What's the right way to parent? Any playground or online message board will supply as many opinions as there are adults. Every subject--from sleep training to time-outs to pacifiers--has its supporters and detractors, and every viewpoint can be backed up by a truckload of research and statistics.

It's enough to reduce any new parent to tears, but you can end the madness. Ada Calhoun--a young mother as well as the founding editor-in-chief of Babble .com--provides a complete and completely reassuring guide that will calm your fears and make those precious early years a source of joy. Her simple yet profound advice: find what works for you and your family and ditch the anxiety and judgment.

Despite what other parenting books--and other parents--might have you believe, there is no universal "best." Whether you start solids at four months or eight, whether you co-sleep or Ferberize, whether Junior's mac 'n' cheese is Day-Glo orange or 100 percent organic is not nearly as important as providing the few absolute essentials (love, food, shelter) while teaching your little one how to be a kind, responsible human being. With its compelling mixture of entertaining, hilarious firsthand accounts and refreshing common sense, Instinctive Parenting will show you how to do that--and even show you how to retain your sanity, your friends, your sense of humor, and your personal life in the process.