MOMMY NOSE'S BEST BOOK PICKS

When I first heard about the Sears Books - I thought ...Sears? Must be written by that cheesy retail store. Forget about it! And then the poop hit the fan and I was given a rude awakening.

When Gabriel was just a little peanut at 4 days old and fresh home from the hospital his fever dropped down to 94.5 and I swear to this day he was going into SIDS! I called my doctor on the phone and he was out of town and so I was transferred to the doctor on call, Dr. Rachael Krammer.

When Daddy Nose and I explained what was going on with Gabriel she informed me that I was breast feeding too long on each breast and that although Baby Nose was indeed a hearty little 6 pounds 5 ounces at birth, he had still been born 5 weeks early and had to be treated as a premature baby. NO ONE TOLD US THIS AT CEDARS, INCLUDING OUR DOCTOR AT THE TIME & THE LACTATION CONSULTANT!!!

They had all told us that I was doing great and the longer I breast feed him on each breast the better!

This is not true! You see, if your baby is premature the first ten minutes you are breast feeding the baby is factually getting all the milk they need. The next ten minutes, they are actually burning all the nutritious calories they just took in over working at sucking to get the rest of the hind milk out. What happens? They end up back at zero as if they never ate to begin with. And most premature babies do not cry when they are starving! They go to sleep - permanently!!!

You can imagine my devastation when Dr. Krammer informed me of this.

WHAT TO DO???

1. She said to take off all of Baby Nose's clothes and my clothes too and get the baby chest to chest with me under a ton of blankets to use my body heat and the heat of the blankets to bring his temperature back up to normal.

2. She said to breast feed Baby Nose for 10 minutes - (5 minutes on each breast only) and then to top him off for ten minutes with a bottle of pumped breast milk. This would make sure he got the meal "Quick and Easy" so he wouldn't have to work for it and burn his calories up.

3. She said to take half the books I had read about putting the baby on schedules and throw them in the garbage. One top selling baby book I was even advised to burn immediately!

When I asked her what book I could count on, she said "Get the Sears Books." Can you believe it? And I when out immediately and got them all. These are the best books I have read of any. They are thorough and organic. They are full of common sense and true love for the child. After that close call with Baby Nose I have to say he hasn't spent one single night in his crib. It's too scary for me to have him in the next room. I can't sleep! I am always wondering if something is going wrong in there and even with the best monitor in the world looking over him, it's not me and I just feel I have to be there. I would never forgive myself if something happened and I wasn't there. I have turned into the Shirley McLaine character in "Terms of Endearment." Yes, it's been more than a few dozen times that Daddy Nose or I have jiggled the baby awake to make sure he is still alive.

At five and half months old he is a whopping fifteen pounds of hearty baby and he is doing amazingly well. Now I can breast feed him for as long as I like ... or I should say as long as he likes! In fact, I got him so on the titty that he won't even bottle feed now. Ooops. Well, he just started eating smooshed pears and apples and avocado and he seems pretty happy about it so out with the bottle and in with the food. But getting back on track, I want to say thank you to Dr. Krammer who is now our full time pediatrician and to Dr. William and Martha Sears for putting out such fabulous books! I give you 4 babies walking.

Click Here To Read My New Column On Sibling Rivalry

The Happiest Baby On The Block is Mommy Nose's #1 Pick FOR NEW PARENTS

THIS IS A MIRACLE DVD! IT WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO STOP YOUR BABY FROM CRYING IN LESS THAN 20 SECONDS!

Buy the book, but most importantly, GET THE DVD! It only takes 30 minutes to watch.

Sit down with your partner and parents and watch how Dr. Karp walks you through a step by step process of helping you and your baby to be completely satisfied!

"How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk" is a phenomenal book! Read it and then read it again and again and again. But please note as the authors of the book have stated "DON'T TRY THIS TECHNIQUE IF YOUR KID IS ALREADY 11 YEARS OLD! YOU WILL ONLY SUCCEED IN PISSING THEM OFF!" as my own mother did! And to this day she has the audacity to say "But it worked! You stopped leaning in the chair." If she only knew how much animosity she stirred up in me while "winning" her battle maybe she would have tried something else. This book is something you start right away with your child when they are 6 months old. It is a way of life for them and so it will sound natural to them. It's is a fantastic way of communicating and I have seen it work on toddlers like a charm.

"THE GIVING TREE"

This is such a beautiful book. I read it to Gabriel for the first time this week-end and I was sobbing by the end. I'm a very emotional mother. The only problem I have with it is that the tree gives and gives and the little human boy just takes and takes and takes. I hope the message along with the tree showing the boy unconditional love is that maybe little boys should think about what they can do for the trees besides just using them until they are nothing but stumps! If every little boy does to trees what this boy does - we humans are in a diaper load of trouble!

I am reading the Discipline Book right now. The title makes it sound as if it will teach you how to be a ridged parent, but that's not what this book is about. It teaches parents brilliant communication skills and gives up the "what do you have? A hole in your head" attitude that a lot of us parents where raised with.

The Discipline Book gives great suggestions for working "with" your baby or child and it's gentle and loving and really refreshing if you ask me.

I don't want to paint my parents out as if they were monsters, they were just like me ~ incompetent. Look, I think every parent is a moron to being with. What do any of us really know? I firmly support the idea that maybe we should all take a class in how not to do to others what was done to us. I am personally glad there are books out there like this one and I am the first to raise my hand and say "I don't know!" From "I don't know" I actually have a chance to learn something new. From "I know" I have just shut off any chance of gaining any new ways of becoming a better person because I am Miss Know It All. Try not to be a Know It All and give these books a chance. In doing so, you may be giving your kid a chance they may never would have had otherwise.

I CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING BOOKS TO BE THE BIBLES FOR ALL CHILDCARE.