The Safe Baby: the home safety guide every new parent should ownA couple of weeks ago, Debra Smiley Holtzman contacted Blogging Baby asking us to take a look at her book, The Safe Baby: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Home Safety. It turns out that Holtzman is a nationally recognized health expert who has appeared on several well-known television shows -- The Today Show and The John Walsh Show, to name a couple. And if her media appearances don''t impress you, perhaps her educational background will: she has a law degree, an M.A. in occupational health and safety, and a B.A. in rhetoric and communications. For all these reasons, I eagerly anticipated reading her book, hoping to learn a lot about home safety, particularly in light of my active toddler.

I wasn''t disappointed. The Safe Baby is a comprehensive guide to ensuring that your home is as safe as possible for your new baby and/or young child. In addition to giving the advice that you probably already knew (check the bathwater carefully to avoid scalding your child; cover your electrical outlets to protect prying, inquisitive fingers), it''s also chock-full of safety tips you probably didn''t know (Did you know you shouldn''t give your baby home-prepared collard greens? Or that it might be prudent to investigate your tap water to ensure that it doesn''t have things like arsenic, radon, lead and the ominous-sounding THMs?) And in case you''re wondering that the content of this book is all doom and gloom without providing solutions for mitigating risks, never fear: the book also gives lots of practical advice on how to recitfy potentially dangerous situations -- either by doing it yourself, or recommending a professional do the job.The Safe Baby also contained information I didn''t expect: advice on how to acclimate your pets to your new baby (or vice-versa), and tips on finding a good babysitter and daycare are also provided. There is also a summary at the end of each chapter with all salient points condensed in bullet form -- and the book even concludes with a room-by-room checklist, lists of safety products, and a resource guide with contacts for more safety information.I wish our family had this book when we were preparing for the social worker home visit that all prospective adoptive parents undergo prior to having children placed with them; however, if I had one criticism, it is the author''s inadvertent presupposition that all families are created the old-fashioned biological way. In the section dealing with allergies, for instance, Holtzman says, "If you or your spouse has a family history of allergies -- to animals, dust, pollen or foods -- your child may be at an increased risk for developing allergies." That''s all well and good for many families, but what about those of us who may not have that information for one or both of our children''s birthparents? (And, tangentially-speaking, isn''t "spouse" a bit presumptive?) It would have been good to see a couple of sentences on how to deal with the issue when all or part of your child''s medical history might be an unknown variable.

Similarly, while the section on travel had tips like opting to fly nonstop and how to choose a child safety seat for the airline, no effort was made on issues of international travel: immunizations or potential regional diseases to watch out for, for example, or complications resulting from changes in diet. After all, not only are more and more families traveling internationally, many are also bringing home new family members from foreign countries, and may find themselves dealing with some of these issues once their new sons and daughters arrive home in their adoptive land. Perhaps these subjects will be dealt with in future editions.Nonetheless, potential readers shouldn''t be put off by these negatives -- the truth is, I''m thrilled to now own a copy of this book, and plan to use it over and over again as a handy reference -- both in making sure our current home is up to scratch, and ensuring that I''m aware of any issues for any future homes (or the homes of family members we may visit). I unreservedly recommend this book to any new parent, and this is probably my new gift to any prospective adoptive parents in preparation for that nerve-wracking home visit. So if you''re a new parent (or grandparent, or close family member or friend of a new parent) run out and grab a copy soon. You''ll be glad you did.--Karen Walrond, Blogging Baby, January 2006.