Prenatal Parenting: The Complete Psychological and Spiritual Guide to Loving Your Unborn Child
Wirth (clinical associate professor of pediatrics, Tufts Univ.  Sch. of Medicine) has been working with premature babies for  more than 20 years. He was also physician to Elizabeth Carr, the  first U.S. test tube baby. His experiences and research have led  him to believe that quality medical care does not guarantee a  healthy baby; just as vital is the "psychological and spiritual  content of your life." Everything women (and their partners)  think, feel, and do while pregnant, he argues, has a profound  impact on the child before and after birth. Here, he instructs  parents-to-be on how to handle stress, avoid low self-esteem,  and talk to their unborn child. Wirth contends that a parent's  connection with a child is more intimate prior to birth owing to  direct chemical communication. He repeatedly notes that an  infant has an incredible learning capacity and that what is  learned in utero and in the first few months outside the womb  will set the stage for the rest of a child's life. This  well-written treatise is clinical in detail, and most public  library patrons do not need as much as it offers. Nevertheless,  the author's passion for his subject is contagious. Recommended  for larger public library parenting collections and academic  library child development collections. Lisa Powell Williams,  Moline P.L., ILCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.