Pregnancy/Birth/Motherhood books - how to use them and our top picks!

The minute you get pregnant, everyone you know (or don't even know quite often!) will send you a million and one book recommendations! Now, whilst it can be super helpful to take advice from others (and we know that people are only ever trying to help share what they have learned) we think it's super important to, take book recommendations on board, but make your own mind up about whether it's a book that you actually want to read and take any notice of!

Why? Well, pregnancy (especially your first pregnancy) and preparing for birth and motherhood can be a really confusing and overwhelming time as it is with a million and one decisions for you and your partner to make about your labor and how you want to parent. And whilst books are certainly super helpful for providing you with all the key facts and information surrounding all the key considerations, we think that reading too many/relying too much on them can become really confusing and overwhelming! 

There are SO many pregnancy/baby/motherhood books available on the market now and all with slightly varying views, opinions and methods so our top tip is to take your time in choosing which ones you want to read and then be selfish with what you actually end up reading and using. Just because your best friend or sister swore by advice/a method in a certain book it doesn't mean that you have to love it! If you're reading something and it doesn't fit with your views and outlook towards a certain element of pregnancy and motherhood then stop reading it (especially if it's making you feel confused, overwhelmed, anxious or angry!). Even as a first time Mama, your gut instinct and natural intuition will end up guiding a lot of your choices around labor and motherhood far more than you realise. So do use all of the fantastic, informative resources that we are lucky to have available to us but do so with caution...refer to them as much as you feel you need to help guide your decisions but don't hesitate to put them down the second they feel like they are hindering not helping your natural intuition as a Mama! Oh..and make sure to read some super positive and funny books, not just the serious ones because all this pregnancy/labor/motherhood stuff can get far too serious at times and a good dollop of humor always helps! 

The Well Mom Movement recommends

Here's some of our top pregnancy/labor/new Mama book recommendations, why we like them and how they (might!) help you (disclaimer - we haven't read every single page of all of the below as we took our own advice and skipped certain sections that weren't fitting with our personal views or we simply had a moment of feeling overwhelmed with info and needed to put the book down!)

1. The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hill: A new approach to Pregnancy, birth & the early weeks

Why we liked it - full of key, no-nonsense info on all of the things you might not know about as a first time Mama including building your birth plan and your choices in birth (did you know you have Human Rights in birth?). A really positive and empowering read including some refreshingly honest accounts from women of their birthing experiences...this book actually talks about all those things most people don’t (like pooing in birth and what labor pain actually feels like!).

2. The Calm Birth Method by Suzy Ashworth - your complete guide to a positive hypnobirthing experience

Why we liked it - whether you want to fully embrace the hypnobirthing method or just use a few of the key affirmations or ideas that resonate with you, we fully recommend this book to all first time Mamas as a way of helping you get into a really positive and calm mindset before labor. You can’t help but not feel totally empowered when reading this book - we’d even go as far as to say it helped us feels excited (yes you read that right!) about what our incredible mind and body is capable of in labor.

3. The Wonder Weeks by Hetty Van de Rijt 

Why we liked it - this is one of the most straight-forward and sensible (psychology based) baby books we found. It’s not trying to tell you that you have to use some complicated sleep training method or specific feeding routine but, instead, it very clearly explains the key developmental stages that your baby will go through and why you may experiences difficulties with their sleep and behavior at specific weeks/time periods. It’s a really fascinating insight into how a baby experiences the world through the first 20 months of its life so that you can understand your baby and its behavioral leaps (and adapt your parenting techniques from there).

4. How to grow a baby and push it out by Clemmie Hooper

Why we liked it - Written by a midwife and mum of four, this book provides a really easy-to-read (but still informative) account of what to expect during pregnancy and labor, straight from an experts mouth and with a refreshing dose of humor and wit! This is one of those great books you can pick up and dive in and out of without feeling like you’re lost every time you pick it back up (perfect when trying to read with pregnancy bran!). 

5. Happy Mum, Happy baby: my adventures into motherhood by Giovanna Fletcher

Why we liked it - this isn’t a fact-filled book on the stages of labor or parenting methods but it is a really heart-warming and refreshingly honest account of the ups and downs of motherhood. It’s a wonderfully positive and personal account of motherhood which leaves you feeling encouraged and confident in yourself as a mother. 

6. The Unmumsy Mum by Sarah Turner 

Why we liked it? A refreshingly honest and VERY funny account of motherhood by a Mum of three boys. This book had us laughing out loud as Sarah tells her stories of parenting from the good, the bad and the hilariously ugly!! We finished this book feeling much more relaxed about motherhood and a lot less pressured to be the ‘perfect’ first time Mum some books make us feel like we need to be!! 

Got your own pregnancy/baby/motherhood book recommendations? Leave your comments and let us know!