Which Parenting books do you recommend?

[mrscricket]

I have recently been put in charge of the Pregnancy & Parenting section of my work (bookshop) which involves ordering stock and recommending products to customers. Just wanting to get a few ideas from people of books they have read and found helpful OR a total waste of money - whether it be for pregnancy, help with sleep issues or breastfeeding, starting solids and general parenting with babies,toddlers and teens.
I used and really liked Birth (Catherine Price and Sandra Robinson), and Conception, Pregnancy and Birth (Miriam Stoppard) while I was pregnant. I have used and found helpful once my little chicken arrived - BabyLove (Robin Baker). I regreted buying What to Expect in the First Year. Starting solids I love BAby and Toddler Meal Planner (Annabel Karmel).

Any ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance girls!

[Lulu]

Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph is one of my faves

[MrsFabuloso]

Although I haven't brought it myself, a friend has a copy of 'Feeding the Bump' (can't remember the author. It has some great nutritional info and recipes in it for preggi mums, but can also be used for general good eating habbits too.

[Phteven]

Any of Steve Biddulph's books
Raising Boys
The Secret of Happy Children
More Secrets of Happy Children

Any of Dr Sears' books

The Science of Parenting

The Wonder Weeks

Anything by Pinky McKay is brilliant.

Waste of time - All the What to Expect series
Save Our Sleep - Tizzie Hall (I actually hide that one if I see it in a bookshop - I move them and cover them with other books)

[summerluven]

Haha...that is so funny that you hide that book. I bought it for a girlfriend and flicked through/had a bit of a read on the train on the way home and took it back the next day.

I second the votes for Conception, pregnancy and Birth by Dr Stoppard, and Birth by Catherine Price.

The Science of Parenting has been interesting so far.

But that is it for me...the only other book I have had is BabyLove, which sometimes I love, sometimes I loathed.

Will watch this thread with interest, i think I am in need of a good book now that he is developing into a real little person and isn't a baby anymore (stiffles a sniffle).

[sneakysparkle]

NOT the Babywise books

[FluffyLaRue]

Any of Steve Biddulph's books

Anything by Pinky McKay is brilliant.

Waste of time - All the What to Expect series
Save Our Sleep - Tizzie Hall (I actually hide that one if I see it in a bookshop - I move them and cover them with other books)

I think. I. Love. You.

I'd do the same if I saw one of those books!

I think Misconceptions By Naomi Wolf is a great resource for women- just because it's something you can relate too... Susan Maushart is another marvelous writer too

[Charmzy]

I really liked the whole 'what to expect' series, Ive got them all and found them very easy to read, full of useful info and just quick and easy to refer to when I was a bit worried about things... I've got SOoooo many parenting books its not funny, my friends use me as a library.. why buy them when I've got them all?! lol

I love 'Raising girls' and 'raising boys' SOOo practical especially as my kids have moved out of the baby toddler stage. I wasnt too keen on 'up the duff' personally but that seems to be a pretty popular one. I've got Babies and Toddler Taming and Beyond Toddlerdom for 5-12 yr olds by dr christopher green and found both of them light hearted yet informative. I've got Baby love and The mighty toddler but in all honesty I've barely touched them as I always go straight to my 'what to expect' set. For pregnancy I found 'ceasarean recovery' by Chrissie Gallagher-Mundy very helpful as I knew i'd be having a csect with my 3rd (and 3rd csect at that).

I also love 'The nappy bag book' a FANTASTIC and well priced resource guide for all parents of 0 - 5 year olds.

Also theres a book called 'When your child is ill' another one I refer to a lot if I'm at all concerned and the course of action for each concern has always been spot on to what I've been told by nurse on call if I called for more reassurance.

Okay enough rambling, I love my parenting books.. I read them all from front to back and take from each what I find useful

[paradise lost]

I don't read parenting books really, but i LOVE my pregnancy and birth books (secret midwife, lol) and would recommend:

ANYTHING by Shiela Kitzinger, especially Birth Your Way and Pregnancy and Birth and Birth Trauma
ANYTHING by Ina May Gaskin, especially Spiritual Midwifery and Pregnancy and Childbirth - both of those have masses of brilliant birth stories from a variety of women with a variety of births and outcomes. Both very inspiring to the aspiring natural birther and confidence-giving to the scared preggie mum-to-be.

[sushee]

My MUST-HAVE List

The Science of Parenting
The Wonder Weeks (if you can get you hands on it - every new mum should read it)
Pinky McKay's books

My NO List

Save our Sleep

Like Dach I shuffle the books around in the shops so that Save our Sleep is not the the first thing you see when you walk up to the shelf. :P Her marketing people must be guns at their work because her books are always front and centre .

[Smoke Jaguar]

I've got to say, I do have two 'What to Expect' books and I don't mind them. I have found them to be good references, and whilst I won't be living them word for word, I have taken what works for me. I wouldn't recommend them for other people, though, unless I thought they could take bits and not want to adopt the whole regime.
I agree, Charmzy, I didn't think much of UTD when I read it the second time. I read it years before I fell pg and thought I remembered it being helpful, so I borrowed it again when pg. I was reading it after I'd done a HypnoBirthing course and decided on gentle methods from then on...and it didn't gel at all with how I approached pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. Thankfully, by the time I was pg, I knew better than to take that book and subscribe to its ideas!
I love 'Raising Boys' too, as well as The Science of Parenting - all up my alley kind of books!
ETA: I thought I'd listed it, but Bec's reminded me - absolutely anything by Sheila Kitzinger! Birth Your Way is great.

[Lucy]

I would second what Dachloestar recommended: it appears we have pretty much the same books on our shelves!

When I was first pg with Olivia I literally bought every pregnancy & childcare book I could lay my hands on. They then gathered dust for a while, but by the time she was about 4 months old I started reading them.

As a result, I have now Ebayed most of them, but the ones I keep coming back to are:


Any of Steve Biddulph's books
Raising Boys
The Secret of Happy Children
More Secrets of Happy Children

Any of Dr Sears' books

The Science of Parenting

The Wonder Weeks

[Nai]

The only one I can recommend in addition to what has already been mentioned as a YES is a pregnancy resource which is "Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method by Marie Mongan"

[meow]

I'd second a lot of what has already been recommended and have to add a favourite, FANTASTIC book that sadly doesn't get mentioned enough "Children are people too" by Louise Porter. I judge a good book store by whether they have this one in stock

For fun I'd also stock "Porn for new moms"... it's SOOO funny!

[bronners]

LOVED:
Spiritual Midwifery - Ina May Gaskin
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin
Anything by Sheila Kitzinger
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering - Sarah J Buckley
Anything Pinky McKay
Anything Dr Sears
No Cry Sleep Solution for Babies (and the sequel for Toddlers & Preschoolers)
The Science of Parenting (great one for Dad as it is very science based and affirms the importance of secure attachment)

Not many people have mentioned breastfeeding books and I think "Breastfeeding... Naturally" Jill Day / ABA is awesome and just about all a Mum needs for general breastfeeding info.

I didn't like;
Up the Duff - yep I found it funny, but has no info that really prepared me for birth and I actually found the choices of the mother in the story really upsetting - the whole spiral of intervention situation ending up in a c sect.

I have browsed through Save Our Sleep at the book shop and hid it right at the back too!! Put No Cry Sleep Solution in it's place

[Ellee05]

I liked Kaz Cooke - Up the Duff , It was also good light hearted reading for DH. I freaked out when I started reading the What to expect when expecting that was combined with what to eat when expecting.

I also like - Robyn Barkers - Baby Love.