The Baby Doctor

A new picture book, The Baby Doctor - Explaining IVF to Your Child created by Essential Baby members Leah Bryan and Sara Riches, can help the parents of IVF children explain the special way they came into the world.

With 10,000 IVF babies born in Australia last year the 'birds and the bees' talk will go a little differently for many families. 

The Baby Doctor tells the story of a family who are hoping to have their second IVF baby, and is told from the perspective of the big sister-to-be.

Author and publisher Leah Bryan has been a member of the Essential Baby community for several years. 

"I wrote The Baby Doctor while daydreaming about how I would tell my own future IVF children about their special beginning. When I realised there were no books like this available in Australia I started writing one. I also spoke to some friends (who I'd met through Essential Baby) about how they intend to tell their miracle babies about how they were created and the consensus was to tell them early on in their lives so that it became a natural part of the story of who they are and not something that became a big deal like having 'the talk' when they were older.

"Some of my EB friends are mums to IVF toddlers who ask questions like 'Why can't I have a baby brother or sister?' and in these cases the mums wanted to explain that they were hoping to give them a baby brother or sister one day. Young children also want to know why mummy is feeling tired and going to see the doctor a lot during the IVF cycle and the book makes it really easy to start talking about these things," said Leah.

When it came time to find an illustrator for the book Essential Baby was Leah's first port of call.

"I didn't just want an illustrator who could draw gorgeous pictures - I wanted one who really understood the technology and the emotions that go along with IVF. I put a shout out in the AC section knowing that there are a lot of talented women on there, so the odds were that a few of them would be illustrators. I talked to a few women about the project and chose Sara who is a mum to two IVF/ICSI boys and draws really cute and accessible characters," Leah said. Continued...