best books for new mum??

[fairibell]

right as a first time mum who never expected to be bringing her baby home (having lost our frist daughter last year at 26 weeks), We have muddled through until now (DD is now 10 weeks)! so think i need a book, want to get some kind of routine started... what would you recommend??

[Roskva]

Rachel Waddilove's book 'How to Enjoy Year One' saved my sanity. Although she proposes routines, she also promotes being flexible, and the way she writes is very sympathetic - there is no "thou shallt eat thy breakfast at 8am precisely".

I'm so sorry to hear about your previous experience. It is important too just to take time to enjoy your precious dd now.

[thehouseofmirth]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your first daughter. I can understand how you didn't dare prepare for this one.

Although I always thought I'd be a routine-type of mum actually I found the go-with-the-flow approach worked best for me and DS so I can't recommend any books for routines but
What Mothers do:Especially when it looks like nothing is a wonderful book to remind you what a fab job you are doing on those days when you don't feel like you are! I recommend anything by Deborah Jackson for giving you a differennt perpective on baby rearing and The Science of Parenting.

Congraulations, I hope you and your daughter have lots of fun together!

[thehouseofmirth]

Sorry for typos; I obviously can't type today!

[Mummyfor3]

Congratulations on safe arrival of your little one!!
For advice on various problems you may encounter with looking after a baby I really liked Dr Sears "The Baby Book". It covers the first 2 years, has lots of very useful suggestions but is not at all dogmatic and will never make you feel inadequate in you choices how to do things. It promotes "attachement parenting" which could be best described as baby-led parenting.
For a laugh read Vicky Iovine's book "The best friend's guide to motherhood", all so true and v funny .
Enjoy your baby, xx.

[Mummyfor3]

Oh, and Elisabeth Pantley's "No cry sleep solution" for when baba is a little bit older.

[onwardandupward]

I like Jan Hunt, "The Natural Child"

[Playdough]

I'd second the recommendation for the Sears baby book (and others in the same series), and I also like most of what Elisabeth Pantley writes (Hidden Messages is one favourite). Playful Parenting by Laurence Cohen might be good for later. And, even on my third baby, I keep going back to Penelope Leach's Your Baby and Child. (If only to provide some sort of aspirational model of perfect motherhood along with some very cute pictures of babies!) From the medical point of view, the Great Ormond Street New Baby and Childcare Book has offered much reassuring advice in the dark hours of various nights.

[bethdivine]

I'd recommend "What to expect: the first year" this goes through month-by-month and tells you what milestones your baby might be reaching or might typically be doing, but not in a worrying way if they're not doing it yet. Having read way too many baby books in the first 12 months, I'd say to new mums don't do what I did and expect to find the answers in a book - people kept telling me trust your instincts you know your baby best - but whenever I was faced with a problem I'd think that's such a ridiculous thing to say, I don't know what to do! I wanted to find the answer. Took me a long time to realise I could work it out myself with DS! - 3 months is a good time for them to fit into their own routine, so if you can maybe note down what time your little one feeds and sleeps over a few days, you might notice a routine forming that you can help on your way, doing things in the same order without getting too hung up on timings etc.

but there you go, I'm now 9wks pg with no.2 and determined not to pick up any books this time around - I'm sure that when uncertainty hits I'll be picking the books up again

Of the many I read, i found Sears and Pantley good as they weren't too prescriptive and didn't tell you when to do stuff. However, you do say you'd like routine, so you might like the baby whisperer stuff, she helps you get in a routine by doing things in a set order - eat, activity, sleep.

I'd recommend ordering a load from the library and seeing which suit you best.

[Sweetie34]

I secone "What to expect....." I have both What to Expect...when you're expecting and "What to expect...the first year". These are my 'bible' and I am on my second!

[Sweetie34]

I secone "What to expect....." I have both What to Expect...when you're expecting and "What to expect...the first year". These are my 'bible' and I am on my second!

[jenster1976]

Hi,
Congratulations - a friend bought me "what to expect - the first year" and I found it excellent. Covers everything and goes developmentally month by month. It's not prescriptive outlines different approaches / theories to things like sleep and feeding and gives pros and cons to help you decide. Don't think the follow on is as good then - toddlers aren't so easy to predict on a monthly basis I'm discovering!!