Pregnancy and Childbirth Bookshelf

[*Amy*]

I'm curious as to which books on pregnancy and childbirth (and/or parenting, kids' books, etc.) you all love. I have several Sears books, Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, The Art of Breastfeeding by LLL, all of which I love.

I just ordered Meditations for Pregnancy which was recommended in this month's Mothering, and I am also planning to get Mother-Daughter Wisdom very soon. I read through parts of it at the bookstore, and she seems to be very natural- birth and -parenting oriented, she refers to Ina May's book frequently, and she incorporates a lot of Eastern healing philosophies, which I really like. Even though I don't know whether I'm having a boy or a girl, as a daughter myself, I am curious to see what it says.

I'm also wondering if any of you have come across any good books for the father, especially during pregnancy. Most of them I've seen are really stupid and gimmicky, but I did buy Becoming a Father by Dr. Sears. DH has been out of town though, so I haven't been able to give it to him yet.

I'm also going to be on the look-out for a good book on gentle discipline. DH is not totally gung-ho about spanking, but he does think there may be times when you just have to spank in order to get the point across. We were both spanked as kids (not a lot, but I do remember a couple of times) and we turned out fine, but I really don't think violence against our child is reflective of our beliefs, and I think there are certainly better and more humane ways to shape behavior. Do y'all know of any good gentle discipline (or spanking alternative) books? I have Liberated Parents, Liberated Children by Faber & Mazlish, but I haven't read it yet.

Well I could go on and on... If I could just sit around and read books for the rest of my pregnancy, that's what I'd do!

[beachbaby]

the only ones I own are 3 of the Sears books--The Pregnancy Book, The Birth Book, and The Discipline Book....

others...let's see....these aren't really parenting or GD, but just a mish-mash of what I've read lately. I guess I'm leaning toward the more broad, philospohical books now and will save the specific, step-by-step ones til later, ykim? But, I'll share anyway! All of these have challenged me (or confirmed my current attitudes) in some way:


I quite liked the Continuum Concept--found it fascinating but the description of CIO was heartbreaking and I had to put it down for a few days before reading the rest...

I've skimmed You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy...

not exactly parenting, but I just finished Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood by Susan Linn. It's about how corporations market to children...

another good one about motherhood (& how society and traditional feminism have ignored women's desire to mother) is Maternal Desire by Daphne de Marneffe...

sorry, no advice on books specifically for dads...I'll be on the look-out for some, though....

[liliesandliars]

You might like Birthing from Within or Unassisted Childbirth (that's not the price of the book, I'm sure of it... if it is, you can buy it for so much less from www.unassistedchildbirth.com). Even if you're not going for unassisted/home/midwife assisted childbirth, the ideas and techniques fostered in these books make for VERY good birthing preparation.

Good luck!

[Barbee]

Journey into Motherhood is a great book with positive natural birth stories. My sister's birth story is in it. The entire book is so positive and inspiring. I devoured it in about three days.

[Queen of Cups]

My all-time, favorite parenting book is Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting. I've had to stop lending it to people, because every time I lend it out I don't get it back! It has wonderful chapters on preparing for pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding... everything!

[Kavita]

I LOVE "Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful: Experience the Natural Power of Pregnancy and Birth with Kundalini Yoga and Meditation" by Gurmukh. It is just so inspiring and comforting and empowering, even if you never do any yoga or meditation from the book I think it's a wonderful book.

[averymybaby]

Bestfeeding

Gentle Birth Choices

Active Birth

The Doula Advantage

Having a Baby Naturally


Hope this helps!

ETA My DH really did glean a lot of information from The Expectant Father, it's really written to gear towards men. Your DH might like it?

[flyingspaghettimama]

Regarding Discipline (I've got a 5 year old as well - and spanking really will stop working at some point - say older children/teenhood - so why not practice the verbal discipline kung-fu jedi skills at an early point?) We have never spanked and we have a kid who was horrified when she first heard of the idea from a school friend..."her parents HIT HER on her PRIVATE PLACE." Wow. Never thought of it like that.

-Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka (pro-AP)
-Kids, Parents and Power Struggles: Winning for a Lifetime by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
-Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline, Jim Fay (warning: this book addresses spanking like Sears, so I disregarded that part. I do not really care for their book for preschoolers, either. )
-How to Listen so Kids will Talk and Talk so Kids Will Listen - Faber, Mazlish
-Positive Parenting A-Z (also: For Preschoolers) by Jane Nelsen
-Discipline Book by Sears

I was also spanked. I also enjoyed hitting my siblings immensely, and it was completely hypocritical to me - even as a child - that my parents would tell me not to hit or I'd get a spanking. I also "turned out fine" but I mighta turned out finer, and not needed to apologize for bad childhood behavior to my now-adult siblings!

We just say, in our house we don't hit and have the same standards for behavior across the parent-child spectrum (no whining, no hitting, no yelling, etc). And she'll remind us of it too - "mama, I notice that you're whining."

[flapjack]

As far as discipline goes, another vote for the Mazlish/Faber combination. I've got or read How To Talk... and their book on Sibling Rivalry, and I think they're fantastic. I also really love the Dorothy Einon series, Your Baby at Play- she looks at various age stages, offers some suggestions on gentle disciplines and lots of ideas of how to interact with your baby, and things you might not have thought of.
On my pregnancy/childbirth shelf, there's a long list:
Nicky Wesson's Homebirth- Brit book, but fantastic.
Active Birth, by Balaskas- same again.
A lot of Sheila Kitzinger's writing, including Rediscovering Birth, which I bought and couldn't bear to give away.
Leboyer's Birth Without Violence- I used the pictures to explain to Alex that his brother was going to be born at home, and it's also a nice one to give to a father-to-be.
Spiritual Midwifery (obviously) and various breastfeeding books- the Nursing Mothers Companion, the Politics of Breastfeeding, and Melissa Benn's the Politics of Motherhood. I've also been reading Children First, by Penelope Leach- fantastic read, some fairly radical ideas though. And- normally- anything else on the subject I can get my hands upon. I'm hoping for Susun Weed's Wise Women Herbal for the Childbearing Year for my birthday- it would be very, very nice.

[hypatia]

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth -- Really excellent insight into how childbirth works, and lots of birth stories.

Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger -- the best standard pregnancy book I have read -- has lots of beautiful pictures.

Child Development books -- I went to the psychology section of Half Priced Books and got a couple used Developmental Psychology textbooks, which I really enjoyed. It's really interesting to read about how your baby's brain develops. I would like to read more developmental psychology, but I don't know what to read.

I have not found any good books aimed toward fathers.