Book picks similar to
Bottled Up: How the Way We Feed Babies Has Come to Define Motherhood, and Why It Shouldn’t by Suzanne Barston
parenting
non-fiction
nonfiction
feminism
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: The Wisdom and Science of Gentle Choices in Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting
Sarah J. Buckley - 2005
A doctor and a mother, she approaches the question of how a woman and baby might have the most fulfilling birth experience with respect for the wisdom of both medical science and the human body. Using current medical and epidemiological research plus women's experiences (including her own), she demonstrates that what she calls "undisturbed birth" is almost always healthier and safer than high-technology approaches to birth. Her wise counsel on issues like breastfeeding and sleeping during postpartum helps extend the gentle birth experience into a gentle parenting relationship.
How to be a Happier Parent: Raising a Family, Having a Life, and Loving (Almost) Every Minute
K.J. Dell'Antonia - 2018
In this optimistic, solution-packed book, KJ asks: How can we change our family life so that it is full of the joy we'd always hoped for? Drawing from the latest research and interviews with families, KJ discovers that it's possible to do more by doing less, and make our family life a refuge and pleasure, rather than another stress point in a hectic day. She focuses on nine common problem spots that cause parents the most grief, explores why they are hard, and offers small, doable, sometimes surprising steps you can take to make them better. Whether it's getting everyone out the door on time in the morning or making sure chores and homework get done without another battle, How to Be a Happier Parent shows that having a family isn't just about raising great kids and churning them out at destination: success. It's about experiencing joy--real joy, the kind you look back on, look forward to, and live for--along the way.
Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age
Mary Pipher - 2019
Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be.In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. "If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully," Pipher writes, "we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent."
Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood
Sandra Steingraber - 2001
Now, 38 and pregnant, she had become a habitat—for a population of one.Having Faith is Steingraber's exploration of the intimate ecology of motherhood. Using her scientist's eye to study the biological drama of new life being knit from the molecules of air, food, and water flowing into her body, she looks at the environmental hazards that now threaten pregnant and breastfeeding women and examines the effects these toxins can have on a child. Having Faith makes the metamorphosis of a few cells into a baby astonishingly vivid, and the dangers to human reproduction urgently real.
Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe
Sarah Mae - 2013
It's for those who have ever wondered what happened to all their ideals for what having children would be like. For those who have ever felt like all the "experts" have "clearly" never had a child like theirs. For those who have prayed for a mentor. For those who ever felt lost and alone in motherhood.In" Desperate" you will find the story of one young mother's honest account of the desperate feelings experienced in motherhood and one experienced mentor's realistic and gentle exhortations that were forged in the trenches of raising her own four children.Also in Desperate:* QR codes and links at the end of each chapter that lead to videos with Sarah Mae and Sally talking about the chapter* Practical steps to take during the desperate times* Bible study and journal exercises in each chapter that will lead you to identify ways in which you can grow as a mom* Mentoring advice for real-life situations* Q & A section with Sally where she answers readers questions
Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness
Catherine Cho - 2020
Before the trip’s end, she develops psychosis. In desperation, her husband admits her to a nearby psychiatric hospital, where she begins the hard work of rebuilding her identity.In this memoir Catherine reconstructs her sense of self, starting with her childhood as the daughter of Korean immigrants, moving through a traumatic past relationship, and on to the early years of her courtship with and marriage to her husband, James. She interweaves these parts of her past with an immediate recounting of the days she spent in the ward.
Real Food for Pregnancy: The Science and Wisdom of Optimal Prenatal Nutrition
Lily Nichols - 2018
A lot of the advice you’ve been given about what to eat (or what not to eat) is well-meaning, but frankly, outdated or not evidenced-based. In Real Food for Pregnancy, you’ll get clear answers on what to eat and why, with research to back up every recommendation. Author and specialist in prenatal nutrition, Lily Nichols, RDN, CDE, has taken a long and hard look at the science and discovered a wide gap between current prenatal nutrition recommendations and what foods are required for optimal health in pregnancy and for your baby’s development. There has never been a more comprehensive and well-referenced resource on prenatal nutrition. With Real Food for Pregnancy as your guide, you can be confident that your food and lifestyle choices support a smooth, healthy pregnancy.
How Do You Tuck in a Superhero?: And Other Delightful Mysteries of Raising Boys
Rachel Balducci - 2010
Her subject matter can be found climbing through the window, hanging on to the edge of the roof, and always at the refrigerator. Here she chronicles the exuberant, awesome life of boys through conversations overheard, rules she's been forced to make, and the many episodes of boy behavior that continue to mystify mothers worldwide. From the care and feeding of her team, to travels out in public, to their wide-eyed adoration of Walker, Texas Ranger, this laugh-out-loud celebration joyfully explores the sweet and wild side of boyhood.
Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old: A Step-By-Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success
Suzy Giordano - 2006
In this simple, straightforward book, Suzy Giordano presents her amazingly effective "Limited- Crying Solution" that will get any baby to sleep for twelve hours at night—and three hours in the day—by the age of twelve weeks old.Giordano is the mother of five children and one of the most sought-after baby sleep specialists in the country. The Washington Post calls her a baby sleep "guru" and "an underground legend in the Washington area for her ability to teach newborns how to achieve that parenting nirvana: sleeping through the night." Her sleep plan has been tested with singletons, twins, triplets, babies with special needs, and colicky babies—and it has never failed.Whether you are pregnant, first-time parents, or parents who seek a different path with your second or third child, anyone can benefit from the Baby Coach’s popular system of regular feeding times, twelve hours of sleep at night and three hours of sleep during the day, and the peace of mind that comes with taking the parent and child out of a sleep- deprived world.
