Which Book is best?

[mum2oliver]

I would like to know which is the best book to purchase which will explain the development along the way.
I have a 5 month old ds. He has just started to roll over.It is just interesting to know what he will be doing and what is sort of expected.I do realise that every child is different but I would like to know what I should be encouraging.

"what to expect in the first year" is very good..it gives a month by month guide

If you pop along to the local library, you can browse most of the parenting books there and maybe borrow a couple to see which you think most relevant to what you want it for. I luckily did this before committing to buy a book that was reccommended, but no use to what I actually wanted it for.

When our first (now 9!) was a baby we had a brilliant video called Baby It's You. It was a TV series that was on at the time, looking a development from newborn to three or so, and I just found it incredibly reassuring becuse it looked at lots of babies and their differences and similarities. If I still had it I would gladly pass it on to you, but it got handed out to various friends as they started having babies and I've no idea where it ended up! However, they do have some on Amazon (just checked) and ebay might be worth a look for a bargain copy...
I know it's not exactly what you were after, but I found it more helpful than any of the books I had at the time. It was reasonably in-depth, sort of like the Prof. Winston things that are around these days - though possibly now it might look a bit dated (which makes me feel old )

We really like Your baby and Child by Penelope Leach. She points out lots of little developmental bits and bobs to look out for and has a very matter of fact way of writing that appealed to me.