision as potentially traumatic genital mutilation. I don't have particularly strong feelings about this, but it struck me as hypocritical to not even mention that performing "surgery" on a newborn may run counter to many of the themes in the book.

Summary: This is a good book for anyone considering natural childbirth, but you need to be able to put it in the context of one author's perspective who clearly thinks he and his wife are the most well/completely informed parents.