Books recommendation

[Jemma7]

Can anyone recommend some good books for pregnancy, birth and how to cope afterwards - also baby names.

I have been looking on Amazon but there are so many to choose from i just don't know where to start.

Thanks in advance

I used Mirium (sp?) Stoppard's book 'Conception, Pregnancy and Birth' (I think that is what is was called). I read it lots. Poss too much! What I did find useful, however, was buying the magazine 'Pregnancy and Birth' every week / month / whenever it was out. I love magazines and it had loads of useful stuff in it. This is also where I got my free baby names book from too.

Many congrats by the way. Have been reading your comments on the 'anyone . . ' thread for ages and am chuffed for you!

HTH

I'd go to a bookshop like Waterstones where you can grab a few likely-looking books and sit down and look through them. There are loads of very informative books, but the style/attitudes vary a lot and what suits one person doesn't suit another.

Pregnancy; I had "What to Expect When You're Expecting" which is a nice format (month by month) with lots of info. You do need to read it with a pinch of salt though - some of the advice is a bit over-paranoid, and it does describe every possible nasty thing that might happen to you! The NCT book "Being Pregnant, Giving Birth" was much more positive.

Afterwards; What to Expect the First Year - similarly informative and slightly paranoid. (Very important to completely ignore the nutrition section of this series of books or you may go bonkers).

Beg or borrow "The Contented Little Baby Book" and "The Baby Whisperer" and see if either of these methods appeal to you. (although I thought the Baby Whisperer stuff was great when I was pregnant, when DD arrived I couldn't figure out how to put it into practice...).

The NCT do a whole range of books that are very sensible and practical. I got them from the library and read them all a bit too late (read the Sleep one after dd was used to going to sleep only on my arms; read the weaning one after I'd weaned her far too early..). Did actually read their breastfeeding one in advance and it was very good. I knew more than the midwives in the hospital, which was fortunate for dd.

Baby names - buy a selection from a charity shop (then you can scrawl on them!).

Thanks alot - A few people have mentioned "What to Expect When You're Expecting" so i think i'll give that a go!

Like the fact that i goes through month by month.

Am I wrong in saying 'What to expect. . . ' is an American book? I was given a copy by my mother who had picked it up in the states whilst pregnant with my little sister. It does go into lots of detail. Myrium Stoppards book is set out month by mnth too, but is not so in-depth. It does, however, look at current social issues too. (single parents, older parents, siblings etc.)

I bought "The Best Friend's Guide to Pregnancy" by Vicky Iovine. It is American but the UK publishers have put lots of footnotes in to make it more appropriate for the UK (such as "in the UK it is not usual to have interna examinations every month" thank god).

Found it really good. VERY down to earth and also funny. Also pretty accurate as well and I enjoyed reading it.

The NCT's books are good, all research based stuff. For breastfeeding I liked Breast is Best, by Dr Andrew Stanway.

Don't forget the obvious too, I wish the Mumsnet book was around when I had dd !

They do a British Edition of the What to Expect series as well

Life after birth by Kate Figes - this is prob better read after you have the baby - it helped me cope with the shock of being a mum and know I was not alone in my panic with first child/lifestyle change etc. Contented Little baby Book is good for feeding/sleeping routines but I would recommend following loosely otherwise you can become obsessive! The Miriam Stoppart book mentioned by Mum2ella is quite good for pregancy but a bit outdated and in my opinion slightly inaccurate in places - i also read it a bit too much!

Best Friends Guide is great IMO, although she's very hospital/medical focused.

Do remember to buy some frivolous novels as well. And some chocolate. And go to bed one afternoon and glory in your opportunity to gorge on both!

