Books to read?

[colorbywords]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if you could list the books you want to read before the baby gets here! This is my first so we're really excited and nervous, but don't know a whole lot about newborns!

I came across the book Baby Led Weaning and am thinking I'd like to read it if I can find it at our library.

Any other books you can't wait to read? Recommendations?

[the elyse]

save the weaning book till after baby comes. i highly recommend A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer, and for nursing i recommend anything by Dr. Jack Newman.

[kdaisy]

Last pregnancy (recommendations):
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding
Spiritual Midwifery
Birth:The amazing history of how we are born
Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
Baby Book (Dr. Sears)

This pregnancy's reading list (so far):
Birthing From Within
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

[dannic]

I rec Goer's book as well. I like O'mara's Having a Baby, Naturally too.

[MJB]

This is my third, so I don't need to read anything on pregnancy or nursing, but I reserved "Montessori From the Start" from the library. I haven't used any Montessori methods intentionally with my boys (I think we might have done some by chance) but I think it sounds really nice and would like to try and incorporate them into my parenting with this babe.

[Leonine]

I ZOOMED through so many books during my first pregnancy (which only lasted 3 months) but that was enough time to go from clueless to definitely settled on homebirth! This time around I'm itching for more reading, but I think I've read just about all there is about pregnancy and birth, so maybe I should move on to baby books. Or maybe someone will suggest some that I haven't read.

I'm looking over my library history, and here are some of my favorites:

Childbirth without fear : the principles and practice of natural childbirth / Grantly Dick-Read ; foreword by Michel Odent

The thinking woman's guide to a better birth / Henci Goer

Gentle birth choices / Barbara Harper

Deliver this! : make the childbirth choice that's right for you-- no matter what everyone else thinks / Marisa Cohen.

[lindsayb]

Birthing from Within is definitely a must-read!

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. It's soooo informative about the stages of labor, what to expect, what's really happening inside your body, and gives relaxation exercises to practice with and without your partner.

Pushed by Jennifer Block is really interesting.

If you haven't decided on vaccines yet, you may want to do some reading up on that too as you have to start making decisions about it right away after the baby arrives. I recommend Are Vaccines Really Safe and Effective? (can't remember the author).

[lisalulu]

I probably won't do much this time. With my first I read:
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Birthing from Within
Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn by Simkin

And I think there is a Sears book just on childbirth but its been so long I could be remembering incorrectly and just read that part of the Baby book.

[COgirl19]

I highly reccommend Dr. Sears Baby book. REally good on natural and gentle parenting and really explains all stages from 0-2 years old really well.

The Womanly ARt of Breastfeeding is also a must read in my opinion. It really helped prepare me and give me confidence to breastfeed and helped me plan ahead for any potential problems, especially if nurses or whoever tried to push formula.

[MyFillingQuiver]

All of the suggested are great ideas!

I can tell you what not to read, though you probably already know!

Stay away from real trendy mainstream books like "What to Expect". It's all I read my first go-round, and I'm sure it's been re-done since, but it really made me feel I needed to be medically managed..and I sure was.

Stay away from the freebie style baby mags such as American Baby. (at least for taking anything seriously!) I recently posted in the "I'm not vax'ing" forum about their outrageously false and misleading pro-vax articles.

Couple that with the most important parenting ideas being what type of formula is best, and what stroller to buy, and you have the makings for some pretty shallow parenting..not so good for ideas on loving discipline, breastfeeding without formula being a back up, etc.

MDC is so full of so many educated views, I feel you are able to gain so much experience to then base your own research on...right here.

[VillageMom6]

Originally Posted by MyFillingQuiver

Couple that with the most important parenting ideas being what type of formula is best, and what stroller to buy, and you have the makings for some pretty shallow parenting..

I totally agree with you about mainstream parenting magazines being vast wastelands of inane advice.

But I will never understand what's so anti-AP about strollers. To me, they are sometimes a God-send!

[LindsayK]

Originally Posted by Evie's Mama

If you haven't decided on vaccines yet, you may want to do some reading up on that too as you have to start making decisions about it right away after the baby arrives. I recommend Are Vaccines Really Safe and Effective? (can't remember the author).

