According to the Barnes & Noble list of best sellers, "What to Expect the First Year" by Heidi Murkoff leads in the infant and toddler category, and it's ranked at 484 in current book sales overall. Ms. Murkoff's books -- essentially compendia about best practices in child rearing -- have been perennial best sellers since her first, "What to Expect When You're Expecting," came out in 1984.

Dr. Harvey Karp's "The Happiest Baby on the Block" is second, ranked at 1,185 overall, and just behind that, at 1,215, is "On Becoming Babywise," by Gary Ezzo -- a book that's met with some controversy in the medical establishment for advocating strict feeding schedules for babies and spanking 18-month-olds.

Mr. Ezzo, in turn, is closely followed by his polar opposite, Dr. William Sears, a proponent of attachment parenting, and author of "Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know about Your Baby from Birth To Age Two," which is ranked at 1,328.

Another widely cited book, "Solving your Child's Sleep Problems," by Richard Ferber, is at 6,219, and farther down the list, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's book, "Touchpoints," published in 1992, is ranked at 6,833, overall. Even farther down, ranked at 8,966, is Dr. Benjamin Spock's "Baby and Child Care," while Dr. Penelope Leach's "Your Baby and Child" is 19,822.

-- Mackenzie Carpenter

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.