Books and Resources

During pregnancy and now parenthood, I have reviewed innumerable books and resources. My favorites made this list. I send this list to all my friends who are considering parenthood, are currently pregnant or adopting, or already have little ones at home. It’s not an exhaustive list and I keep a running list of additional resources I want to use, so I will likely keep adding additional titles over time.

Note that I have grouped resources by stage—e.g. pregnancy, birth, infancy, etc.—but I recommend reviewing them a stage early. For example, I think it is wise to read the pregnancy books while you are trying to conceive, the infancy books while you are pregnant, etc.

 

P.S. This article contains affiliate links. I may earn commissions on qualifying purchases made directly through these links at no additional cost to you. All of these products were selected based on my own independent research, not gifts or sponsorships, so you can trust that they are genuine.

Trying to conceive and pre-pregnancy

 

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

This is a great primer on women’s health. Whether you are currently trying to conceive or just seeking to better understand your health, this is a great place to start. In my opinion, a copy of this book should be handed to every woman at her first well-woman exam! If you’re new to understanding your cycles, you can also review this blog post.

 

It Starts with the Egg

The author, a female microbiologist, found that women’s doctors rarely equip them with a research-backed understanding of fertility, and so she wrote an easy-to-understand summary of the actual science behind healthy pregnancy. With a focus on vitamins and healthy living, this evidence-based book provides an excellent practical guide to getting your body ready for pregnancy. One of my favorite features is that each chapter ends with a bullet-pointed summary of easy-to-follow steps.

Pregnancy

 

Brain Health from Birth

Written by the same author as It Starts with the Egg, this book lays out an easily-implementable plan from pregnancy through the first year of life to support a baby’s brain development. As with ISWTE, the author focuses on practical supplements and healthy living, and summarizes to-dos at the end of every chapter.

 

Real Food for Pregnancy

This book provides an outstanding guide to nutrition during pregnancy. The author is an RDN (registered dietitian nutritionist) who previously was the nutritionist for a high-risk OB practice. She started diving into modern nutritional guidelines for pregnant women and realized that very few are actually research-based. In this book, she provides real, scientifically-backed guidelines for diet during pregnancy. This is actually her second book; her first is similar but is written for women who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I have not read it but expect that it would be an outstanding resource for anyone with that diagnosis.

 

Expecting Better

This book came about when an economics professor was ready to grow her family and found an abhorrent lack of research-backed information available to pregnant women. Each chapter covers a previously-vague topic of pregnancy, from how much alcohol you really can drink, to weight gain guidelines, to birth methodologies. This book does cover the process of conception as well, so I consider it one that should be read early and then revisited throughout pregnancy.

 

The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy & Childbirth

This book has one chapter for each week of pregnancy, with each chapter devoted to a single topic. This makes it a quick read, and the information is easy to digest and remember since it is spread out over nine months. The topics are mostly relevant to women who are interested in an unmedicated birth, so if that’s not something you’re interested in learning about, you can probably skip this one! I appreciated a lot of the information and felt it prepared me well for an unmedicated birth with Miss F; however, as with many natural birth-focused resources, some chapters can come across as a little anti-doctor. If you’re wondering why someone might choose to pursue an unmedicated birth, you can read a little bit more about it here.

Childbirth

Note that these resources are focused on unmedicated childbirth, since my husband and I set that goal. You can read more about the research behind unmedicated births and our decisions here.

 

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth

If you’re interested in an unmedicated birth and could only read one book, this is the one I would recommend. It does an excellent job explaining what to expect during labor, which in my opinion is half the battle in achieving an unmedicated birth. The first half of the book is all birth stories, which frankly I skipped, but you may find them interesting and inspirational. As with many natural birth resources, this book does have a bit of a bias against doctors and hospital births; however, if you can sift through that, the bulk of it is valuable content.

 

Mama Natural Birth Course (virtual class)

If you’re looking for a birth course focused on an unmedicated experience, both my husband and I enjoyed this one. I felt a lot of pressure to pick a birth “method,” but this course did a great job explaining the course of each stage of labor and how to cope, or even embrace, each one. It had a lot of practical tips for both mom and dad, and I felt like it was a good visual complement to the various books we read.

 

My husband and I also read Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth, and I debated including it in this list. It was actually the first book we read about unmedicated childbirth, and it helped to demystify that concept for us. We also liked that it places a big focus on the husband supporting the wife in practical ways throughout labor. However, we felt that overall the book had a bit of an old-fashioned tone, and we gathered most of the same information from other resources, which is why I chose to not include it in this list. However, if a friend had time to read it, I would encourage her to do so just to have another perspective on the unmedicated birth process.

