Pregnancy Books for a First Time Mum

[Botanica]

Looking for some recommendations - what were the best books you read and why?

My amazon basket is currently overflowing and I want to choose just a few that will be interesting and informative reading before picking up a book becomes a long and distant memory!

So far I'm enjoying The Mindful Mother and Real Food for Pregnancy, and about to start How to Grow a Baby by Clemmie Hooper.

Any other must reads?

I would recommend the positive birth company's book ok on hypnobirthing and JuJu Sundin's book on preparing for labour

Depends really on how you like to think about things. For me, Expecting Better by Emily Oster is at the top of my list as it provides the facts about various things you're told about so that you can make your own informed choices. I also like Milli Hill's The Positive Birth Book - I found it reassuring to read (and much more thorough than the Clemmie Hooper book). Just finished the Siobhan Miller hypnobirthing book and would definitely recommend that one too as her tone is very readable and she provides techniques for calming stress that could be used during pregnancy as well as for birth!

Like @Weathergirl1 just suggested, I'm also reading The Positive Birth Book and I'm finding it so helpful and hard to put down! I'm a bit of a study bug so really like that it's impartial and full of the facts to inform you and help you make the best decisions for you. I found Clemmie Hooper entertaining but a bit too anecdotal for what I was after, but that's just personal taste.

Your Pregnancy Day by Day is a massive book but really enjoyed the science behind baby developing and it's full of practical advice. It is huge though!!

I've also bought Positive Breastfeeding Book and Your Baby Your Birth which I'm yet to start.

I highly recommend Bump by Katie Evans. Hillarious illustrations, up to date information, inclusive and not over whelming.

If you’re looking for books that deal with when baby is here, I love First-Time Parent by Lucy Atkins. It deals with everything you could want to know right from delivery through to first birthday. I’m a very clueless FTM and I feel way more confident having read it.

I read Holly Willoughby’s baby book. I knew literally nothing about babies - this book was great because it covered all the basics without being in anyway preachy or pushing a certain parenting style, and it’s written very conversationally, not like a textbook. It’s very much like ‘some people do this, some this and this worked for me - or it worked for two of my kids but not the other one because of x y z.’ Very flexible view on parenting. Loved it.

Oh and it covers a lot of pregnancy and birth stuff as well.