Pregnancy and Birth Books

This is the best of the best for new and old parents. I didn't read this until my 3rd and still found out all kinds of new things. The book is well thought out and planned. Easy to understand but most of all PRACTICAL. The ideas presented in this book don't require you to have a PH.D to apply. Nor does it require a six digit income to supply the items suggested for use. The women who wrote this book are obviously mothers. Which doesn't seem to be a requirement anymore for giving advice. (ha ha).

I got this book a week ago at the local library (an older copy, probably from the first printing) and thought I'd check it out. I figured that if it gave me ANY ideas on stuff to do with my 3 year old, 2 year old, and 2 month old during this rainy weather we are having that it would be a good choice. So I got it home and read through it, and I LOVE this book! I've used several things in it for my 3 year old and my 2 year old, and found that there's a lot of stuff in the 2 sections that line up really well for the different ages. I'm not too creaative when it rains too much so this book has come in very handy, and its given me ideas that I may not have come up with at all if I hadn't checked the book out from the library. After 2 days of referencing this book I told my husband that I was buying it as soon as I could find a copy of it. He agreed with me after looking through it himself. I am very impressed with this book and am suggesting it to everyone I know with little kids, its already becoming a lifesaver and I dread taking it back to the library if I don't have my own copy beforehand.

I can't believe nobody has wrote a review for this book! I first bought The Breastfeeding Book by Martha and William Sears. That book was boring and awful. They are negative people. I had already read The Everything Pregnancy Book and The Everything Baby's First Year Book and LOVED them both so I decided to buy this book. I couldn't put this book down. The information in this book is very helpful and I still look back in it. My baby was in the NICU and her first night she was fed formula in bottles. The second day she was fed my pumped breast milk and formula because my milk was still coming in. She got used to the bottles and made it VERY CLEAR she was not interested in learning how to latch on. I use the nipple shields made by Medela so I can breast feed my baby. Even though I use the shields I still have questions and this book answers them all! You WON'T regret buying this book!

This book is wonderful. Being the oldest of nine breastfed kids, I've been around breastfeeding all of my life and thought I knew everything. Little did I know once I had my own daughter and started breastfeeding. I've learned so many interesting things and gone, "Oh, so that's why this is happening" while reading this book! It is very easy to read, has instructions from a lactation expert and gives examples of positions, milk storage, how to treat sore nipples, etc. Really, everything you need to know about breastfeeding is included.

It's a must have for any mom who plans or is breastfeeding her children. It's comforting too as you find out that you're no the only experiencing things and the book explains why it's happening. I've already loaned out my copy to a friend and will start giving this out to any friends at baby showers. It's just that good!

When I was expecting, I heard everything about pregnancy and birth EXCEPT for the emotional aspects of maternity. This book filled in the gap for me. When I went through the moodiness, the mixed feelings, the soaring joys, and even the disappointments of this major life transition, this book paved my way. I own two copies and recommend it to all my childbirth classes now!

I have never found a book (and I own many, many on the subject!) about pregnancy and childbirth, and the adjustment to parenthood that covers the emotional changes as well and as thoroughly. Stern covers things never touched on in any book I've read, and does so with humor and an openness that is refreshing, regarding her own pregnancy experience and those of friends. I plan use information from this book in my Childbirth Education classes, and can't thank Ellen Sue Stern enough for writing this book.

This book is fabulous! It is filled with great tips, gorgous photographs, and sexy clothes. Has a lot of sophisticated style and wonderful advice this book is both eye candy and a great read as well.

This book is fabulous. It is packed with great tips, gorgous photographs, and sexy clothes. It is filled with sophisticated style and useful information making it the perfect mix of eye candy and a great read. I bought to give as gifts.

I have 3 children and this is the best book for new parents out of anything I have ever read. EVER. I cry every time I read it and my "baby" is 10 now. I can't part with my copy, but I buy it for every new parent I know.

Want to know what a newborn baby thinks and feels??? Read this.

This book reminds one of the true joy of being a parent. In a truly lovely, caring, holistic way, the author describes what being a parent truly means: what it means to your baby, and what it can mean to you, if you immerse yourself in the experience. It's sometimes hard to make that paradigm shift from an independent person to someone on whom another is wholly dependent, but this author caringly explains how and why it must be done, and what wonders a parent will experience if they make that transition fully. I highly recommend this beautiful, motivational book.

I particularly liked the fact that Ms. Reuben takes a good look at what the couple should do before pregnancy, including the father-to-be role. Not much is usually said about all of this part. Here is an ounce of prevention that can save a lot of heart break after birth.

It is often believed that birth defects only affect other families -- those who are older, have a pre-existing genetic or medical condition and those who regulalry use alcohol, cigarettes or illegal drugs. The Healthy Baby Book dispels these myths. Birth defects can and do affect any family! Fortunately, with The Healthy Baby Book, you can reduce your family's risks.

Included in the Healthy Baby Book are those steps you can take before, during and after pregnancy to prevent birth defects. Before Pregnancy, author Carolyn Reuben focuses on the importance of preconception care, pre-existing medical conditions, occupational hazards and the father's role in creating a healthy baby. During Pregnancy discusses the importance of prenatal care, stress reduction, diet and nutrition, over-the-counter, prescription and recreational drugs, environmental toxicants, the importance of exercise, the role of infectious diseases and the effects of common procedures during labor and delivery. Finally, After Pregnancy discusses infant feeding, SIDS and your child's environment.

