Connecticut Parent Magazine

January 2002

After spending nine months preparing for their child's birth, many new parents find themselves at home with a new baby, asking themselves, "Now what?"

Author and first-time mother Susan Ann Stelfox faced exactly this situation. "I was so focused on pregnancy and birth, that after my son was born, I was totally unprepared"

When her baby arrived, she was thrilled. But she soon found that she had a lot to learn. "I naively thought that my mother's presence for the first week would teach me everything I needed to know," she said, but "I soon realized that I was not prepared for the realities of life with a newborn and the changes it brings."

The first six months of a child's life are critical in terms of mental and physical development, and for parent-child bonding. To make the most of this time, you might read more books and take more classes -- but by the time you finish your studies, you'll have missed those crucial weeks of vital development time.

Wanting to give her son the best possible start in life, Stelfox began a crash course in baby care and development. She found and read many wonderful parenting books, but often found herself thinking "I wish I had this information sooner."

Baby Be Loved is the result of Stelfox's self-taught course. This spiral bound hanging book for new parents and new babies is a one-stop source of activities, information and inspiration, to help new parents provide a loving, responsive and stimulating environment.

Daily parent-child activities -- things to do, songs to sing, senses to stimulate and much, much more -- are designed and timed to aid mental and physical development each and every day of the first twenty-four weeks of your baby's life. Plus there are weekly illustrations for your baby to help stimulate visual development.

Baby Be Loved contains all the information the author wished she had sooner, all presented clearly, simply and in one place, with charming, creative illustrations for mom and baby to respond to. It saves new parents from wondering and worrying about what to do. It helps build parent-child bonds, and provides support -- and even inspiration -- for new parents, whose lives have just been turned upside-down and inside-out.

With this book, you can:

• Create a life-long bond through loving and nurturing interactions.
• Develop your baby's awareness of self and the world through creative games and activities.
• Encourage your baby's language development with a delightful selection of classic lullabies, songs and nursery rhymes.
• Stimulate your baby's progressing vision with 24 fascinating images.
• Facilitate mental and physical development with exercises tailored to your baby's level of skill.
• Expand your knowledge of parenting with current and thought- provoking information.

The information in Baby Be Loved is accurate and doctor-approved. It is presented simply and clearly so it's easy to put to use. It's a most attractive addition to the baby-care area in your home, standing or hanging near a crib or changing space.

A fan of this helpful book, pediatrician Nancy Iverson, MD, called Baby Be Loved "a wonderful way to live a precious time of life."

Reviewed by Shirley Hahn