Baby books

[Auspicious]

For the infant stage, ones I found helpful were

Happiest Baby on the Block for soothing a newborn
Nursing Mother's Companion for breastfeeding along with kellymom.com (especially videos of proper latching and how to tell when they're actually drinking)
Sleeping Through the Night for sleep stuff (for older baby more than newborn)
Babycenter.com for basic questions--so easily searchable

It's a fascinating stuff--I'm excited for you!

[ladymoreta]

Ooh yeah, I forgot about Babycenter! Definitely join your due date month's birth club! It's great to have some insight into what other women who are in the same stage (of pregnancy and later child raising) are going through.

[DCJenn]

Not having to deal with newborn issues, I managed to avoid most of the panic inducing books that everyone here has referenced. I prepped for dude's arrival by reading books about reactive attachment disorder and other scary issues.

That said, my one piece of advice is to remember that most people make it to adulthood in spite of their parents, not because of their parents.

Jenn

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Thanks everyone! This is a nice, complete list! Time to get our B&N membership again

I've been reading "The Girlfriend's Guide to Gear" - it's so awesome!! I am flying through it (right now), and going to go back and make up some lists later!

That said, my one piece of advice is to remember that most people make it to adulthood in spite of their parents, not because of their parents.

Oh, I know - and I know that Kris and Heidi both were laughing reading my post - since they've met DH I think a lot of his paranoia stems from current issues that are going on with his brother and his parents. Couple that with the fact that we are both the oldest, and know our parents did things "better" (and some things worse) with subsequent kids Oh, and throw in a bit of that, "If I can study for it, I can master it" mentality! This is a baby, dude, not Step 3!

[Vanquisher]

Books are great, but the best thing you can do is go with your gut unless you parent like my sister, then you're doing it wrong.

You guys will do great!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thirteen]

Oh, and throw in a bit of that, "If I can study for it, I can master it" mentality! This is a baby, dude, not Step 3!

We're seeing that even now in our household. We both are researchers/preparers, so Mr. Bean likes to dump us on our butts a lot.
I would say that taking it all in stride and practicing acceptance of what is, versus your expectations, seems to be working well.
That said, DH is still like "Uh, I don't know what I'm doing here. Can you look up ____ or get out the book on ____?"
(He brought me a "Clinician's Guide to Breastfeeding" when I had a milk question. It was all med jargon. Le sigh).

[Vishenka69]

Agreed, no amount of reading can prepare you for caring for a newborn. Until you actually do it, you'll have no clue. And then when you think you've figured it out, they change the whole routine on you. Good luck. The less expectations you have, the better off you'll be in the end.

[diggitydot]

We have three stooges who have amazingly survived this long with us only ever having delved into a single baby/parenting tome so obviously take my view with a heavy grain of salt (and maybe some lime and tequila).

It isn't rocket science. Trust your gut and don't beat yourself up over the occasional lapse of zen. Kids are far more resilient than their parents.

[v-girl]

Just watch for projectile poop and you'll be fine. No, seriously, K could shoot 4-6 ft across a room if you opened his diaper at the right time. They didn't talk about that in the baby books!

[MarissaNicole]

Someone gave us Babywise and I'm reading it to draw my own conclusions, but based on what I've read here I also just ordered Healthy Sleep Habits; Good Night Sleep Tight (Sleep Lady); and Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. My goal is take the buffet or cafeteria approach and read all in order to learn the different theories/techniques and just go with my gut.

[SoonerTexan]

A friend of mine gave me Baby 411

Interesting to revisit this thread now that Baby N is here! Ha, I had just found out I was pregnant when I originally posted! I actually borrowed the book I posted about from my mom so I can read it again while N is eating.

They gave us Baby 411 at the hospital and it calmed some of our initial fears. DH read it a lot in the first few days, but it has sat untouched for awhile.

I keep finding myself at Dr. Sears website...it seems to jive best with us and be the least "militant"--love their breastfeeding section

As for Babywise...I mentioned in another thread someone gave me the books at my shower. My mom is reading them in detail now...she's laughed out loud at some of the stuff in there so far. Honestly, though, I can see how it would be REALLY tempting as we deal with getting breastfeeding to work right now. I kind of got in that mentality to begin with and looking back I can see how it wasn't helping. "She just ate 45 minutes ago...how can she be hungry again?" Keeping it up would have totally derailed us, though--I'm finally accepting she eats/sleeps whenever the hell she wants to and that is what is going to work best right now. Weirdly, we are getting more sleep when we let her eat/sleep as she pleases. In fact, last night, she slept almost 5 hours and I had to wake her up to eat. Then she went on an eating rampage for the next hour. Maybe that's bad...I don't know. But waking her up when she is in a deep sleep to eat just doesn't work.

PS--LOVED the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. We actually just checked it out from the library instead of buying it--it's not something you really need to watch again to reference. I forced DH to watch it...he didn't really want to and then go really into it after he did. He's better at swaddling than I am because of the DVD and honestly better at getting her to sleep most of the time too!

[Pollyanna]

I keep finding myself at Dr. Sears website...it seems to jive best with us and be the least "militant"--love their breastfeeding section

Love the Baby book from the Sears. I find it very reassuring and right on the money for nearly everything.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Love the Baby book from the Sears. I find it very reassuring and right on the money for nearly everything.

It's the only book we have Love the website as well!

[ladymoreta]

My goal is take the buffet or cafeteria approach and read all in order to learn the different theories/techniques and just go with my gut.

This is what I did. I loved all the different perspectives, and it's great to have lots of ideas already if one author's approach doesn't work for your baby.


Laurie

[Auspicious]

My goal is take the buffet or cafeteria approach and read all in order to learn the different theories/techniques and just go with my gut.

Thumbs up to this. My gut needs a fund of knowledge to draw on.