Perhaps what I like most about The Healthy Baby Book is that each section includes steps you can take to reduce your family's risk for birth defects. Moreover, Ms. Reuben often suggests other available resources from organizations you can contact to additional reading you can do.

Overall, The Healthy Baby Book is an excellent and essential resource for all prospective and current parents! I urge you to read and share the information with anyone of childbearing age. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Ms. Hallett has clearly and beautifully addressed the "other side" of postpartum days. Aside from the physical, the days and weeks after birth offer each mother the gift of awareness. Awareness of the child, her life and herself. These stories of women experiencing the first nudges of spiritual awakening through motherhood push us all to examine our own experiences with our children. The pages ask us to consider the existance of something more powerful around us. It is a one of a kind book, daring to look at the most powerful time in a woman's life. Thank you, Elisabeth Hallett, for recognizing the miracle of this time.

While I often pour through a book from cover to cover within a day or two, not so with Elisabeth Hallett's _In the Newborn Year_! I savoured it for weeks! With every revelation and each reported experience, I was cast further and further adrift on a sea of my own thoughts and memories, recalling with amazing detail my experience of that intense, joyful and sometimes tumultuous time of life referred to as the postpartum.

This book was definitely not what I expected! More than conventional stories of mother/infant bonding, Ms. Hallett gives us intimate and thought-provoking glimpses into her own and other women's postpartum experiences, which for many include voyages into exotic imaginal realms, and mysterious, sometimes disturbing altered states of awareness. From the blissful to the surreal, no two experiences described in her book are alike, yet they are connected by a common thread. The message is that even the most difficult of postpartum journeys are transformational opportunities for the psyche which may lead, not only to a deep and more intimate connection between mother and child, but also to greater levels of personal growth and self-awareness, and the birth of enhanced creativity and freedom. My only regret is that _In the Newborn Year_ was not yet published when I began my own journey into motherhood!

Well written, factual information wrapped in wit and sensibility; a must read for anyone pondering the complexities of motherhood!

Unlike other books on the topic, this book offers rare (amazing) insights on what it truly means to be a woman experiencing motherhood for the first time. It not only offers an invaluable perspective on the psychological transformations one goes through, but also lends amazing tips on what an infant and toddler goes through. A GREAT GIFT FOR ALL MOMS! and dads.

Journey Into Motherhood is my soul companion, spiritual midwife, and dream catcher. Each time I open its pages, I am stimulated, comforted, and gently nudged into focusing upon the miracle of generation and birth, to laugh at and feel fellowship about my fears, large and small, and most importantly, to re-enter into the pure power and majesty of motherhood. Leslie Kirk Campbell challenges and heartens us, sharing an oracle of wisdom both ancient and contemporary, heartrending and inspiring, practical and poetic: her own unique, wholly embraceable, extremely empowering vision of motherhood. Her book accompanies me to every baby shower...it is one of the most useful gifts I have ever received, and I am definitely passing it on. Thank you, Leslie Kirk Campbell, for giving so generously of your special brand of lucid, humorous honesty and of your very sage, very fine, very full mother's spirit!

Journey Into Motherhood is my soul companion, spiritual midwife, and dream catcher. Each time I open its pages, I am stimulated, comforted, and gently nudged into focusing upon the miracle of generation and birth, to laugh at and feel fellowship about my fears, large and small, and most importantly, to re-enter into the pure power and majesty of motherhood. Leslie Kirk Campbell challenges and heartens us, sharing an oracle of wisdom both ancient and contemporary, heartrending and inspiring, practical and poetic: her own unique, wholly embraceable, extremely empowering vision of motherhood. Her book accompanies me to every baby shower...it is one of the most useful gifts I have ever received, and I am definitely passing it on. Thank you, Leslie Kirk Campbell, for giving so generously of your special brand of lucid, humorous honesty and of your very sage, very fine, very full mother's spirit!

My son Antonio is now 1 year old. And hadn't it been for Lorraine Kelly's book I wonder how he would be eating nowadays. HEr book and eating plans gave me the assurance I needed on how and what to do for him. And most important, creating a healthy eating habit that will, hopefully, last until his adult age. What we eat is one of the most important elements in staying healthy and Antonio is living proof. So far, he has not had anything, barely had even a cold. And nothing better for a mom than a healthy child. Highly recommend her book, don't miss out Moms.

I bought this book last year when my baby girl was 5 months old and it saved my sanity.
Not only does it provide a wide variety of recipes from early weening right up to toddler stage but you can learn what needs baby has and how to satisfy them and keep them healthy.
The menu planners are not something you should take literally but are a guide to what you could give and have often helped me when I've been stuck for ideas.
My sanity was saved as I was becoming obsessed with the idea that I didn't know what to give and if it was healthy or not. I didn't like buying processed or powdered baby food all the time even though they aren't going to do any harm, especially the organic versions. I found it just as easy to prepare and freeze a batch of different foods every Sunday, and use them through the next month.
In fact I love this book so much I'm buying my friend in Florida a copy.