Unlatched: The Evolution of Breastfeeding and the Making of a Controversy
Jennifer Grayson - 2016
In Unlatched, Jennifer Grayson, an environmental journalist and mother of two young breast-fed children, puts “common knowledge” to the test by breaking down the complex social and political factors that have altered breastfeeding practices around the world for decades.Since the rise of baby formula in the early twentieth century, breastfeeding has gone from a basic biological function to a never-ending controversy and hot topic in the media: an Instagram photo of Blake Lively breastfeeding her daughter gained 367,000 likes was posted across media sites from USA Today to Us Weekly. Donald Trump started an uproar after calling a lawyer “disgusting” for requesting a breastfeeding break during a court case. A photo of an Argentinian politician breastfeeding her eight-month-old during a session of Parliament quickly went viral, drawing a mix of support and criticism. Target’s breastfeeding policy, allowing women to nurse in any area of the store, was recently shared on Facebook to praise from mothers across America. Clearly, this is a topic that constantly makes headlines and sparks heated discussion throughout the world. Growing up, Jennifer Grayson thought nothing of the fact that her mother had not breastfed her. It wasn’t until she became a mother herself that she realized she had missed out on a natural, profound, and incredibly important experience, one that she became determined to give to her own children. Her curiosity about breastfeeding soon turned to passion, leading her to launch a worldwide search for knowledge and stories of breastfeeding. From modern-day Burkina Faso to eighteenth-century France, from China to inner-city Baltimore, Grayson explores the personal stories of women around the world, and their relationship to breastfeeding. Along the way, she takes readers behind the scenes at a formula factory, interviews controversial breastfeeding figures including Michele Bachmann and Dr. William Sears, and shares her own personal experience of extended breastfeeding her now four-year-old daughter. A searing and insightful look into the state of breastfeeding, Unlatched digs deep to uncover the cultural, corporate, political, and technological factors that have transformed the way people think about breastfeeding, and provides a thorough and fascinating study of one of the most contentious issues affecting women today.
All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership
Darcy Lockman - 2019
In an era of seemingly unprecedented feminist activism, enlightenment, and change, data show that one area of gender inequality stubbornly remains: the unequal amount of parental work that falls on women, no matter their class or professional status. All the Rage investigates the cause of this pervasive inequity to answer why, in households where both parents work full-time, mothers’ contributions—even those women who earn more than their partners—still outweigh fathers’ when it comes to raising children and maintaining a home.How can this be? How, in a culture that has studied and lauded the benefits of fathers’ being active, present partners in child-rearing—benefits that extend far beyond the well-being of the kids themselves—can a commitment to fairness in marriage melt away upon the arrival of children?Darcy Lockman drills deep to find answers, exploring how the feminist promise of true domestic partnership almost never, in fact, comes to pass. Starting with her own case-study as Ground Zero, she moves outward, chronicling the experiences of a diverse cross-section of women raising children with men; visiting new mothers’ groups and pioneering co-parenting specialists; and interviewing experts across academic fields, from gender studies professors and anthropologists to neuroscientists and primatologists. Lockman identifies three tenets that have upheld the cultural gender division of labor and peels back the reasons both men and women are culpable. Her findings are startling—and offer a catalyst for true change.
Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom
Stefanie Wilder-Taylor - 2006
Friends, family, colleagues, the UPS delivery guy—suddenly everybody is a trove of advice, much of it contradictory and confusing. With dire warnings of what will happen if baby is fed on demand and even direr warnings of what will happen if he isn't, not to mention hordes of militant “lactivists,” cosleeping advocates, and books on what to worry about next, modern parenthood can seem like a minefield. In busy Mom-friendly short essays, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay delivers the empathetic straight dirt on parenting, tackling everything from Mommy & Me classes (“Your baby doesn't need to be making friends at three months old—you do! But not with people you'll meet at Mommy & Me”) to attachment parenting (“If you're holding your baby 24/7, that's not a baby, that's a tumor”). Stefanie Wilder-Taylor combines practical tips with sidesplitting humor and refreshing honesty, assuring women that they can be good mothers and responsibly make their own choices. A witty and welcome antidote to trendy parenting texts and scarifying case studies, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay provides genuine support, encouragement, and indispensable common-sense advice.
The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children
Wendy Mogel - 2001
A clinical psychologist and Jewish educator use the Torah and other Jewish texts to offer psychological and practical insights into parenting and sharing practical advice on how to develop realistic expectations for each child, teach respect for adults, deal with frustration, enhance independence, and more.
Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It
Andrea J. Buchanan - 2003
It is the clash between expectation and result, theory and reality; a twilight zone of 24-hour-a-day living where life is no longer neatly divided into day and night. It is the stress of trying to acclimate quickly to the immediacy of mothering; of formulating a new conception of oneself, one's role in the family and in the world; of shouldering a fearful new level of responsibility and a new delegation of domestic duties. In this much-needed and delightfully funny collection, Buchanan shares the insight she gains as she moves through the stages of mother shock. From "Fear of the Double Stroller" and "Confessions of a Bottle Feeder" to "I'm an Idiot" and "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Playgroup," Buchanan details the unimaginably difficult and unbelievably rewarding process of becoming a mother. Spanning the first three years of her daughter's life, these amusing ruminations on mothering will strike a chord with every new mother.
The Science of Parenting
Margot Sunderland - 2006
Intriguing, thought-provoking, and controversial, this book offers practical parenting techniques, explains how a baby's brain is hardwired, and gives strategies for parents at each age and stage of their baby's development to ensure that their child is psychologically well adjusted, balanced, and emotionally healthy.