This book reads as easily as a novel--quite a relief after reading the traditional and often humourless parenting guides. The reader of The Best Friends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood won't emerge with an encyclopaedic knowledge of nappy- changing techniques, but they will discover how it feels to be changing nappies all night and why on earth any sane person would choose to do it. This colourfully written and lively book is about being a mother. "Do you see one single book for us, the mothers?" asks the author. "Not fair counting those books that tell us how to eat well to provide healthy milk for our breastfeeding babies! I'm talking about a book that deals only with us and the stunning fact that our lives have changed forever with the arrival of motherhood. Don't bother looking any longer (since you are a new mum, you have probably already forgotten what you were looking for anyway)."

Vicki Iovine, who previously authored the hugely successful The Best Friend's Guide to Pregnancy, takes us through the problems, surprises and rewards that being a mother brings, as seen from her refreshingly honest and often hilarious perspective. From the "Top-Ten Biggest Shocks of Childbirth" (How fat your face looks in the delivery room videos and photos) through to the final section of the book, "Top-Ten Things New Mothers Don't Do"(New mothers don't like other people's children, especially around their precious angels), the author talks to you, as a Best Friend, about this most moving, unimaginable, frightening and blissful life experience.

There are some observational gems in here--"I can tell you if a woman has had a baby simply by inspecting her belly button. Go ahead and scoff! I know my navels and I can recognise one that has been stretched nearly flat, or worse, popped inside out, and then relaxed again...". It is this chatty, Best-Friend style that makes the information in the book much more digestible and far less scary than your average "new baby" book--"Projectile vomiting is another terrifying, but not usually dangerous, sick-baby trick. If you haven't seen this before, it will blow your mind". She talks about being in hospital, follows the journey home after delivery, assesses the damage to both your body and your sex life, deals with baby euphoria and blues, going back to work and it even sheds light on why on earth anyone would do all this again!

Witty, human, perceptive and comic, this book is guaranteed to make any new (or not-so- new) mum laugh, relax and reminisce about their own wonderful, special experiences; essential reading for every mother's bookshelf. --Alison Jardine

On reading the synopsis I thought this book had potential to be amusing, not so. Three quarters of the way through it I decided to throw it in the bin! If you decide to buy this book, please remember...this is only ONE womans view of motherhood, enjoy your own experience of it.

This book is on our side: at the front is a top ten list of the biggest shocks of childbirth, and number one is: How nobody ever told you how much it REALLY hurts to have a baby. A lighthearted book that nevertheless gets to grips with baby reality, written by a mum, with extra insight from her group of Best Friends. Real comfort and advice, delivered in a humorous, friendly way.

This quote gives a flavour of the whole book:

"There are three types of new nothers.
1. The type who give birth and resume their lives with confidence, clear thinking and enthusiasm.
2. The type who give birth and wish that a fairy godmother would make the baby disappear and restore them to their former life; and
3. The rest of us.
Traditional wisdom (meaning "male") has long held that the first example is "normal" and what all new mothers should aspire to, and the second is classic postnatal depression, which is somewhat naughty and to be overcome or hidden at all cost, and that the third group doesn't exist.
Here's what the Best Friends and I think: the first group of new mother, the kind who breeze effortlessly through the transition from human to mother,are either incredibly lucky or incredibly unobservant. I mean, how can you experience a metamorphosis from personhood to motherhood without some ambivalence, apprehension or anxiety?"

This book - in the era of supernannies, supermums and everyone knowing *exactly* what to do with a baby - is an absolute must-read for anyone with a sense of humour and some grounding in reality. I completely loved the honesty and down-to-earth style of this book (other books in her series are also brilliant). No-one said having a baby was going to be easy but it's a whole lot easier with Vicki Iovine's advice. She never says what you *should* do and leaves plenty to instinct but always reassures that what you're doing isn't actually bad. And along the way she manages to make everything seem humorous which is quite an achievement in those early weeks... Evey one of her "best friends" has done something a little differently so there's something in here for everyone from the breast-feed-till-they're-five camp to the routine-from week-two camp. This is my baby shower gift for all my first-time-mum friends and is always well-received. (Personally I've never been a fan of parenting manuals and got away with reading none with my first child; this is less a manual and more a reassurance. Perhaps that's why I loved it so much.)

Brilliant read! I'd recommend it to all new mums.

I was at my wits end a few weeks after the birth of my baby. I'd had little sleep, breastfeeding was agony and my hormones and emotions were all over the place.

I bought this book and wished I'd read it earlier. I laughed out loud so many times. Such a lot of what it says is so true. It actually made me feel sane and 'normal' again. Motherhood is rewarding but can be difficult and this book tells it how it is.

My only criticism would be the fact that it is obviously written for an American audience and some of the chapters (on hospitals and doctors) should have been completely re-written for the UK (rather than just using margin notes to explain the differences).

This warm, funny, intelligent book, is in my mind the reason that I've survived the first year of motherhood (particulary the first 12 weeks) with my sanity intact! I bought my copy through a tear soaked haze when I really needed words of wisdom and comfort and it came through with flying colours. My husband thought I'd lost the plot when he could see tears and fits of laughter as I sat reading this book. I wish I'd had it in the first weeks of being a new mum. I would recommend this book to all first-time mums. Vicki Iovine's sense of humour and honesty is inspiring and the book is packed full of useful and helpful information.

For me the one quote that changed my life as a new mum and my stress levels was ...don't stand if you can sit, don't sit if you can lay down and don't stay awake when you can sleep.... Or words to that effect. This sounds simple enough but it's very hard to do especially when you feel you have to be a supermum and a superwoman but in this book it's explained in such a way that you don't feel that it will make you less then perfect.

If it's not already obvious I simply adored this book and thoroughly recommend it. I've just purchased the next one in the series and I can't say that about any other baby book.