Baby care basics

I think I mentioned once before that Rob and I are signed up for an infant CPR class in a couple of weeks. I'm really glad for that, by the way; it is something that we need to know. As I was thinking about the class, though, I realized that I've never had a baby wholly in my care for more than a few hours. Gulp. I'm scared.

I thought that there were some baby care classes available through our hospital, but I can't seem to find any information about that on their website. I'm going to have to keep looking I think. In the meantime, I'm reading this book.

I bought it because it was the most complete reference I saw at the store. It's got some mixed reviews on Amazon, but I'm learning a lot from it (and actually don't find it to be preachy as some of the reviewers complained). I think it will be good to have on hand.

I also wrote down the names of a couple of other books that I thought looked interesting and checked them out from the library so that I could spend some more time looking at them. These are the two that I have now.

I'm not wild about the first one (The Wonder Years), but Bright from the Start is fantastic. We've already bought our own copy (I had a 30% coupon from Borders). It describes all kinds of fun activities that you can do with your baby that, in addition to being a great way to connect, will also help with neural development.

One other thing that has been clear from my reading is that TV should be off-limits at least until age 2. This will be challenging. I think we probably need to start weaning ourselves now - maybe down to a couple of favorite shows that we can record and watch after Nora goes to sleep, assuming we can actually outlast her. One shocking bit from the book - 25% of 2-year-olds have a tv in their room. I found that amazing - no wonder kids are so sedentary.