TODAY'S CHILD: A Modern Guide to Baby Care and Child Training

Today's child doesn't seem very different from yesterday's, or that of 20 years ago, and this is an eminently sensible and instructive book which goes the route from pregnancy on (diet stressed primarily here). The authors, two Toronto pediatricians, keep the less affluent in mind throughout -- you can even make your own toilet seat -- and seem more oriented toward straightforward physical care. The chapter on breastfeeding is more extensive than most and they're very good on foods all the way through. They cover most of the necessary terrain -- sleep, discomforts and illnesses and first aid, eyes and teeth, toilet training, other troubling areas (thumbsucking, masturbation briefly) and vacations -- while the appendix at the close picks up a good many childhood diseases from commonplace to critical. Very few of these books are innovative (William Homan's amusingly enlightening Child Sense, 1969, comes to mind as the exception) and this is directed toward the new mother, rather than the mother who is looking for something new.