How time flies when you’ve been raising children and writing books. Though it seems like just yesterday (okay, maybe the day before yesterday) when my husband, Erik, and I brought our first baby, Emma, home from the hospital, it’s actually been over twenty years (eighteen since we brought home her brother, Wyatt). And though it seems like just yesterday that my coauthors and I delivered the first edition of What to Expect the First Year, it’s actually been nearly a decade and a half.
Time for another baby? Don’t think so (though I’m admittedly tempted whenever a warm bundle gets within cuddling distance, I’ve become a little too attached to uninterrupted sleep). Time for another edition of First Year? Absolutely.
Which brings to mind a question I get a lot: Why would you need to write another edition of What to Expect the First Year? Have babies really changed all that much in the last fifteen years?
It’s true, though every baby is unique (as second-time parents are quick to discover), as a group today’s babies aren’t all that different than babies born when First Year was (though they are, on average, a bit bigger). They still spend a good amount of time eating, sleeping, and crying. They still don’t have a whole lot of hair or a whole lot of teeth. They still go through plenty of diapers. They still smell sweeter than any perfume. They’re still round and soft and (for lack of a better word) yummy. They still have the same basic needs: food, comfort, and lots of love. And because they still don’t come with instructions, they still keep their parents guessing (and turning to books like this one)—a lot.
But while babies haven’t changed all that much, how we care for them has.
From the way we put them to sleep (backs, please, not tummies) to the way we soothe them (how about a massage, baby?) to the way we communicate with them (baby talk out, baby signs in). From guidelines on feeding (breastfeed longer, start solids later) to guidelines on immunization (combined vaccines mean fewer tears) to guidelines on car seat safety (babies now stay rear-facing until their first birthday, no matter how big they get before then). Figure in the explosion of baby products (from nursing pillows to hands-free breast pumps, from angled bottles to spill-proof cups, from high-tech baby monitors to low-tech baby slings), and it’s clearly time for a revision.
What can you expect from this second edition? Plenty that’s new and improved; dozens of new questions and answers, many of them inspired by reader’s letters; expanded sections on a multitude of topics (from understanding your newborn to stimulating your older baby, from juggling career and family to mediating sibling squabbles); a new chapter devoted to breastfeeding; the latest information and the latest trends on everything baby: more illustrations—all of them new.
But because some things about babies never change, you can expect that some things about What to Expect the First Year haven’t changed, either. The easy-to-use format, the no-question-istoo-silly-to-ask philosophy, the familiar reassurance that breeds comfort—and hopefully, all the help that you’ll need to see you and baby happily and healthily through those remarkable (and exhausting) first twelve months.
Wishing you a wonderful First Year!
—HEIDI MURKOFF