I’m a reader and always have been. Naturally, one of the first thing I started doing was checking out some books and seeing what I could learn about all things baby.
First up — when I went to the doctor for my 6 week check up, she gave me the book, “Your Pregnancy & Childbirth Month to Month” This was the first one I dug in to and I really liked it. It was very straight forward, easy to read, and organized in a logical flow. I would definitely recommend this to anyone newly pregnant!
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Fresh off this book, and continuing my quest for knowledge, I took on the standard, “What to Expect When you are Expecting“. I know I’m in a minority on this one, but I didn’t really care for it. A lot of it seemed focused on absolutely every last thing that could go wrong. It was also organized differently and it didn’t seem to me like something I would want to come back to for reference very easily. I didn’t make it all the way through this one…overall, not my recommendation for moms to be.
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With my new found pregnant lady knowledge, the next topic I decided to tackle was ” Babyproofing Your Marriage“. I found some parts enjoyable and I laughed out loud at some of it, but I found some of it also as negative towards dads. This was something I hadn’t paid much attention to until I was actually pregnant, but I really don’t like the implication a lot of baby/marriage books make that mom is the only one capable of anything with baby and dad is merely the accessory to help her out. I was raised with two great parents who were both very involved in raising my sister and me. We are planning the same kind of partnership, and I never want to diminish Steve’s role as the hapless husband. Overall, this book was entertaining and we did use it for some discussion on how we would like to bring up our family.
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Steve read through the book I got him with his Father’s Day to be gift, “Dad’s Pregnant Too“. He found it entertaining, but again, somewhat diminishing of the man’s role in raising a child. Overall, it was the only “dad specific” book he read, so in fairness, he doesn’t recommend or not recommend it. :-)
Next up was our favorite book by FAR, “Bringing Up Bebe“. I first learned about this book when the Wall Street Journal ran an excerpt of it. This book is easy to read, entertaining, and I think brings up several good points that jive with how Steve and I were raised, and values we would like to instill in our children. Concepts that feel almost lost in the other parenting techniques currently in the news. We both really enjoyed this book, and if you are looking for a different perspective than what is frequently published, I highly recommend it!
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Still left to tackle: The Happiest Baby on the Block, How Do You Tuck In a Superhero, NurtureShock, and The Last Boys Picked. My library card is getting quite the workout!
What are your favorite pregnancy/parenting/raising boys/etc. books? Any that I should avoid?? I got 6 more weeks of reading time to fill!
I would have to agree with you. I did not care for “What to Expect” at all during my pregnancy. IN fact, a lot of scared the bejeezus out of me. I also did not make it through the whole book and would not recommend to anyone!