Product Description

In recent years, revolutionary discoveries in neuroscience and developmental psychology have transformed our understanding of infant development. We now know that starting from conception, the infant brain is wired by the environment. Everything that the infant experiences in his mother's womb and after birth leaves a permanent imprint on his brain.

This book explains how even the most ordinary events, such as the words a mother speaks to her unborn son or the way a father holds his newborn daughter, evoke a cascade of biological changes -- not only in the brain but also in the immune system and throughout the body. Every experience, from her trip down the birth canal to an afternoon in the park, shapes the health and personality of the child. Whether we intend it or not, everything we say and do teaches the infant a secret lesson about herself and us, her parents.

Tomorrow's Baby translates these scientific insights into practical advice for parents and parents-to-be. An internationally acknowledged expert in early human development, Dr. Thomas Verny draws on his knowledge of the latest scientific research to explain how, with planning and proper support, parents can create an ideal environment for their babies. Dr. Verny advocates "conscious parenting," which begins with the parent's or caregiver's informed acceptance of the enormous challenge of raising and nurturing a child. He offers a wealth of practical suggestions, from optimal prenatal communication to enhancing infants' empathic abilities, as well as advice for building language acquisition, enhancing intelligence, and developing other social skills. Now, for the first time, parents can learn how to help actualize their child's full potential, beginning with conception.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157042 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-26
• Released on: 2002-01-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Verny (The Secret Life of the Unborn Child), a psychiatrist and founder of the Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology Association of America, firmly believes that the development of the embryo and fetus, particularly the brain, is affected by a variety of external factors including nutrition, stress, medication and exercise. Stimulation such as playing music for unborn children is less important, according to Verny, than the emotional state of the mother. "The prenatal classroom is better suited for lessons of intimacy, love, and trust than for intellectual calisthenics or IQ boosting." He is particularly concerned with pregnant women who are uneasy with impending parenthood, and cites much scientific evidence showing how prenatal maternal stress negatively effects the baby's physical development. Likewise, he shows how parental behavior and mood in general have a direct impact on their children. However, readers looking for practical parenting tools may be frustrated; much of his advice is very broad (he urges women to find emotional support during pregnancy, for instance), and parents will probably find it quite difficult to work out anxiety-provoking internal conflicts and eliminate stressors without more concrete and perhaps professional guidance. Yet while the book falls somewhat short as a hands-on guide, Verny's thought-provoking and impassioned arguments and his engrossing descriptions of the infant's internal world will likely raise awareness of how parents' emotional lives affect their developing baby.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A psychiatrist and founder of the Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology Association of North America, Verny studies prenatal and infant brain development. Using the neuroscience angle to promote a New Age concept of the mind-body connection, he states that a child's brain interacts with his or her environment from the moment of conception. Since both genetics and experience shape personality, the nature/nurture dichotomy, he argues, does not exist. Although his basic explanation of current neuroscience, the mind-body connection, and its influence on child development will be of interest to parents and childcare professionals, his parenting advice is nothing new: interact with the child during pregnancy and infancy, avoid stress, take prenatal classes, have a natural childbirth, avoid physically or emotionally abusing the child, and maintain a stable, loving family. The American Medical Association Complete Guide to Your Children's Health (Random, 1999) or T. Berry Brazelton's Touchpoints (LJ 11/1/92) provide more comprehensive and practical information for parents. Recommended for public libraries where there is interest in New Age parenting material. Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Verny, a psychiatrist and author of The Secret Life of the Unborn Child (1981), bridges the gap in the nature-versus-nurture debate and challenges the theories of Freud and Piaget, who discounted cognition in children under three years old. He cites evidence that unborn children "record and react to events" on a cellular level, developing "cellular memories" that remain with them throughout their lives. A mother's stress, anxiety, and depression during pregnancy can have a lifelong impact on a child's development, nearly as much as factors such as drug and alcohol abuse. Verny notes research indicating that stress in the mother can affect how a child's brain develops, possibly leading to mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Verny advocates that parents should take advantage of what research has shown is a series of learning windows that open during the early years and provide rich opportunities to nurture a child's brain. Although his book is heavy on scientific research and terminology, Verny includes interesting case studies and writes in an accessible, compelling manner. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Conscious Early Parenting Could Yet Save Us
Hopefully, this visionary, courageous and helpful book on the art and science of parenting will push us toward the critical mass needed to assure a future for our mad, deteriorating world. This authoritative book should make it clear to parents that the future of civilization is not in the hands of armies, corporations, doctors, television, blockbuster movies, or the World Bank, but in the hands of parents who will conscientiously guide, humanely endow, and proudly send forth healthy and loving children into the world. As long as we fail at this, nothing else will matter or last. Fortunately, this book is easy to read, full of illuminating stories, reveals the latest science, and carries you along with Summaries and Key Parenting Points in every chapter. Be sure to find and memorize the two concluding chapters on how to cultivate basic goodness and how to enhance empathy, compassion, and altruism--the priceless things that cannot be bought at Universities or at Wallmart and just might still move us in the direction of a civilized future!

