Mama, I see you by Shana Roberts

A book for the very young about the love that exists between a mother and her baby. Each page offers a new activity between a mother and her child, stressing the need of one and the comfort of the other.

In the middle of the night when all the others are asleep, the baby stirs and reaches out for her mother and senses her nearby. The child is hugged and kissed and knows that she can feel her.  Mother whispers into her ear that she is near, and the baby hears her. The baby’s tummy rumbles, and mother hears her hunger. The baby is given a bottle and shows that she needs her. The baby falls asleep, now she is content. Suddenly she holds out her arms and trusts her mother to come and pick her up. Mother is there when she falls back to sleep, safe. Mother is everything to the baby, her world and returns the love she is given.

This most unusual book about the love between a newborn and her mother is aimed at the very young, reminding small babies of the love, the selfless love given them in all sorts of situations and times. This book seems to look at a typical night, offering the sleeping habits of a young child, who is always safe in the knowledge that mother is there, despite waking and needing another feed or a simple hug to get back to sleep.

Young parents will recognise all of the stages of the evening as they sometimes struggle with the developing sleeping habits and routines of the newborn. This book may serve to remind them that their efforts will not go unrecognised.

The book I read is the ‘Bottle feeding edition’ which assumes there is another edition which shows breastfeeding.

Themes: Babies, Sleeping, Safety, Nurturing.

Fran Knight