Product Spotlight: Pregnancy Books

mdfarmchick

The product spotlight is a chance for us to highlight a different area or item of pregnancy every week and get suggestions and reviews from others with experiences and opinions. 

This week’s topic is Pregnancy Books. Which ones do you recommend and why? Any that you didn’t find helpful and why? Any that you are thinking about reading this time? Questions?

mdfarmchick

I didn’t really read a pregnancy book for either of the boys... I babysat a lot growing up and was close to a few friends during their pregnancies and the newborn stage. I do, however, highly recommend that if you think you want to do baby led weaning or sleep train or set up a schedule for your newborn and you think you might have questions about any of those things, that you do it while you are pregnant so you aren’t trying to cram a bunch of information into your sleep deprived brain. Lol. 

I’ve also discovered a series of books that talks about what childhood development looks like for different ages to be very helpful with my 5 and 2 year olds. The series is by Louisa Bates Ames. 

I also recommend thinking about and perhaps researching your parenting style v the more traditional “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” book. We subscribe more to the respectful parenting approach which is very different from the way my parents raised me so I wish I had spent some time pre-birth researching and absorbing the parenting approach. 

Also, not a book but honorable mentions for informative websites to bookmark for later—Lucie’s List ((all things baby and new mom related, from what to pack in your hospital bag to the top strollers/car seats/pack-n-plays/high chairs/etc)) and KellyMom ((my resource for all things breastfeeding from safe medications to trouble shooting any problems like a nipple shield/mastitis/clogs/low supply, etc.

lovemesomemonster

I just went mostly fun with reading with books like “The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy” and I found “Bringing up Bebe” interesting.

jumpy57

Birth skills by JuJu Sundin
I thought this was really informative for the actually giving birth part and I appreciated having some pain management techniques

Precious Little Sleep
Learn about baby sleep and what the spectrum of normal can look like and ways to help baby sleep. Read this before you are too sleep deprived to function... You can also brows the website for some of the big points

KellyMom
Awesome website for breastfeeding information

The Danish Way of Parenting by JESSICA ALEXANDER & IBEN DISSING SANDAHL MPF
Interesting read about parenting style. I enjoy learning about different parenting styles but wouldn't say I subscribe to anything strictly.

babymamadimo

We did baby wise-ish meaning I wasn’t fully on board but we used some of the techniques. My son was sleeping through the night by 7 weeks and I went back to work at 8 weeks so I am going to reread Baby Wise before baby comes. It is all about sleep training and being on a eat, play, sleep, routine.

Yiggle09

Ina May's Guide to childbirth 

sugarcoateddonut

babymamadimo said:

We did baby wise-ish meaning I wasn’t fully on board but we used some of the techniques. My son was sleeping through the night by 7 weeks and I went back to work at 8 weeks so I am going to reread Baby Wise before baby comes. It is all about sleep training and being on a eat, play, sleep, routine.

We did "baby wise-ish" as well! I liked having a little more flexibility in terms of a "schedule",but I did like the eat, play, sleep routine. Even when sleep regressions came they felt just a little bit more manageable because I knew that they were only temporary. That 4 month regression was still ROUGH though, lol!

earlgrey_honey

I really like the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Health Pregnancy. It really soothes my OCD "need to know" without being overwhelming. Its a great book.

I also got What to Know When You Are Expecting. Its informative but gives me helpful newspaper article vibes. I dent like it as much but its still ok.

manditchka24

I really liked “Expecting Better” by Emily Oster. It does a really nice job of summarizing the medical literature behind a lot of the typical pregnancy recommendations. As a healthcare provider and analytical person it was exactly what I was looking for.

I also read “What to Expect when You’re Expecting” and I was really put off by the tone (referring to sperm as “his Olympic swim team” for example). It was helpful in that it went through the whole process of pregnancy, labor and birth, but I really disliked how it was written. It seemed to make a lot of assumptions about how pregnant women should be/think/feel that I thought were stereotypical and outdated.

hannahbananas11

I liked the Mayo guide, too. 

I found Ina May very anti-hospital, which bothered me. I couldn’t get past that to enjoy the book.

I liked Natural Hospital Birth by Cynthia Gabriel. I take issue with calling unmedicated birth “natural” since it sounds like a value judgement. But I aimed for an unmedicated birth at a hospital, and this book helped me accomplish that. It’s very balanced, empowering and not judgy.

This time around, I’m reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster. It’s nice to read the evidence behind stuff and make informed decisions.

As for other resources that helped me immensely: Kelly Mom (website about breastfeeding and lactation predominantly), Evidence Based Birth (exactly what it sounds like), and Mommy Labor Nurse (on IG, helpful l&d tips) were all great.

hannahbananas11

One children’s book rec for y’all with kids: “My New Baby” by Rachel Fuller is a good board book. It’s one of the only ones that shows the baby nursing instead of drinking from a bottle. My DS (17 months) loves looking at the pictures.

animommy

I'm greatly enjoying "What No One Tells You: A Guide to Your Emotions From Pregnancy to Motherhood" by Alexandra Sacks & Catherine Birndorf. It's written by two therapists/mothers who are brutally honest about the varied range of emtions you're going to go thru with solid advice on putting it in perspective without judgment & fear. It's simply excellent.

As far as a journal I funny enough picked up "The Bump Pregnancy Planner" long before I anticipated even coming to this board & absolutely love it! It's no frills and just what you need to know when you need to know it. I totally love the pockets for organizing paperwork!