The nurture revolution Grow your baby's brain and transform their mental health through the art of nurtured parenting

"All nurture is nourishing for our babies' brains," contends this flawed debut from neuroscientist Kirshenbaum. Defining nurture as "deliberate time spent in a physical and emotional relationship with your baby," Kirshenbaum explores how supportive parental care shapes infants' cognitive development. She debunks myths that she says lead to lackluster parenting, pushing back against the claim that "responding to cries... teaches an infant to be dependent" by explaining that newborns lack the cognitive infrastructure to self-soothe and that parental comfort helps young brains learn to relieve stress on their own. Small actions can make a big difference, Kirshenbaum posits, suggesting that merely talking to babies "significantly affects the stress systems, hormones, and neurotransmitters in their brains." While some of the accessible glosses on neuroanatomy are a boon ("The amygdala is like an alarm for the stress system"), they just as often succumb to vague language, as when she warns that "low-nurturing hormones," such as "low oxytocin," make babies more "reactive" without elaborating on what that means. The author also devotes long discussions to disproving positions few hold (does anyone actually see "babies as objects to be managed" rather than "as human beings"?). Hazy scientific explanations drag this down. (June)

Neuroscientist/doula/educator Kirshenbaum's vision of parenting--incorporating yoga workouts throughout her pregnancy, laboring at home, and having an unmedicated birth--didn't match the reality of her life: a placenta previa and a caesarian section. Her book explores how the brain is built, and it includes abundant pictures and diagrams that demonstrate how parents can give children a nurturing foundation for life. There are also practical tips for using tools such as presence, empathy, relationship, and connection. The book emphasizes that reparenting is crucial, especially for those with a traumatic childhood themselves, and gives suggestions to handle depression and anxiety, such as therapy, support groups, and medication when appropriate. Each chapter begins with a first-person narrative from a parent in the trenches and ends with ideas for implementation. The author offers personal views on many topics, and she advocates for sleep-training, bedsharing, and an attachment-parenting style. That means that sometimes the perspective is limited. The appendix includes a resource guide, links for further information, a sample stress journal, and calls for periodically conducting a feeling-and-needs inventory. VERDICT Though written from a singular viewpoint, this book is well-researched and vital for readers who follow this author's framework.