New mums to be books?

[louisepx]

Hi looking for recommendations on baby books. I'm a first time mum to be in July and don't have a clue about anything :( and would like to start reading some books ... any recommendations would be appreciated:)! Xx

I liked how to grow a baby and push it out by Clemmie hooper. Chatty and funny which was a breath of fresh air considering most of the other books I read were pretty scientific.

Haven't read either yet but I brought these.

I had What To Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff. I liked it, it was reassuring and well organised. I also had the sequels - The First Year and The Toddler Years, but I never read them in so much detail as funnily enough I didn't have much time for reading by then...

Also liked the Jo Frost (supernanny) book, but that was much later, when we got to the tantrums and potty training stage.

The only ones I would recommend are Clemmie Hooper as mentioned above and Emily Oster's two books, Expecting Better (on pregnancy) and Cribsheet (on the first year of life). And then we used Your Baby Week by Week which was so helpful once the baby arrived.

I am a big fan of the positive birth book by milli Hill

Avoid the Contented Happy Baby Book by Gina Ford.
It makes everything sound so simple that you feel like an absolute failure when your baby still hasn't gone down for the scheduled nap that he or her should have woken up from by now.

I found Expecting Better by Emily Oster really reassuring. It’s quite sciency but explains some of the reasons behind the “rules” which makes it easier to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.

I have both What to Expect When You're Expecting and How to Grow a Baby. The Murkoff book is amazingly detailed and I surprised myself by reading through the entire introduction in just a few days. The Clemmie Hooper book doesn't have much detail for the first trimester, as it's more a collection of tips and advice, but is written in a down-to-earth, no-bullsh*t style. I'm only 7+4, so I'm not finding it too helpful at the moment, though that could just be because I'm bored; everything happens so slowly and silently at the moment that there's not all that much more to know yet.

The NHS have a weekly info newsletter you can sign up to, plus there are various apps that do the same. I've got the Baby Centre app, which gives you an update each week and has articles to read each day.