American Medical Association Complete Guide to Your Children's Health
TheAmerican Medical Association Complete Guide to Your Children's Healthprovides parents with a quick, highly comprehensive look at normal childhood development patterns, safety and educational concerns, and childhood illness and disease. From A to Z, there's a lot that parents need to know about their children's health and development, and this big book purports to supply it all. It does, though withonly700 pages, some of the subjects are handled tersely, without the nuances that child rearing requires. This terseness also means that browsing through this book isnotrecommended for parents who tend to worry--with so many subjects covered so briefly, the authors don't pause to reassure. Over half the book is devoted to an easy-to-read encyclopedia on childhood diseases and disorders (from acne to yeast infections) that describes, and in some cases illustrates, hundreds of conditions. The guide is best when it sticks to medical and developmental rather than social information: the complete atlas of the child's body, for example, is a great resource for parents and kids. And the many symptom charts, designed to help parents diagnose illness so they can decide whether to home-treat or get medical help, are superior--and may save lives.--Ericka Lutz