Learn the best books for a smoother pregnancy if you’re a first time mom.
If you are like most women when you are pregnant, you want to spend a little extra time on yourself.
This might include eating healthier, getting a prenatal massage, or cuddling up with your pregnancy journal.
While you are doing your best to successfully grow your little bundle of joy, why not expand your knowledge of all things pregnancy, delivery, and parenting while you’re at it?
Here are 12 books for first time moms – breastfeeding, labor, delivery, bringing home your newborn, and beyond to help you feel more confident in this new journey called parenthood.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting Gift Set
The classic What to Expect When You’re Expecting and What to Expect in the First Year.
No mother to be should go without reading these books! This is definitely a book that covers all the bases and as been the number one recommended book by doctors to pregnant women for the last 25 or so years.
Not only does this book cover pretty much everything you would need to know about pregnancy, labor, and delivery, but there is also some great information in there for the dad’s too!
Bonus: What to Expect Pregnancy Journal and Organizer
This pregnancy journal is a great companion to the What to Expect When You’re Expecting book.
Cherish every moment of your pregnancy by journaling things like your’s and your partner’s reaction to the positive test to every little kick and hiccup that you feel.
Keep everything organized and in one place, such as your birth plan to gifts that you have received so that you can send out thank you cards later.
Conception, Pregnancy, and Birth
Written by Dr. Miriam Stoppard, this book is practically a bible for expecting mothers. It covers everything you need to know from actually getting pregnant to a few weeks after you take your new little bouncing baby home.
It includes a month by month walkthrough of everything you and your baby are going through as far as development and changes in your body.
Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting
What makes the French culture so interesting?
Other than their phenomenal food and rich wines? Their parenting styles.
American journalist Pamela Druckerman realized very quickly that the French have a very different way of parenting than Americans do when she had a baby while living in Paris.
Babies in France sleep through the night very early on, eat gourmet food (not fries and chicken nuggets), and parents seem to be less stressed. So what’s the secret? You will just have to read the book to find out!
Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool
Speaking of sleeping better…
While it’s great to read books for first time moms that are all about pregnancy, what about everything that happens AFTER?
Getting baby to sleep through the night has countless benefits to both baby and mama.
Everyone has an opinion on how you should raise your baby these days, your mother, your friends, co-workers, trolls on social media, it can be frustrating and disheartening when you don’t know what the “right” thing to do is.
Author Emily Oster addresses and debunks myths around sleep training, breastfeeding, potty training, and beyond. This book is a hard-hitting, factual packed read that will have you feeling relieved at the end of it and confident in your decision-making as a parent.
Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong–and What You Really Need to Know
From the same author who brought you Cribsheet, comes Expecting Better, a book and guide for the modern mom.
When you find out we’re pregnant, you are given a list of things you can and can’t do but never really given the information as to WHY you can’t do things like drink coffee or eat sushi.
An easy to read, data-driven approach to pregnancy that will have you expecting better when you are expecting.
The Sh!t No One Tells You About About Pregnancy
While we would like to think that pregnancy is all about that “glow,” that is simply not the case for most women. A funny yet heartfelt pregnancy book that covers everything from finding out your pregnant to well beyond those first few wonderful (and potentially stressful) years.
This book for moms is sure to have you give you all the information you need to survive this whole pregnancy thing while keeping a smile on your face.
13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do: Raising Self-Assured Children and Training Their Brains for a Life of Happiness, Meaning, and Success
Pregnancy, labor, birth, bringing your baby home from the hospital, getting them to sleep through the night, potty training, the first day of school all have something in common.
They can all be very mentally taxing on a parent.
So how can you make sure that you are prepared for what is to come without having a mental breakdown in the middle of Target while you’re buying toilet paper? Well, for starters, you can read this book!
Learn the tactics that will help both you and your kid become a mentally strong person and tackle life with meaning and enthusiasm.
Eating for Pregnancy: Your Essential Month-by-Month Nutrition Guide and Cookbook
The old saying of “eating for two,” does not give pregnant women the permission to gorge themselves on juicy burgers and giant milkshakes every day (although, admittedly, that sounds delicious!).
While the occasional sweet is fine, eating for two should mean lots of veggies packed with folic acid and other essential nutrients to promote baby’s development.
The eating for pregnancy guide not only shares educational information on how to eat to help your baby properly develop but also shares delicious recipes to get you through month by month without feeling deprived.
The First-Time Mom’s Pregnancy Journal: Monthly Checklists, Activities, & Journal Prompts
Pregnancy brain is real yo!
Like how many times can you put your phone down in the same place and forget where you put it every time?! While you might think that you will remember all of the joys you experience during pregnancy, the truth is, you will likely forget.
This beautifully designed and inspirational pregnancy journal will help to keep all of your special memories safe and also includes writing prompts for when you just are really having a brain fart.
This journal will also help you to stay organized (lord knows we need more of that!) and creative daydreaming prompts like how you would like to design the nursery.
So grab your fancy gel pens and get writing!
The Milk Memos: How Real Moms Learned to Mix Business with Babies-and How You Can, Too
This book is essential if you are returning to work and plan on breastfeeding.
While technically not related to pregnancy, this book is packed with useful information on how to navigate breastfeeding while working full-time. The book is based on a few professional working mothers who journaled to each other while in their work’s lactation room.
This guide for working mother is encouraging, heartwarming, and real. You will quickly realize that you are not alone in trying to balance a career and a baby. Yes, it is a struggle, and yes, you can make it through!
We’re Pregnant: The First Time Dad’s Pregnancy Handbook
Of course, we had to add in one book just for the dads out there!
While being a mom for the first can be a roller coaster all in itself, often dad’s don’t have a clue what they are doing, sorry guys!
This pregnancy handbook for dad will help him to understand things like how to help you put together a birth plan and suggestions on how he can be your ideal partner through this whole process. This book takes him beyond the pregnancy though and will help him thrive as a new daddy!
While there is a lot to take away from this book, it is also a funny and lighthearted book for first time parents that he is sure to actually read.
Your pregnancy is a magical and wonderful time. While hopefully, you have the opportunity to relax and enjoy your time to yourself before your little one arrives you should also make sure you are prepared.
While there are many, many books for first time moms to choose from and I’m sure you wish you had the time to read all of them, the books above are ones that I highly recommend for all soon to be moms.
Knowing Helps Ease The Thought of Childbirth
Yes, there might be fear because you feel you don’t have all the information, but rest assured, these books will help you fill all those gaps.
Be prepared for your labor and delivery with these handy guides!
Over to you – which book is your favorite?
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