I picked up a copy of Best Friend's Guide... in Tesco and hated it pretty fast. The author says that she tried to continue weight lifting in pregnancy. This caused placenta abruptures (not once, but twice), and therefore exercise in pregnancy was obviously bad, plus a sign that you A) weren't ready to accept that a post-pregnancy body would never be perfect, and B) were foolish because pregnancy was a good excuse for not having a perfect body. Just because this women was stupid enough to continue with exercises that stretch abdominal and back muscles and ligaments in opposite directions, the same ones that hold your uterus tightly -- sorry, completely ruined her credibility. There were other bits in the book I didn't like, but her patronising and ill-informed attitude...No book is perfect, but this one drove me crazy.

I liked the Rough Guide to Pregnancy.It went week by week with a 'diary' of someone who had all the niggles I did. Very funny and informative. About a tenner - have browse in Waterstone's though. I got What to Expect: The first year and the Best Friends Guide from Oxfam.

Congratulations BTW

Personnally I dislike M Stopard immensely and not keen on "what to expect"....
To me Birth and Beyond by Yehudi Gordon is EXCELLENT and very thorough.

I absolutely loathed "What to expect..." and I didn't adore Miriam Stoppard. "Girlfriend's Guide" I have a love-hate relationship with, it amuses me at points, but the anti-exercise rant and the pro-doctor stuff gets to me. Plus she's a tiny little thing with no bust when she's not pregnant, and I have trouble sympathizing with anybody who's idea of a horribly gigantic size is 10.

I like Kaz Cooke (called "Up the Duff" in Australia and "A Bun in the Oven" in the US). For pure data, I'm fond of "Your Over-35 Pregnancy Week by Week", but aside from the age thing it's another American book.

I really liked the "What to Expect..." book but would agree with the poster who said to ignore the nutrition section.

Here is more info on cranial osteopathy for babies and where you can find one

Also read this

Sorry wrong thread !

the Rough Guide was my total favourite.

I liked Best Friends Guide and Fat Ladies Club too. Miriam Stoppards First Time Parents book is the only one we found that involved fathers, so we consulted that a lot.

I never got "What to Expect" cos a friend warned me off cos she looked up something a midwife told her she had and it said it was fatal. She hasn't died yet, and it's two years later.

I've been following 'What to expect...' month by month, which is a handy way to set the book out. It is pretty clear and practical, but I agree that the nutrition and weight-gain section is to be ignored. It is quite dictatorial about how much weight you should put on when, so that I worried stupidly at first because I wasn't putting on any and then because I was putting on too much - in fact I have alternated and am quite within 'norms' as a result! I think it is American but adapted for British readers (uses kg, though).

I quite liked what to expect, but like all of these books you take bits from it and discard the rubbish. I like the pictures of what your baby would look like this month, what size it was etc.

Agree with comments about What to expect - I got the one relating to the first year and then toddlers, and they've been great. Wish I'd known about the pregnancy one at the time. You do need to take some of what they say with a pinch of salt (a bit overreactive on some points), but it's helpful to have everything you could possibly need to know spelled out at the 'right' point though.

I actually found Vicky Iovine's book a bit hard to stomach at one sitting, though dipping in and out was OK.

The NCT breastfeeding book called 'Bestfeeding' was invaluable - wish I'd read it before I had feeding difficulties as I think it would have prevented them.

I was recommended the Great Ormond Street book on pregnancy and child care by my SIL, and it has proved very good, as it covers the 0-5 age really well with excellent sections on child development and how you can support the various stages your child goes through.. It's less strong on pregnancy, but this I found was better covered in other books.

I got Libby Purves's book - How not to be a perfect mother - free with a pregnancy magazine, and it is absolutely wonderful. It made me laugh out loud loads. She is full of tips on how to cut corners, and a great reminder that it is impossible to do everything right. Read all the others and then finish with this one to get a good balance!

Weel bought 2 in the end - both Miriam Stoppard (Which maybe wasn't such a good idea)!

Think they were called, "Conception, Pregnancy & Birth" and the other just a smaller "Pregnancy & Birth" handbook!

Will defo invest in some more as the 2 i've got are quite similar (Considering they are both Miriam Stoppard, i should've realised they would be really)