My Baby Compass Review

New motherhood is a confusing time.  In addition to trying to negotiate my new role as a mother and redefine my relationship with my husband, I also had the practical concerns of caring for my daughter and making sure she is developing on schedule.  I entered this time with three huge books for baby’s first year, but unlike my pregnancy when I had ample time to read about pregnancy and fetal development, I couldn’t seem to find the time to read them and make sure that my daughter was meeting the appropriate milestones.  When I was given the opportunity to review My Baby Compass (Birth to Two Years), Lucia was already five months and I wish I had access to this resource since birth. 

My Baby Compass is “an easy program to help your child think, speak, move & thrive”.  I would equate it to a streamlined book on baby development, with milestone checklists, brief advice for seeking help if baby is not meeting milestones,  and short sections with ideas for age-appropriate toys and activities, and songs and rhymes that help with development.  The appendices are also helpful and include resources such as common signs to use with your baby and information on various tests and screenings that your child might have during regular doctor visits or if there are suspected development problems.  The best feature of this guide is the small pullout pamphlets of checklists and activities.  Each one covers a few month time frame and has broken down into sections “Baby Talks”, “Baby Hears”, “Baby Understands”, “Baby Moves”,  and “Baby Feels”.  The left side of the page lists milestones the baby should have completed while the right side lists specific activities that will help the child develop in this area.  It is so well organized and easy to follow, perfect for the average parent with little background in child development.

the pullout checklist and activities

My Baby Compass is by no means a comprehensive baby guide as it addresses only milestones and development, but this specificity is its strength.  I still need one (although probably not three!) of those hefty “first year” baby books on hand to reference other issues such as teething or difficulty sleeping.  When it comes to development, however, I’m much more likely to monitor Lucia’s development with the My Baby Compass streamlined checklists than to wade through the large monthly chapters dedicated to development and everything else baby in those larger books.  That means that I’ll also be more likely to discover development delays as they occur. 

My Baby Compass is written by Kathryn Thorson Gruhn, a speech and language pathologist with 35 years of child development experience.  It is also endorsed by several pediatricians and various child development specialists which makes me very comfortable that the information is credible and thorough.  The completed series will include four books: Birth to Two, Two to Four, Four to Six, and Six to Eight.  They can be purchased on Amazon.com for approximately $40.  Initially, I was uncertain if they were worth this price, however, since they cover several years, the price is similar to the average cost of buying two single-year development books.

I received a copy of  My Baby Compass to facilitate this review.  All opinions are 100% mine. See Disclosure Policy.