My reading life took a sharp turn when we decided it was time to start trying for a baby. I’m the type of person who loves to read any and all books about topics I’m currently curious about. Naturally, this was no different when it comes to pregnancy books! Today I’m sharing some pregnancy and parenting books I’ve already read or am currently reading to prepare for having a baby.
Pregnancy and Parenting Books I Finished
Real Food for Pregnancy
This is a great read even if pregnancy isn’t totally on your radar yet. The way you eat for months or years in advance will affect how your pregnancy goes, not to mention how your monthly cycles go before pregnancy! I feel much more confident about how to eat to nourish my body well from this book.
Expecting Better
I adored this book. Emily Oster is an economist who, when she discovered she was pregnant, wanted to find out the whys of common pregnancy advice and the numbers behind them. I feel that way too! She looked up tonnnns of studies and her training as an economist makes her well-suited to interpret the data. I particularly like how she gives you the facts and lets you make a decision for yourself. With no shaming. It was also helpful to read what decisions she made and why. I never felt like I needed to make the same exact decisions as her when reading (well, except maybe the decision not to smoke and do hard drugs, but I digress). This book made me feel a lot more confident when it came to navigating things like lunch meat, scooping the litter boxes, and choosing which prenatal tests to do.
Bringing Up Bébé
As someone who has lived in France for a year, I found this book fun and nostalgic. The author definitely had a strong French bias – as in, the French parenting way is THE way. That being said, there were still a lot of good things in the book and I’ll probably revisit it again in the future. It’s worth reading as food for thought and a look into another culture, even if you don’t plan on following the advice.
Pregnancy and Parenting Books I’m Currently Reading
Before You Were Born I Knew You
This book is all about “praying for your pregnancy, birth, and baby.” Phylicia is one of my top 3 favorite Instagram follows. I’ve learned so much from her over the years about theology, parenting, and pregnancy! So far I’m loving this book. It’s encouraging and also gives me ways to pray over my pregnancy, upcoming birth, and baby in ways I wouldn’t have thought of (especially since this is our first!). Would highly recommend purchasing this ebook!
The Mama Natural
I picked this up based on the advice of Nancy Ray and love it so far. I’m going against my grain and NOT reading ahead. The chapters are divided into weeks of pregnancy. Each week gives you an update on what’s happening with your body, with baby, and some advice for the pregnancy in general. I love the more natural approach to birth and am so enjoying reading this one as I go.
On Becoming Baby Wise
This is a book that Charles and I are reading together. I’ve been somewhat overwhelmed when it comes to all the different parenting styles and philosophies. Since we’ll both be working after baby is born, I felt that a structured parenting style made more sense for us, so this is what we’re starting with. I’d love to read books with other philosophies as well, but I haven’t stumbled across any yet. I would love your recommendations if you have any!
Husband Coached Childbirth
I only got a few pages into this book before I had to flip to the front and check the date it was originally published. Since this book was written in 1965, the way it describes hospital births is very much outdated. Even so, it was fascinating to hear about how childbirth often took place in the early 20th century and see how it evolved over the years. For example, oftentimes the fathers weren’t even allowed in the delivery room. Even today, while it would be crazy not to expect a husband or father to be in the delivery room, there’s still an idea that he’s a mostly useless person in there. I love how this book brings about awareness of a husband’s supporting role and changes his role from mostly passive observer to active participant and coach.
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
This one came recommended by a LOT of people I trust. Even though I had heard about it for years and knew that there was a lot of New Age influence, I really didn’t know much about it until I started reading. Spoiler: there’s a lot of New Age influence. I started by reading the birth stories in the beginning. They were all positive and encouraging, but some of them felt a little out there to me. I’m currently skipping ahead to the second section of the book which is more about the physiological process of natural childbirth, which is much more helpful and informative for me. It’s definitely worth a read if you’re intrigued by natural childbirth!
Retro Baby
This book came recommended by Emily Thomas on her wonderful blog and has a lot of solid advice on hitting developmental milestones. I started skipping around in it because I felt like it was a bit too early for me to find it useful. It would definitely be a book handy to have on the shelf when we have a little one learning to crawl around. In the meantime, I’m using it to figure out which baby gear I should register for, or as more often the case is, which I should NOT. This book was also helpful to skim before we looked at daycares, as it gave me more specific things to look for and questions to ask.
P.S. Emily has some other great recommendations on pregnancy and parenting books here.
Simplicity Parenting
This is another one that feels a bit too early for me to be reading without an actual child in our home yet. I’ve started skimming this one as well and plan to come back to it when our baby is a little older. It’s all about how simplifying brings about real and significant mental health benefits for your children. As I crave a simple and more minimalistic household anyways, this totally jives with me.
What pregnancy and early parenting books do you recommend?
Almost all of the books I’m reading I’ve found through recommendations. I’d love to hear what books you’ve read and found interesting, useful, or encouraging!
