Be Your Child’s Pediatrician: Responsible Home Health Care is the book in Rachel Weaver’s series that parents reach for most, and the one most often given as a baby-shower gift. It grew out of a gap Rachel noticed in her own life — and out of the phone calls and emails that kept arriving after her first book.
Why Rachel wrote it
When Rachel was a girl, her mother kept a small book on caring for a child’s health. By the time she was eight she had read it cover to cover, studying the pictures of each disease. When she became a mother herself she could not find that book — or anything like it — on the market. To her, knowing the rashes, where they start, when they are contagious and what course to expect was an important part of mothering: a parent who knows what is coming, and knows there are things she can do to make her child more comfortable, is a more confident parent and a less anxious one.
Years later, as questions poured in from readers of Be Your Own Doctor, she realized how much about children’s health that first book had not covered. Be Your Child’s Pediatrician, published in 2016, is her attempt to answer those questions for problems from birth through childhood.
What the book covers
- Natural home care for allergies, asthma, coughs, colds and pink eye
- Help with fungal infections, bowel problems, ADD and other ongoing concerns
- Step-by-step remedies using herbs, teas and oils, with the stories behind them
- Advice from a midwife and mother of nine on speeding the healing of many childhood illnesses
- 256 pages, paperback
Rachel’s method
“As always, I am amazed at how well the simplest things work,” she writes in the introduction. Her method is to try the simple things she has on hand before going to greater lengths — and to keep some basic supplies ready so she is prepared for most emergencies. The book is written to be read ahead of time, not just consulted in a crisis: “Read and be prepared.”
For babies or older children?
Both. It was written for parents and caregivers of children of all ages, which is why it works as a gift for a first baby and still earns its place on the shelf through the school years.
Use it with the other books
Rachel called this book “really a companion to Be Your Own Doctor.” The first book explains some things in depth that she chose not to repeat here, so she recommended using them together — and if you do not yet own Be Your Own Doctor, she considered it a must-have. Back Yard Pharmacy adds the plants you can gather yourself.
Good to know
This is a printed paperback only — not a PDF, e-book or free download. Share A Care Publications of Gap, Pennsylvania is the original publisher. Order Be Your Child’s Pediatrician, or choose the set of all four books with free U.S. shipping. About Rachel Weaver, M.H.