Books for Mothers to Be or Young Moms

There are many books on pregnancy and the growing years of your baby. Here are the books I found helpful for myself and recommend to other moms or moms-to-be.

Pregnancy
The Pregnancy Countdown:Nine Months of Practical Tips, Useful Advice, and Uncensored Truths by Susna Magee. This is my second pregnancy and I'm enjoying just as much as I did the first time around. It's a small book with a couple of pages for each week of your pregnancy of practical tips, advice, and information about your baby, you and preparing for your baby. Here is an example of some humorous advice in week 26:

how to respond to comments at the gym..."are you sure you should be doing that in your condition?" or "Have you asked your doctor if that's safe?" Your response, "What condition?" and "I am a doctor." How to respond with raging hormones..."when are you do?" Your response, look at your watch, "any second now."... "Wow, you're huge!" Your response, "Yep, I'm pregnant, what's your excuse?"

Of course there are more serious comments as well describing your baby or the changes in your body.

New Moms
Being a Calm Mom.How to Manage Stress and Enjoy the First Year of Motherhood, by Deborah Roth Ledley. If you are having anxiety or depression or just plain nervous about being a new mom (like I was), this book was recommended me to and helped to alleviate some of my personal fears.

The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp. This book and DVD were recommended by my Pediatrician as well. Here is a short explanation of the book from Amazon.

Learn about swaddling, side/stomach position, shhh sounds, swinging and sucking. The book includes detailed advice on the proper way to swaddle a child, the difference between a gentle rocking versus shaking and more.

This book helped my husband and I out a lot when it came to calming our son on his bad nights. If you don't understand or believe his theories when you read the book, then watch the video. He shows his techniques on real patients. There are also links in the back of the book for finding his website or classes near to you that can also review the techniques with you and your baby. My husband and I attended the class and received the DVD as part of the class price.

The Happiest Toddler on the Block: How to Eliminate Tantrums and Raise a Patient, Respectful, and Cooperative One- to Four-Year-Old, by Harvey Karp. We haven't viewed the DVD yet, but Dr. Karp explanation of how the toddler's brain works and how to talk to them makes a lot of sense. Learning to speak "toddler-ese" takes practice, but has helped us with communicating with our 20 month old son and I feel it has alleviated many tantrums.

More Books to come...