What to Expect the First Year: (Updated in 2024)

Updated regularly, America's baby bible answers all your questions.

• How can I get my baby to tell night from day?
• Is my breastfed baby getting enough to eat?
• When should I start solids? And what should I start with?
• When will my baby sleep through the night?
• Will my colicky baby ever stop crying?
• What are the best toys for my baby?
• Is it okay to let my baby play with my smartphone?
• Should I buy organic for my baby?

With nearly 12 million copies in print, What to Expect: The First Year is the world's best-selling, best-loved guide to the instructions that babies don't come with, but should. Keeping the trademark month-by-month format that allows parents to take the potentially overwhelming first year one step at a time, First Year is easy to read, fast to flip through and packed with practical tips, realistic advice, and relatable, accessible information. Including: Baby care fundamentals like crib and sleep safety, feeding, vitamin supplements; support for breastfeeding (getting started and keeping it going). Hot-button topics and trends are tackled: attachment parenting, sleep training, early potty learning (elimination communication), baby-led weaning, and green parenting (from cloth diapers to non-toxic furniture). There are tips on preparing homemade baby food, the latest recommendations on starting solids, research on the impact of screen time (TVs, tablets, apps, computers)--and so much more.


About the Author

Heidi Murkoff is the author of the world's bestselling What to Expect(R) series of pregnancy and parenting books, with over 43 million copies in print in 44 languages. She is also the creator of WhatToExpect.com and the WhatToExpect app, a community of 20 million parents, and the face of the app's week-by-week pregnancy and first year videos. Using the power of the WTE platforms, Heidi works closely with the CDC, HHS, AAP and other public health organizations to share vital messages about maternal and infant health and safety. Her passionate commitment to the wellbeing of all moms and babies led her to found the What to Expect Project (WTEP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that every mom receives the empowering information and nurturing support she needs to deliver a healthy pregnancy, safe delivery, and healthy future to herself and the baby she loves. Along with the WTEP, Heidi advocates actively in Congress for legislation and policies supporting expecting and new moms and families, including military families. Since 2013, she has hosted close to 300 Special Delivery baby showers for tens of thousands of military moms and dads serving far from family and friends at bases around the world. In 2022, she and her husband Erik received the Elizabeth and Zachary Fisher Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Award for their support of military families.

Visit Heidi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @HeidiMurkoff and @WhattoExpect.