Brain Rules for Baby (Updated and Expanded): How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five Paperback – April 22, 2014

This book is an absolute MUST have for first time parents. I wish I would have purchased before having my daughter, as I would have had more time to read it. It's taken me 5 weeks- I read while pumping.The author writes well- even while talking about nitty-gritty brain science stuff he uses relatable analogies and keeps it interesting. This book is not a undergrad science 101 book, but it relays important details about a child's neurodevelopment, the most relevant and up-to-date literature, and the implications for parenting, and he does it without making you want to scrape your eyeballs out.What I love about this book: it really gives a lot of great tips without subscribing to a "parenting style." This book isn't about how be a Sears or a Ferber parent (although he does discuss both and the literature available in the added "Sleep" chapter. This book is about what the most current science says about the way a child's brain develops, and how we, as parents can impact it for the better in an effort to raise happy children-which we all want.What's great about this book: he has the key points bullet-pointed at the end of the chapter, which helps bringing the whole point back home, as sometimes the chapter can get a little detailed heavy.Any cons?: Not really. I loved the book, from the info to the formatting.

I highly recommend giving this book a good read if you are planning on having children or already do. Taught me so much information!

I loved this book! I learned a great deal of how the brain develops and works. The stories are both enlightening and some are humoring. I never thought I'd be interested in reading a book like this but it truly was enjoyable and helpful for my husband and I as we are looking forward to one day becoming the "rookie parents" who raise a happy well rounded child. My only dislike is that it only talks about breast feeding as the best option (which it very well may be) when nursing your child. I would have given 5 stars had it had information on other options for people who may not be fortunate enough or didn't want to breast feed. Otherwise, this book is wonderful and I will definitely recommend to people trying to conceive and even parents of young children.

The media could not be loaded. First book I purchased when I was still pregnant and it just gave me so much peace of mind! As a first time parent you are clueless but this book help me gain so much confidence! And now that baby is seven months old I still enjoy reading as baby develops. The font size makes it a comfortable read and I love that there are tons of bullet points and bold titles and subtitles. Definitely recommend!

This is a great primer on how a baby's brain works. It has some pure science---what parts of the brain are responsible for certain tasks---but it's mostly a how-to manual for parents. The key takeaways are: practice empathy; discipline your child firmly, quickly, fairly, and predictably; minimize screen time in favor of guided, creative play; and reward and praise effort rather than raw talent. There is much more to these concepts, of course, and there are many other good tidbits in the book, which are what makes the book worthwhile.This is a surprisingly easy read, but also an incredibly helpful one. If you want to raise healthy, happy, smart, moral children, this book deserves your time.Note: the book does contain some misleading discussion of a couple of topics, particularly the theory of evolution. At times, it puts the cart before the horse by confusing cause and effect, and at other times it seems to be making baseless assertions. These flaw, however, do not detract from the book's purpose, so I did not deduct a star.

Once I found out my wife was pregnant I did a ton of research on baby books and my wife and I have read several which you'll see highly recommended in blogs, on Amazon, and elsewhere. This was by far the most useful and my favorite.The short of it is, you'll learn an insane amount about the science behind child rearing. The author does a great job of expressing when the science is truly unquestionable and when maybe a study hasn't been repeated or there are conflicting studies, so there really does not appear to be any bias in the book except towards science, which is not something I can say for any other book I read.I had seen some reviews where people complain about sexist or unnecessary remarks. Obviously everyone has a different sensitivity level to these things, but I personally did not find anything sexist and though there were some strange and perhaps unnecessary metaphors, it really did not detract from the overall tremendous value this book brought both me and my wife.It is amazing to go from feeling like you know nothing about raising a child to being able to look around you and see people doing things which have been proven to be scientifically "right" or "wrong" and understand the implications of those practices. If you believe in science, as I do, then I can't recommend this book enough.

There is some good, practical, dare I say common sense? advise in the book. It is well written and does not read like a textbook like some of these do. It was a nice, quick read, and I could really relate to a lot of the situations described. The author does a great job at presenting findings and letting you make up your mind on what you think is best to apply in your situation. I like the scientific approach - Hypothesis to Study to Findings to how do I apply this? There is no set manual on how to raise a happy healthy smart child and this book does not pretend to be one. They just present some good information, practical advice and the science behind it. And when there is no definitive result to cite, they are honest about.