What books to read to prepare for pregnancy?
If you’re preparing to become first-time mum and feeling intimidated with the mass of information regarding pregnancy and childbirth, Your No Guilt Pregnancy Plan is a good place to start.
Packed full of helpful tips and advice to get you started, this book offers easy to read, bitesize chunks of information that can inform and reassure without overwhelming. It also offers prompts to help you consider your choices during childbirth, allowing you to feel more empowered and informed when the big moment arrives.
What books should I read when trying to conceive?
If you’re considering starting a family or taking steps towards conceiving, you may prefer a book that is focused on fertility and conception rather than pregnancy.
Some popular choices that have been tried, tested and recommended by Mumsnet members include Taking Charge of your Fertility and The Impatient Women’s Guide to Getting Pregnant, both of which focus on the steps you can take to prepare your body for pregnancy, monitoring your ovulation cycle and maximising your chances of getting pregnant.
What books should I read in my first trimester?
It really depends on what you're looking for from a pregnancy book - for a science-based but still accessible and relatable book telling you what to expect at every stage of pregnancy right through to the first few months after birth, you can't go wrong with experienced midwife Marie Louise's The Modern Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond. If you're looking to explore hypnobirthing techniques and tricks, we'd recommend Siobhan Miller's Hypnobirthing book. For something a little more lighthearted, Nobody Told Me by Hollie McNish is guaranteed to give you a few much-needed laughs during pregnancy.
How we chose our recommendations
There are a huge number of pregnancy books to choose from, some covering the entire pregnancy journey and others more specialist or niche in focus.
In order to make sure we were confident with our recommendations, we thoroughly investigated expert online reviews and tried and tested experiences on retailer sites such as Amazon and Waterstones, as well as our Mumsnetters' own recommendations on the books they read and enjoyed during pregnancy. We also looked out for books that were no longer relevant, contentious or potentially outdated to ensure our choices reflected the latest medical advice.
We researched the pros and cons of each pregnancy book, including its format, the complexity of the information and the reputations of the authors. Finally we looked at which pregnancy books worked best for each scenario to bring you our final list of recommendations.
About the author
Mum-of-three Jenny Wonnacott is a Content Editor for Mumsnet, specialising in writing, editing and optimising pregnancy care and child play content.
Before joining the content team at Mumsnet, Jenny worked as a journalist for newspapers, radio, TV and b2b trades magazines for over a decade. She is also a bestselling sci-fi author (writing as J M Briscoe) and parenting blogger.
As a parent of three primary school-aged children, Jenny is passionate about making Mumsetters' lives easier through rigorous research of all items recommended in buyers' guides such as these, as well as product reviews and expert advice on all things pregnancy and child play related.
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