In Parenting by Heart, Pinky McKay encourages parents to trust their own instincts and connections with their children. Practical advice is offered with Pinky's trademark humour and covers birth choices, breast-feeding, postnatal depression, sleep, crying, gentle discipline, and building self-esteem (yours and your child's!).

Along the way Pinky gives excellent advice for dealing with unwanted inquiries from family and friends, redefines the good/bad baby continuum to 'real' babies, and considers where the relationship with your partner fits into all this activity! /p>

Parenting by Heart will show you how to explore your options and take charge. Most of all, lighten up, laugh, enjoy! Trust yourself. Trust your child. Trust your feelings.

From the author: When you follow your heart rather than a single parenting method, you seldom fit neatly into a stereotype. I have sampled various options from the rich smorgasbord of childrearing methods to form my own rich collage, which has often meant going against popular opinion. At times following your heart can also result in challenges as you confront the wider world: I have rocked up to weekend workshops with creative directors from some of Melbourne's top advertising agencies - and a two-year-old at my breast. These people were more familiar with the association between breasts and fast cars!

To parent against the mainstream takes courage (and a deaf ear). To care for children and to nourish their identities requires a strong sense of self. Because there are as many ways of caring as there are families, and because often sharing another's experience validates your own, Parenting by Heart includes the voices of other parents (mothers and fathers) who share their feelings - of joy, sadness, fear, frustration, hope, and humour.

I have received overwhelming feedback from parents who say thank you for giving them 'permission' to respond to their child. I dont know which is sadder - that parents feel they need permission or that there is so much rigid advice undermining parental confidence.