I haven't read the aforementioned book, but I second the opinion that you should read up on vaccines on have an informed opinion on what vaccines you do/don't want, if any. Hepatitis B is given on the day of birth at almost all hospitals, and you really can't make an informed choice and research right after giving birth! And for that matter, you're going to be sleep deprived and have milk brain around when baby is 2 months old when the battery of 8 vaccines are given. So, better to do your reading/research/decision making now when you have the time to really think about it, and discuss with your partner!

[MyFillingQuiver]

Originally Posted by VillageMom6

I totally agree with you about mainstream parenting magazines being vast wastelands of inane advice.

But I will never understand what's so anti-AP about strollers. To me, they are sometimes a God-send!

I don't get it, either! I've used one with all my children, at some point...

I was just emphasizing that it seems that the "cool gear" is SOOO important in those magazines...and what I've noticed, it's the subject to really have the least impact on parenting and it's results!

[dannic]

Originally Posted by Evie's Mama

Pushed by Jennifer Block is really interesting.

I've got this on hold at the library.

I agree on all counts on the parenting-type magazines. They drive me batty.

[lindsayb]

There are lots of books about giving birth--but can anyone recommend books about the experience of pregnancy? I'm only 14 weeks, and what I really want to read about is what I'm going through now! Any suggestions, please?

[lunarlady]

I love all the suggestions you've gotten for birthing books. I would also recommend "Spilled Milk: Breastfeeding Adventures of Less than Perfect Moms" which is a book of breastfeeding stories by real women, which is a nice change from the LLL book and other "how to" manuals.

Last time I was pregnant I read a book at Barnes and Nobel (didn't buy it) that I loved called "Hands Off My Belly". It was funny, down to Earth and easy to read.

On my reading list this time is "Pregnant Pause" which should make me laugh (I hope).

[Oliver's Mama]

Originally Posted by lindsayb

There are lots of books about giving birth--but can anyone recommend books about the experience of pregnancy? I'm only 14 weeks, and what I really want to read about is what I'm going through now! Any suggestions, please?

I had the Dr. Sears Pregnancy Book, which was great, and also the What to Expect, which was total fear-mongering, imo... way more "medicalized" and it made me scared and anxious that there was always something abnormal going on.

for birth, I'm reading
Hypnobirthing (Mongon) though not doing classes
Birthing From Within -England (just started)
Pushed - Jennifer Block- this one has lots of research-backed discussions on natural birthing, so I think it's one I may share with dh since he's very "matter of fact" like that.
the Idiot's Guide to Natural Childbirth- was a great starting point when you're a bit clueless about natural birth- it clearly outlines all your options and is easy to jump around to the topics you're interested in. Though it will not give you in-depth info/support.

and I agree too with those parenting magazines.. grandma-in-law gave me a FOUR YEAR subscription to one.. and believe me there are too many hoops to jump through to try to cancel a gift subscription, without the gift giver knowing. I just recycle.. I don't want to torture anyone by passing it along.

[laughymama]

I just ordered Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding. I also ordered Your Best Birth but I've yet to talk to anyone who's read it. So...anyone read it?

I considered ordering Pushed but wasn't sure...but now I think I'll get that one too.

I'm a huge reader...I think I'll start making a book list right now.

[Oliver's Mama]

Originally Posted by laughymama

I just ordered Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding. I also ordered Your Best Birth but I've yet to talk to anyone who's read it. So...anyone read it?

I considered ordering Pushed but wasn't sure...but now I think I'll get that one too.

sorry- just realized I'm ddc crashing.
I read Your Best Birth (the Ricki Lake one). It was fairly good, obviously biased toward the most natural birthing situation possible, so there were occasional moments of scare tactics against the "evil hospitals, OB's and old-school nurses".
I think Your Best Birth would be helpful for someone like myself who will be giving birth in a hospital and may be confronting care providers that aren't necessarily on board with natural birthing- it brings up questions and situations with ideas on how to handle them.
There are lots of text boxes throughout the book with helpful hints, and empowering birth stories of celebrities (there is a bit of a celebrity/pop culture theme to the book.. like I would expect it to be on Oprah or something).

For better or for worse, Pushed is more about the rights/policitcs of natural birthing than about actual methods/techniques, especially the last few chapters- they are very activist themed. It's really great info to know about, especially if you need to convince your dh to be onboard with natural birth, but you'll want to read other books in addition to this.