Queen of the baby bibles

MY first encounter with Heidi Murkoff is a real icebreaker.

She is practically starkers, in a pair of bright purple lace pants and black bra, bent over, with her pert little tattooed bottom in the air (“Erik”, it reads, a tribute to her adored husband of 30 years). “Oh come in, come in,” she cries, straightening up and seeing my mortified expression at the untimely intrusion. “Let me give you a hug.”

So here I am, in a make-do changing room in a photographer’s studio, hugging the buff LA body of the author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. She is quite possibly the most globally influential, economically successful and revered pregnancy and babycare expert since Dr Spock. What to expect from a babycare expert? Not this tiny package of glossy, toned fabulousness. Back in the day, babycare gurus looked like, well, babycare gurus, or they weren’t women at all but were — the shock of it — men (Truby King, John Bowlby, Donald Winnicott, Benjamin Spock. The males continue to pile up: Robert Winston has his own guide out this month).