My favorite pregnancy book was “The Best Birth”. It seemed like every book I read basically said women who were interested in natural childbirth were delusional or that women who wanted an epidural were negligent and uninformed. That was the only one I read that I genuinely felt respected all the different ideas it discussed.

I loved What to Expect too. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about this book but I thought it was useful. There were parts I didn’t agree with and talked things over with my doctor but overall, I loved it. I bought the follow up books as well. I think the problem is not any one book is going to be perfect for anybody and ultimately us moms have to do what we feel is the right thing for our babies and ourselves. As much as any book or in-laws or breastfeeding Nazi nurses told me to feed on demand it wasn’t working for me. When my doctor asked me in my son’s 2 week appointment how breastfeeding was going I broke down and cried. I was ready to quit because I felt so much pressure from everybody including all the baby books to breastfeed on demand, I was ready to throw down the gauntlet and give up. My doctor explained that I should not feel guilty if I needed to put my son on a feeding schedule and get daddy to help out sometimes. If mommy was not happy, milk supply would not be at its premium, the baby would be able to sense my distress and who knows maybe I would have been affected by depression because I thought I was such a failure for hating breastfeeding. From there on I took all advice in, including any book’s advice, but only used what worked best for my family, through trial and error of course. I ended up breastfeeding for 5 months instead of 2 weeks. By the way, I’m not advising anyone to do what I did, my son was closely followed by our family doctor, we never missed an appointment and I always had a list of questions for her.

FIrst time moms should NOT read BABYWISE or any cry-it-out books. They take away all the fun and joy. All you need to do is hold and kiss the baby as much as you can. Crying it out will not help your child sleep, at least not before age 6 months. I have 3 children and I know.

Right on Annie and Danielle! That book is crazy!

Don’t agree with the What to Expect book on the list…..and, trust me, I tend to get paranoid….but that book was my bible, loved it….we’re now on What to Expect The Toddler Years…

The What To Expect books are great! Why are some women so afraid to inform themselves about anything other than NCB practices?

Totally agree with Annie…

I loved Jenny’s book! Yes I used it more for comic relief but it was educational none the less. Especially the poo chapter! I had NO IDEA about that so it was nice that she was pretty open about all that, made me feel a lot better in the “prude” area.

*things
My bad, I’m NAK

I’d like to nominate “Knocked Up” by Rebecca Eckler, the two most astonishinly vapid, vain, selfish, and just plain ignorant mommy memoirs I’ve ever encountered. Eckler makes Iovine (Girlfriend’s Guide) look like Ina May Gaskin.

Actually, I can almost recommend them, in a reverse psychology kind of way – because NO ONE wants to follow that example.

A stunning book that everyone SHOULD read, but one should definitely wait until they are not pregnant anymore, is “Having Faith: an ecologist’s journey to motherhood” by Sandra Steingraber. It’s one of the most beautiful books about pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding that I’ve ever read – but if you’re pregnant, it’ll scare the bejeebus out of you learning about every little thing affecting our environment that can be found in your pregnant body.

I’d add Up the Duff by Kaz Cooke to the list. Totally useless. One of those ‘ friendly’ woman to woman books that more or less tells you that you’re a freak if you want to stay active and healthy during your pregnancy because you should be eating icecream, getting fat on the couch and then, oh surprise, end up having a c-section. Horror show! The woman’s attitude is all wrong as far as I’m concerned.

I liked What to Expect… I have been studying pregnancy and things of the nature for while (I’m going into nursing), so I mainly just used it as a way to see approximations of how my baby might be developing. I thought that it was interesting, I would just remind myself that every person and every pregnancy is different, and if I ever had any concerns my doctor was consulted. The best advice I can give is that you know you best, and when in doubt ask your health care provider. There is no shame in aynthing you may be feeling, thinking, or going through in this time in your life, so go ahead and get informed. Do not doubt yourself. You can do this.

My ND/Midwife called it “What Can Go Wrong When You’re Expecting”

Add to that list “Skinny Bitch, Bun in the Oven”. It is HORRIBLE. The woman is SO MEAN. She says that if you take Tylenol for a headache, you are POISONING your body, that if you can’t handle the aches and pains, then you shouldn’t have gotten pregnant. The information is so extreme that my husband and I skimmed it and alternated between rage and laughter. Normally, we donate our used books, but this went right into the garbage because we didn’t want any other woman to read that stuff and actually believe it!