Book recommendations

[MB34]

Hi,

I'm 22 weeks and this is mine and my husbands first baby. Neither of us has had much to do with babies up until now and I was wondering if anyone can recommend any good books to read about pregnancy/the birth/the first few months or year etc!

Thanks

I loved the rough guide to pregnancy and have bought it since for a few pregnant friends. It's fairly light-hearted but includes lots of helpful information.
Congrats BTW!

Congratulations! The best two of the ones I had were:

Penelope Leach's Your Baby and Child
and
Feed your Child Well

What to Expect - the First Year is another useful reference.

If you're planning to breastfeed, then The Food of Love by Kate Evans is a good read. I wish I had owned a copy of this before I had DS!

There's one called something like 'Your baby week by week' which I found brilliant for when the baby was born. Really sensible, down to earth info and advice for first six months.

My MIL bought my DH a book called 'Commando Dad'. It sounds stupid but it's actually very good, and funny. DH likes it because it is very practical (he's quite sensitive and seems all up with expecting emotions etc)

I've been lent The Pregnancy Bible which I think is really good. Not sure I would have bought one myself but as its a lend its good reading.

I'm reading Your Baby Week by Week at the moment. It does seem good. Easy to read, not too dictatorial/routiney but good tips about how to make life easier for yourself where you can. Also lots of info about what's "normal" in various weeks and what to look out for.

However it doesn't cover everything - for example it seems to say nothing at all about tongue tie - so I would also suggest getting something a bit more encyclopaedic.

The Food of Love is great, as is The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I hate the title, but love the book and it has a lot of good advice on how to avoid panicking, trust your instincts and maintain a zen-like calm in the face of screaming.

I also read a book by Gwyneth Paltrow's nanny which insisted on a schedule, and it was just ghastly. If you see it, please don't buy it. The prayer she suggested you say over the cot was probably the most useful thing in it.

Anything by Ina May Gaskine!
It got me through labour without panic or fear!