Not for obsessive types
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tomorrow's Baby. I learned lots of new things such as the fact that the ova (egg) is always fertilized when sperm are about but the woman's body sometimes aborts it because of the male cells. The woman's body thinks it's an intruder. Also that at only 28 days old, when the embryo is only 1/4 inch long, the blood vessel that will become the heart begins to beat and the three primary parts of the brain have formed.

Unlike another reviewer, I found the talk about homosexuality interesting. I don't believe that the author is saying homosexuality is bad, but it isn't the norm. I found it intriguing to learn that homosexuality may be caused by stress during pregnancy because that would prove that homosexuals have no control over their feelings.

Someone else mentioned the author saying that stress, trauma, depression, abuse and the like during pregnancy causes mental health troubles in the child later on. I don't find that blaming. I don't feel that because I was depressed during my pregancy, if my daughter turns out to have mental health issues it will be my fault. It's not that concrete. Her health may or may not have something to do with my pregancy. The point of the research is to show that we need to implement some strategies to help those who are pregnant and poor/stressed/depressed/being abused and maybe in a few years the rate of mental health issues will decrease.

I especially enjoyed the summaries and key points at the end of each chapter. At times I had a hard time understanding the scientific talk but it wasn't that advanced. I just needed a quiet corner to read uninterupted. It's not a beginner's book though.

Robert OLiver, MD, PhD.
There are many who will find Thomas Verny's newest book, Tomorrow's Baby, beyond compare for bringing an emotionally healthy and mentally sound baby into the world. This is not a book about childbirth; this is a remarkably concise, scientific and prophetic view of how our brains and consciousness have developed and grown from conception through early childhood. Dr. Verny, a psychiatrist, professor and researcher, has accomplished in 263 pages the most up-to-date review of our current knowledge of the pre- and perinatal affects on babies explaining with clarity how we got the way we are. How mothers, fathers and medical interventional events during pregnancy have either beneficial or detrimental developmental affect on the brain. Within each chapter the author fulfills his promise to recommend "the art and science of parenting from conception through infancy". My regret is this book was not available for me when my girls were about to bloom and while I was working to make pregnancy fulfill the hope of my patients.
Read Tomorrow's Baby. Within its covers you will find a test with explanations which may assist your understanding of how you became who you are.
There are many who will find Thomas Verny's newest book, Tomorrow's Baby, beyond compare for bringing an emotionally healthy and mentally sound baby into the world. This is not a book about childbirth; this is a remarkably concise, scientific and prophetic view of how our brains and consciousness have developed and grown from conception through early childhood. Dr. Verny, a psychiatrist, professor and researcher, has accomplished in 263 pages the most up-to-date review of our current knowledge of the pre- and perinatal affects on babies explaining with clarity how we got the way we are. How mothers, fathers and medical interventional events during pregnancy have either beneficial or detrimental developmental affect on the brain. Within each chapter the author fulfills his promise to recommend "the art and science of parenting from conception through infancy". My regret is this book was not available for me when my girls were about to bloom and while I was working to make pregnancy fulfill the hope of my patients.
Read Tomorrow's Baby. Within its covers you will find a test with explanations which may assist your understanding of how you became who you are.