On the Go with Baby: A Stress-Free Guide to Getting Across Town or Around the World

Cross Erma Bombeck with Vicki Iovine and add a touch of tongue-in-cheek West Coast friendly irony and you've got "On the Go with Baby." In my social circle, this has become a favorite shower/new baby gift.No, this isn't your standard Fodor's type guidebook that gives prices (which change) and hotel suggestions (which also change). I'd suggest Fodors for that. BUT! If you want something quirky and very useful, get this book. It's such a great book for raising the spirits of frustrated new parents. The information in here is *real* child care information. The author is has been here, there, and everywhere with her child and stepkids and it shows. Want to start a home business with a baby around? Want to know how to order in a cafe with a baby around? Want to go camping or overseas? It's all here. A great tip book, especially for sleep deprived and stressed new parents -- that would be all of us.

Wow, this book is fabulous. We're leaving for Hawaii next week with our six-month-old. I'm so glad the book arrived before we left, because it is chockful of good tips and advice for traveling. Now I know exactly what to pack and how to handle a variety of different potentially difficult situations before they come up. There is also great information in the book about going to the grocery store or other "local" trips with babies that turn leaving the house into smooth sailing.

When my one-year-old baby threw up three times on a five hour flight and I found myself running through the LA airport carrying my two-year-old in my arms, the baby on my back in a pack sporting nothing but a diaper, I wished I had read Ericka Lutz's fabulous new book before I went on this particular 5,000-mile adventure. This guide to how to GO with baby (to the supermarket, to the zoo, to Hawaii or Indonesia) is invaluable to all parents. Familiar with small babies vomiting on long flights, Lutz suggests bringing an extra change of clothes for each child, carefully protected in ziplock bags, as well as a change of clothes for each adult. I did have a carry-on that was bigger than a small house, but somehow I managed to leave all the extra clothing in the checked luggage.It's daunting to have a baby, and Lutz's book helps parents cope with the enormous and drastic changes that come with new parenthood. Although I have lived, worked, and traveled in over 30 different countries, I found the prospect of traveling with my little ones worrisome at best. But Lutz's book is an inspiration. Unlike some parenting books which dwell on the negative aspects of child rearing and scare young fathers and mothers away from venturing outside the doorway, let alone down the street with baby, this book offers excellent advice and interesting real-life stories to encourage people with children to give gas and go. It's well-written, easy to read, funny, and helpful. And better yet, the book is tall and skinny, a perfect fit for the outer pouch of a diaper bag or baby backpack.