The new basics
Ratings2
Average rating4
Dr. Michel Cohen, named by the New York Post as the hip, "must-have" pediatrician, has an important message for parents: Don't worry so much. In an easy-reference alphabetical format, The New Basics clearly lays out the concerns you may face as aparent and explains how to solve them -- without fuss, without stress, and without harming your child by using unnecessary medicines or interventions.With sensitivity and love, Dr. Michel describes proven techniques for keeping your children healthy and happy without driving yourself crazy. He will show you how to set positive habits for sleeping and eating and how to treat ailments early and effectively. You'll learn when antibiotics are helpful and when they can be harmful. If you're having trouble breast feeding, pumping, or bottle weaning, Dr. Michel has the advice to set you back on track. If after several months your baby is still not sleeping through the night, The New Basics will provide you with tried-and-true methods to help ease this difficult transition for babies and parents.Dr. Michel recognizes that you're probably asking the same questions his own patients' parents frequently ask, so he includes a section called "Real Questions from Real Parents" throughout the book. You'll find important answers about treating asthma, head injuries, fevers, stomach bugs, colic, earaches, and other ailments. More than just a book on how to care for your child's physical well-being, The New Basics also covers such parenting challenges as biting, hitting, ADD, separation anxiety, how to prevent the terrible twos (and threes and fours ...), and preparing your child for a new sibling.
Tags
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
I've referenced this time after time over the past few years for common sense guidance on baby/toddler issues—it's always been solid. Tribeca Pediatrics have been great, too.
I realized recently this is the book I recommend most frequently to new first-time parents. It's basically a short-ish reference book of pediatric advice.
I like it for a few reasons. First: it's organized into various easy-to-find sections, like “Vomiting”, “Bed-wetting” or whatever. Then, in a few chatty paragraphs, the bottom line is always the same: laissez-faire. Do less. Observe. It's probably fine.
I also have, as a comparison, the official American Academy of Pediatrics book, which I consider the voice of the current institutional pediatric “mainstream”. And THAT book is much more alarm-raising, just because it's less opinionated and more, “If you're kid is vomiting, it's probably fine, they must have eaten something strange, so probably it's nothing... UNLESS IT'S GERD, IN WHICH CASE GET THEE TO THE ER.” Dr. Cohen basically assumes everything is fine and reassures you - the high-strung parent - that it is. (In contrast, the AAP book notes that things are probably fine but here are a few ways they could REALLY NOT BE.)
All that to say, this book is a nice antidote to the sort of “I will reduce all risks to zero” irrationality of intensive American hyperparenting (that leads to bad outcomes, dammit! talk about Greek tragedy/irony). For example, we learned in Bringing Up Bebe that French babies sleep through the night at 2 months. Dr. Cohen explains this French method: at 4 months old, you put the baby in their crib in their own bedroom at 7pm, close the door, and re-open it at 7am the next morning. REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU HEAR IN THERE. This may, of course, rub people the wrong way (see the critical Amazon reviews accusing him of cruelty, child abuse, etc). But, well, the evidence (from randomized-control trials) is on his side...
His method of toddler discipline is similarly, ehhh, NOT attachment parenty and quite, hmmm, “traditional”? Basically, he advocates puppy training. At any infraction (e.g. touching parent's laptop), toddler is placed in a prison (crib, room with locked door). They can come out when they stop screaming. Rinse and repeat. (I actually don't know if the evidence is on his side on this one.) Toddler throws food on floor? Meal is over, no food given until next meal in 2 hours. And so on.
It's all very CLEAR, very NOT attachment parent-y, very French? Which, again, I did find and do find quite refreshing when - in a moment of panic (and it is normally moments of panic) - I'm like, “omg the child is hitting other children, what parenting do I doooo?!!” (iirc, “nothing” is Dr. Cohen's advice)
Indeed, if there's one criticism I can level at the book, it's that he is SO confident in his approach (and I do kinda think... he might be right on most things?) that he sometimes scares you straight about using it. e.g. If you DON'T put your 4-month-old baby in their crib dungeon by 7pm and lock the door, you will get divorced. If you don't time-out the hell out of your toddler, DIVORCE for you too! Etc. I think, in general, parenting can be so anxiety-riddled and perfectionistic anyway that advice and judgment should be as mild as possible. But maybe I'm just still suffused with my new “parent as therapy Buddha” from The Emotional Life of the Toddler (which, if Dr. Cohen is “parenting as puppy training”, that book is “parenting as free, 20-year therapy session” - and I say that with love for both books!).