Breastfeeding

If you choose to go this route :)

 

The Boob Group (podcast)

This podcast was the single most helpful resource for me as I prepared to attempt breastfeeding Miss F. I especially liked the episodes titled “New Breastfeeding Mom Manual: Weeks ____” (they have different episodes for different weeks) because I had no idea what to expect. They have hundreds of episodes tailored to very specific situations that you may find helpful. For example, I also listened to ones about how to spot a lip or tongue tie, as I had multiple friends whose little ones had experienced this and I wanted to be prepared. I typically listened through the iPhone podcasts app while I walked or exercised leading up to Miss F’s birth.

 

KellyMom (website)

Whenever I had a breastfeeding question while nursing Miss F, I would google it and articles from KellyMom.com almost always popped up. I really appreciate this site, because Kelly does an excellent job providing evidence-backed information without implying any guilt or shame that can often be associated around struggling to breastfeed. I ended up bookmarking this site and it was the first place I searched for any topic involving breastfeeding or pumping.

 

I also highly recommend scheduling several sessions with a lactation consultant, ideally an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant). Many insurances cover their services, and some hospitals employ them so new moms have access to their services for free. Ideally you could take a class from one while pregnant, have one observe you nursing within the first 24 hours after birth, and have a handful of subsequent meetings with one during the first few postpartum weeks.

Note: While I did read some books on breastfeeding, I found them all to be very opinionated and not always research-based. From what I experienced, every woman’s breastfeeding experience is different (which makes sense, since every woman and baby are different), so any resource that dictates a strict black-and-white formula for success probably isn’t the best. I preferred resources that answered questions, helped with troubleshooting issues, or gave a general idea of what to expect.

General Child-Raising

 

Cribsheet

Written by the same economist as Expecting Better, this book reviews the research on parenting hot topics such as sleep training, starting solids, and potty training. I really appreciate that the author removes any personal opinions or bias and just presents the research to allow the reader to decide for herself.

 

Bringing Up Bébé

More of a lighthearted read; the author is an American expat living in Paris and she compares French vs. American parenting styles. It doesn’t read like a parenting book, but I actually learned a lot about various parenting techniques by reading it (and it’s a fun read).

Routines and Sleep

I’ve found baby routines to be one of the hottest parenting topics. No one method is right for every family. You can read about the research that led us to choose these methodologies on the blog.

 

On Becoming Babywise

I found this book to be the most helpful resource for suggested routines for different ages, and it was a great introduction to understanding the pattern of infant sleeping, eating, and wake time, which is the key to good nighttime and nap sleep. I consider it the foundation of Miss F’s great sleep habits. A very helpful complimentary resource is the blog Chronicles of a Babywise Mom.
Note that if you google Babywise, you’ll see that somewhere along people started saying it was a dangerous method for babies (i.e. not feeding them enough, responding to their needs, etc.). I’m honestly not sure where they got this information, because the book is all about learning your infant’s natural rhythms and cues, always feeding a hungry baby, and responding quickly to any other needs. It is not a cry-it-out method.

 

Taking Cara Babies Newborn Course (virtual class)

Taking Cara Babies (TCB) follows the same principles as Babywise, but provides a lot more practical tips and troubleshooting. My husband and I found that if a Babywise routine wasn’t working for us, TCB provided tips on how to tweak it to make it fit our family. While there is a lot of overlap between Babywise and TCB, I am glad we used both. I can best explain it by saying that without TCB I would have gotten easily frustrated, and without Babywise I would have felt a little lost when trying to establish a routine. TCB also offers a 3-4 month e-book resource and a 5+ month class, but Miss F had such great sleep habits established that we did not have to purchase those. The TCB Instagram has a lot of great free resources as well.

 

The Happy Sleeper

This book is a great compliment to both Babywise and Taking Cara Babies, and I appreciated that it spent a lot of time going through the research-backed, evidence-based information on baby sleep. It ultimately made us really confident in our approach to Miss F’s sleep. We started using this book around 4.5 months when Miss F was becoming more aware of her surroundings and we wanted to help her start to learn how to fall asleep on her own with minimal to no crying.

Baby Led Weaning (BLW)

If you plan to introduce solid foods with this methodology. Unsure if BLW is for you? I plan to do a blog post explaining BLW soon, and the book Cribsheet recommended above has a great chapter on it.

 

Feeding Littles Infant Course (virtual class)

Feeding Littles is run by an OT specializing in feeding intervention and a Registered Dietician Nutritionist, so I trusted its guidelines. All the information in the course can probably be found for free elsewhere, but the course does a great job distilling all the information down to what you actually need to know to get started. In my opinion, it’s well worth the money to not feel overwhelmed and know you'll be set up for success. If you only had the time or money for one BLW resource, this is the one I would invest in. The Feeding Littles blog and Instagram also are great resources.

 

Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide

There are tons of books out there on BLW but this is the original one. It does a good job of outlining the pros and potential cons to the method, as well as providing a really thorough guide on how to do it well.

