Product Description
The definitive guide to caring for your premature infant--in a newly revised and expanded edition.

The comprehensive and acclaimed guide to everything you need to know about your premature baby, from prebirth preparation to home care, is now more up-to-date than ever. This new and expanded edition covers the latest procedures, equipment, and medications, and includes the most current information available on multiple births, respiratory treatments, nutrition, diagnostic imaging, follow-up therapies, and more.

You'll also find moving and instructive personal accounts from other parents who have coped with the emotional and practical issues of premature birth. With updated resources for parents on everything from clothing and breastfeeding to social services, financial assistance, and support groups, Your Premature Baby provides essential information and peace of mind.

"You want to know what treatment your baby will require . . . what her development will be like, and what special care she will need. All these topics are addressed in this helpful book . . . inspirational." --American Baby.

"This book gives you all the information you need to help you cope with the ordeal of giving birth to and caring for a premature baby." --Mother & Baby

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 7 reviews)

This book kept me SANE during a very difficult time!

This book was an absolute godsend. My baby was born 6 weeks premature after a very long and difficult pregnancy. I spent the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy on complete hospital bedrest with preeclampsia, and my daughter was born via emergency c-section due to a severe drop in heart rate. She was placed on a ventilator, had central lines, and I couldn't even hold her until she was three days old. It was terrifying. However, while I was in the hospital, my neonatology group gave this book to me (we knew I wouldn't be able to carry her much longer due to my severe preeclampsia) and I began reading it a week before she was born. While the experience was very frightening and stressful, I really felt like I knew what was going on, and I didn't have so many nagging questions. If I thought of something during the night or while the doctors weren't around, I picked this book up and the answer was almost always there. Dr. Frank Manginello (the book's author) was my daughter's attending neonatologist while she was in the NICU, and I can't begin to tell you how amazing this man is. He's a brilliant physician and wonderfully compassionate. When meeting with him, he would encourage us to ask questions. When he finished answering one question, he would say, "Ok, what else?" We never felt rushed, and he cared for our daughter with love, compassion, and an absolute mastery of neonatal skills. His book is a reflection of his work. Our daughter went home 8 days after she was born, in time for her first Christmas! She is doing beautifully! I really feel this book helped me through the whole situation, and I thoroughly recommend it to any mom who has the prospect of having a preemie. It is really written for parents (like me!) who don't know anything about neonatal medicine and want the truth broken down simply step by step. This book is even broken into chapters regarding how premature the baby is. If you're researching this book, good luck to you, and I recommend it highly!

I just want to add that this book is not meant to be for emotional support, or a breastfeeding resource. That is the job of the NICU staff! Dr. Manginello was VERY encouraging and supportive of my decision to breastfeed my baby! This book is meant to be a resource to help answer questions you have about what happens to preemies, not an emotional resource! I don't think any book could effectively give the emotional support needed to get through this time. It just makes your experience easier when you know what's going on.
January 03, 2005

Half the picture

The emotional realities of life in the NICU are as important as the medical realities. This book doesn't do a good job of recognizing the importance of emotional support, and has tone that is authoritative but not warm or encouraging on an emotional level.
August 31, 2001

Not bad, for a reference book

When my ten week early preemie came back to the hospital of his birth, the nurses loaned me this book, as well as one on Kangaroo Care. This is a good REFERENCE book, meaning that it gives clear information on different things to expect from infants born within certain gestational periods, but does not seem to have a supportive emotional tone. Frankly, I am glad I read the loaner on Kangaroo Care first. It was informative as well as comforting during this very stressful time. I am thankful that my hospital not only loaned both books, but strongly advocates Kangaroo Care. I would recommend this reference book be used in ADDITION to an emotionally uplifting book, which would cover all the bases for parents.
January 06, 2001

Technically appropriate, emotionally crippled.

My son was born at 28 wks-while this book gave me all the med info-tech support I could have asked for, ultimately it felt 'hands off'. I am a huge advocate of kangaroo care for preemies, if you have a preemie PLEASE find a compassionate medical provider that understands and supports this kind of mother/child care! If you wish to breastfeed DO NOT GIVE UP! PUMP! It's not fun, but it can work. -DON'T SLEEP WITH YOUR CHILD IN YOUR BED?! At 16 mnths my son is just leaving our bed-it's been sweet, it's been HEALTHY. PLEASE read the Sears' 'The Baby Book' for emotional and common sense back-up, not geared specificly towards preemies, this book espouses the kind of HANDS ON parenting our children really need-especially our preemies. My '28-wkr' is healthy, bright and sweet-I credit kangaroo care and 'The Baby Book' for alot of it! I wish you the best.
July 21, 1999

Informative about the confusing time in the NICU.

This was a wonderful book. After getting home each night from the NICU I'd read up on what they told me about my son (born at 33 weeks). It is very important to read ONLY the sections that apply to your baby. Otherwise you'll worry about things that do not apply. I do not agree with Jenny William's review above. Sometimes while baby is NICU it CANNOT breast feed because sometimes preemies need special formula due to digestive problems. And many (as mine did) have alot of trouble learning to suck and need to be tube fed for awhile. This book covers the NICU from soup to nuts in a manner that the parent can understand.
July 09, 1999

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Preemies: The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies
by Dana Wechsler Linden, Mia Wechsler Doron, Emma Trenti Paroli

Your Premature Baby: The First Five Years
by Nikki Bradford
by Jonathan Hellmann, Sharyn Gibbins, Sandra Lousada

The Premature Baby Book : Everything You Need to Know About Your Premature Baby from Birth to Age One (Sears, William, Sears Parenting Library.)
by James Sears, Martha Sears, Robert Sears, William Sears

What to Do When Your Baby Is Premature: A Parent's Handbook for Coping with High-Risk Pregnancy and Caring for the Preterm Infant
by Joseph A. Garcia-Prats, Sharon Simmons Hornfischer

Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do to Help Your Preterm Infant
by Susan Ludington-Hoe