Touchpoints

Synopsis
Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton guides parents through all the major "touchpoints" of their child's first three years.

My thoughts
I'm considering buying this book. I'm also considering finding a new pediatrician. It's not that there's anything particularly wrong with my pediatrician, but she's not T. Berry Brazelton. Which I suppose is not her fault.

The book is organized exceptionally well. The first sections are arranged chronologically. Brazelton starts out by describing his meetings with parents before the baby is even born and describing the baby's (and the parents') development over the first three years. I read the four-month chapter right before my baby's four-month appointment and it was a huge help.

There are also sections devoted to common issues - behavioral problems, separation anxiety, teething. These give you a good idea of why issues crop up and what you can do about them. I like Brazelton's approach. He often goes through multiple solutions for a problem and discusses their pros and cons. His advice is balanced and non-judgmental, which is a rarity in parenting books. It's a large part of what made me trust Brazelton's advice, and I like his conversational tone. He clearly knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't talk down to the reader. His advice is gentle but firm - for example, if you notice the signs of developmental delay, it's normal to hope you are mistaken and to wish your child would improve without intervention, but it's imperative to get help as soon as possible.

Brazelton excels when it comes to describing social and emotional development, not just physical development. Brazelton stresses that toddlers use their friends to test the limits of what's socially acceptable, it's totally normal for toddlers to make each other cry, and they'll figure it out themselves. (I'm sure I'll need to reread that it a couple years for reassurance.)

Brazelton also does a good job of interpreting events from a child's perspective. When describing croup, he lists the symptoms a parent will notice and acknowledges that it is alarming for a parent to watch a child struggle to breathe. But he also describes how scary it is for the child - and how much scarier it is if the parent panics.

He also recognizes the relationship between parent and child is full of both joyous events and frustrating power struggles. He writes with sympathy for both parent and child.

Bottom line
More valuable than the parenting books I actually own.

Fine print
Touchpoints, by T. Berry Brazelton
Genre: parenting
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from the library