 

Solid Starts (website)

When first starting BLW, I frequently used the free food lookup feature available on the Solid Starts website. The feature provides nutritional information, recommended introductory age, and recommended preparations (to reduce choking risk) for a large number of foods, and is very helpful as you are getting used to BLW. I personally have not purchased any of the paid guides from Solid Starts but have heard positive reviews about them as well.

 

I also recommend the Instagram account @kids.eat.in.color. It provides a lot of great information about toddler nutrition and preventing or overcoming picky eating.

In addition, I strongly recommend that you and anyone else who will be supervising or feeding your child get infant CPR certified, no matter what method you use to introduce solids. We did this online course, but there are many resources available (just make sure the one you choose is certified).

Behavior and Discipline

Discipline is another hot parenting topic. Of all topics I’ve covered on this website, it is the area I feel the least educated and equipped to make recommendations (probably because with a toddler, my husband and I are in the thick of figuring this all out for ourselves!). I have a long list of other books I want to read, so it’s likely I’ll keep updating this list over time. Despite all the books and resources I have read, I have not found one that seemed like the magic solution for us. As with many parenting decisions, I believe it is wise to review a number of resources and then use common sense to pick out the parts that feel right for your family.

 

The Whole-Brain Child

This book is written by a neuropsychiatrist and focuses on the progression of child brain development and its impact on behavior. It provides practical tips on how to respond to various behaviors based on the age of your child and their stage of brain development. This book has helped my husband and I differentiate between inappropriate behavior and developmentally-expected behavior, and it has given us tools to respond appropriately to both.

 

Don’t Make Me Count to Three

This is a Christian book that is based on the concept of changing children’s hearts, not just their outward behavior. It provides many examples and implementable techniques to speak to your kids about their behavior and gently train them to understand and correct it themselves, even when no one is watching. While I found a few aspects of the book a little more rigid than what I am comfortable with, overall I have found the book very helpful as a Christian parenting resource.

 

I also recommend several Instagram accounts: @biglittlefeelings, @transformingtoddlerhood, and @janetlansbury. I personally don’t agree with 100% of the content on these accounts and have modified their tips to fit our family, but they each have provided enough helpful information that I feel compelled to recommend them. The owners of these accounts also offer paid resources (online courses, books), but we have not felt the need to purchase any of them.

Potty Training

 

Toilet Training in Less Than a Day (what we used)

While this book is older and less known than some other resources, we used it with great success. We potty trained Miss F the week of her second birthday with this method, and she was fully trained in about four hours (and it was a fun process for both of us!). By fully trained, I mean she was wearing big girl panties, was going both #1 and #2 in the potty, could self-initiate going to the potty without any prompting or expecting any reward, and could empty her little potty into the toilet and flush. Within about a month she also was out of pull-ups for naps and nights with no extra “training” required. Since then, she has only had two accidents—once playing with friends at the park she had a small leak, and once during airplane travel she held her urine for nearly 24 hours because she was scared of the airplane toilets and had another small leak. Since the book is older it has some outdated language, but you probably can tell why I’m still such a big fan. Side note: my mom actually used this book to potty train my brother and I when we turned two, and had the exact same results!

 

Oh Crap! Potty Training (we read, but did not use)

This book is by far the most popular one within my circles. Even though we didn’t use this method, I am still glad I read it because I felt like it provided a lot of helpful tips about how to talk about training to your child. We ultimately decided against using it for several reasons, but primarily because we felt the process was very drawn out and wouldn’t fit Miss F’s personality. Also, while I appreciated the author’s wit and snark, I felt like she made the reader feel like if they followed any other advice, they would definitely fail (which obviously wasn’t the case for us). I do think that this method is probably the most foolproof one readily available to parents, so I would consider using it if potty training early or late or if you’ve attempted potty training previously without success.

Faith-based

 

Risen Motherhood

I first found Risen Motherhood on Instagram and began listening to its podcast on walks with Miss F. I later read the book, and to this day, the Risen Motherhood resources are my favorite faith-based guides for moms. Two young mothers founded and wrote (and still run) Risen Motherhood, and they are very relatable—sharing deep, applicable truths without any judgment or prideful tones. All of their materials are completely grounded in Gospel Truth and are written/produced in short, easily-digestible formats to fit into busy moms’ schedules.

 

Take Back Your Family

Our church small group recently read this together, and we agreed it was a very powerful book, challenging the way we all viewed our families (in a good way). Without giving too much away, the author examines the predominate family structure we see today, and makes a case for why it really isn’t as great as we think it is. He provides tangible examples application points of how to focus your family less on the individuals and more on the team unit, and the incredible life-giving impact this can have not only in your home, but also on society.

Miscellaneous Resources

Most of these are websites, blogs, and Instagram accounts that I have found helpful throughout various stages of parenting.

 

Baby Gear Research (safety and toxicity)

Milestones & Development

 

Health and Non-toxic Living

Education & Miscellaneous