Reviews for Baby Hearts: A Guide to Giving Your Child an Emotional Head Start

The average rating for Baby Hearts: A Guide to Giving Your Child an Emotional Head Start based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-02-05 00:00:00 Steven Woodward If you ever feel competent as the parent of a baby or a toddler, this would be the ideal book to pick up to disabuse you of that notion. Which is not to say that I hated it. I didn't. (I was irritated by it, but that's not the same thing.) It's research-based, which is rare and wonderful in the dubious arena of parenting advice books. It does contain useful information and suggestions on dealing with emotions, emotional development, and emotional problems in babies. But. But. Basically, this book seems to have been written by the grandparents from hell - you know, the people who are just far enough removed from parenting that they can believe they know it all, that they did it all right, that they never erred. Oh, sure, they do mention that parents can't be expected to be perfect - in the conclusion. The conclusion is not the place to be introducing vital new information, book authors! That's for, you know, the actual book. And against that belated admission, we have their insistence that even once failing to respond to your baby's cries within ninety seconds will undermine attachment. That ever failing to respond appropriately to your baby's facial expression will undermine attachment. (Uh, some of us wear glasses and can't always see our child's face to mirror expressions. I suspect our kids will survive this.) And, best of all, their statement that you have to know what your baby needs all the time for attachment to occur. I don't know if other parents have a magical sense that allows them to tell, absolutely without error, why a baby is crying. I don't. And, again, I'm guessing (and hoping) that my kid will manage to attach to me anyway. But if you can get past the condescending, you-must-be-perfect tone, there's good stuff in this book. (Also about a million advertisements for baby sign. I sign with my baby, and I think it's important, but, seriously, there's only so many times I want to hear about it, people.) I did find it interesting, and I am glad I read it, but I won't be picking any other books by these authors up.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-01-11 00:00:00 Erich Maurer DNF I didn't finish this one, I want to be honest about that up front. Around the middle of the first chapter I found myself mentally snapping at the author because her tone came across as condescending. That isn't normal for me, so I went to the reviews here on Goodreads to see if anyone else had the same impression. And, honestly, it seems like everyone got that impression. The author just comes off as condescending. That, coupled with the constant push for baby signing, started grating on my nerves before I was even out of the introduction. I'm all for baby signing, we're trying it with our son. But I don't want to hear about it in literally every other paragraph, or have every piece of anecdotal evidence be rooted in the "incredibly advance emotional ages" of the toddlers, as proven by the things they sign with baby sign language. A few reviews were also very specific in that the author is overly pushy when it comes to the guilt. I am home alone with my infant almost all day, every day. If I didn't put him down or let him fuss now and then, I wouldn't eat or bathe or get any housekeeping done. I already feel like crying when I have to load the dishwasher (or face a lack of bottles, pump stuff, etc) and he's fussing in his play pen. I don't need someone laying the guilt on even thicker. And as a mother suffering depression AND anxiety, the reviews made it very clear that those issues alone failed me as a mother in the author's eyes. Motherhood is hard. Susan Goodwyn has no right to make it harder.