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Title: Our Babies, Ourselves : How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent by Meredith Small ISBN: 0-385-48362-7 Publisher: Anchor Pub Pub. Date: 04 May, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.69 (48 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting idea, but Wildly Facist and Unobjective
Comment: I find that much of the criticism of other reviewers is right on target. This book is repetitive and biased. While I myself practice many of the parenting techniques advocated in this book, ie baby wearing, breastfeeding on cue, etc, I found that Ms Small often drew conclusions from the research she was citing, which is not an objective way of presenting information. She also showed a strong bias towards the !Kung San and often hearlded their child rearing practices as the most "natural". I believe many of her criticisms of western child rearing were well founded; however, I believe that she put a lot of pressure on mothers to care for infants in a particular way and put a lot of blame on mothers whose children did not turn out "just so". She also made it seem as though any irritablity your baby might display that is beyond what a parent might want is purely that parent's fault for not living up to a pre-set ideal. I know many other attatchment parents might not agree with me, but I think it's possible to raise a happy, loving child in a gentle way that does not require such a strict set of prescripts.

Rating: 5
Summary: Compelling... you will rethink western parenting strategies
Comment: An amazing book, I cannot put down. Anyone who reads this book will definately rethink western, specifically american, ways of infant caregiving. Small forces one to rethink the ways we provide infant care, by making us diferentiate what we do as a biological dance with an infant to what we do as forced cultural constraints. A good overview of the research that is out there... makes one understand the biological necessity of co-sleep, carrying, and breast feeding.

Anyone who reads this book and then buys a crib, bottle feeds, or puts their child on a strict regime was, in my opinon, obviously not paying attention.

Rating: 5
Summary: Open-minded Parenting
Comment: I love this book. My best friend gave it to me when I became pregnant, and I am now only reading it (my baby is now 13 months). Against family and most friend's advise, we co-slept with our daughter for the first year, and only stopped because we weren't getting any of our own sleep (waking three times a night for feeding, plus accomodating our 25 pound daughter in our bed). This book confirms what my heart has been telling me all along, all with sound research. I am not spoiling my baby, only giving her the things she tells me she needs. Just because all my neighbors are raising their babies one way, does not mean we all have to do it the same. And reading how other cultures are raising their babies really is eye opening. If you need a refreshing, open-minded reference on baby-rearing, this is the book for you.

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