Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife's Story


Onnie Lee Logan - 1989
    The experiences she gained from the hundreds of babies she birthed during 40 years makes for a biography that is rich and compelling.

The Complete Organic Pregnancy


Deirdre Dolan - 2006
    In The Complete Organic Pregnancy, Deirdre Dolan and Alexandra Zissu address how you can minimize your exposure to the invisible toxins that surround us—in everything from food, cleaning products, and cosmetics to furniture, rugs, air, and water. Step by step, they tell you where dangerous chemicals are lurking, why it's so important to avoid them when pregnant, and what you can do before, during, and after your pregnancy to protect your child.In this exhaustively researched book, the authors (calmly) talk parents-to-be through everything from the safest laundry detergent to which crib mattresses contain toxic flame retardants. You'll find out how to choose the right face cream, plastic water bottles, household cleaners, types of fish, and much more—all with an eye toward keeping you and your baby safe and healthy.The Complete Organic Pregnancy also features a collection of personal diaries from well-known writers and organophiles, including Barbara Kingsolver and Marion Nestle, as well as recipes from organic chefs. Required reading for anyone heading into this exciting stage of life, The Complete Organic Pregnancy is your chance to make a difference for your children, even before they're born.

Up the Duff: The Real Guide to Pregnancy


Kaz Cooke - 1999
    Hilarious yet informative look at pregnancy from one of Australia's funniest writers

Feeding Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Program for Healthy, Safe Nutrition During Pregnancy, Childhood, and Beyond


Alan Greene - 2009
    Alan Greene has written the follow up to his best-selling book and offers parents a definitive guide for making nutritionally-sound decisions for their children. Offers parents green choices for feeding children from when they are in the womb through toddler years.This unique guide includes advice on how to transform a baby's eating habits that will positively impact their health and development for the rest of their lives. Dr. Greene has included everything a parent needs to know about creating healthy, nutritious meals that help avoid childhood obesity, and prevent childhood disease. This must-have resourceShows how what a mother eats during pregnancy effects her baby's health and eating habits for years after birth Provides the definitive guide to "green" feeding for babies from pregnancy to toddlers Filled with practical tips and advice for selecting and preparing earth friendly meals for babies Shows the health benefits for babies who eat "green" with innate nutritional intelligence The crucial follow-up to the best-selling book Raising Baby GreenIn addition to working in his medical practice, Dr. Alan Greene makes regular appearances on the Today show and writes articles for the New York Times.

Empty Arms: Coping with Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Death


Sherokee Ilse - 1982
    Empty Arms encourages families to meet their babies and say hello before rushing to say goodbye. With compassion that comes from Sherokee and David's experience of having lived through the death of their son Brennan and miscarried baby Marama, the book offers guidance and practical suggestions for the decision-making at the time (including why and how one might see, hold, and memorialize one's baby) and over time (such as how to handle such times as anniversaries, holidays and the birth of other babies in the parents' close circle.)Family and friends can learn how to understand the loss and be supportive of the bereaved families.It offers ongoing support about subjects such as returning to work or to life, couple grieving, surviving children, feeling guilty, having another child or not, and feeling lonely.This book touches the hearts of families at the time of their loss and over time as they heal.An excellent bibliography and resource section are included.

Get Ready to Get Pregnant: Your Complete Prepregnancy Guide to Making a Smart and Healthy Baby


Michael C. Lu - 2009
    In this friendly and authoritative guide, Dr. Michael C. Lu, an expert in the field, offers a step-by-step prepregnancy plan that will help you have a safer pregnancy and a smarter and healthier child.Dr. Lu's plan explains how you can help prevent pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, and minimize the likelihood of many childhood conditions, from asthma to autism. His expert advice includes:Ten brain foods you should eat moreTen toxic foods to avoidTen steps to strengthen your stress resilienceTen steps to tune up your immune systemTen steps to detoxify your environmentAnd much more!

Before Your Pregnancy: A 90-Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception


Lisa Mazzullo - 1998
    Created by two experienced health-care professionals, this unique handbook not only discusses virtually every aspect of preconception that affects a healthy baby, it tells you how to handle each one. The authors spell out what each parent needs to do, starting at least ninety days before conception (the minimum time needed for sperm to mature). The hundreds of topics covered—many for the first time in any book—include• Men’s Health: Building healthy sperm before conception (nutrition, fitness, and medical influences)• Women’s Health: Gynecologic well-being, preexisting medical conditions, genetic legacy, boosting fertility, becoming a mother at an older age • Becoming an Informed Patient: Choosing a doctor, what a complete preconception exam includes, important questions and how to ask them, insurance coverage• Nutrition: Improving the health of future generations, preconception meal makeovers, ethnic Food Guide Pyramids, avoiding food-borne illnesses, vitamin and mineral facts, pre-pregnancy body weight • Fitness: Preconception fitness evaluation and exercise prescription, safety tips and motivational anecdotes, preconception strength and flexibility workout• Medications/Herbs: Baby-friendly ones and ones to avoid • Personal Readiness: Emotional, financial, and environmental issues• Romancing the Egg: Tips for success when ready to “start trying” Plus : Separate questionnaires for the prospective parents to fill out in preparation for their preconception medical visit.This warm, intelligent, and completely informed reference gives aspiring parents exactly the knowledge and support they need to insure the best of everything for their child-to-be.

Where's the Mother? Stories from a Transgender Dad


Trevor MacDonald - 2016
    As a transgender man in a gay relationship, Trevor has gone through the journeys of pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing all while exploring (and sometimes defending) his role as a trans dad. Trevor and his partner tackle all the questions new parents are familiar with, such as: Should we feed our baby breast milk or formula? Should we have a hospital or home birth?Other questions are less familiar: How can a man cope with gender dysphoria when going through such female-coded rituals as childbirth and breastfeeding? How can a person breastfeed after having had chest masculinization surgery? How do we find donor milk to supplement our own modest milk supply?Luckily for the reader, Trevor explains his own answers to these questions with grace and humour. His stories convey the intimate and sometimes surprising realities of the transgender parenting experience. This memoir is a book about being a breastfeeding parent and a transgender man, and the many beautiful, moving, and difficult ways these two identities collide. It reminds us that birth is a fundamental process that lies outside simplistic definitions and concepts. “Where’s the Mother?” is a memoir like no other.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child


Marc Weissbluth - 1987
    Weissbluth, a leading researcher on sleep and children, promotes a revolutionary program to ensure healthy, happy sleep for a child--both at night and during equally important daytime naps. He offers dozens of anecdotes and new case histories of children with various sleep disorders and the prescribed methods of therapy.

Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life


Gretchen Rubin - 2012
    Homesick—why? She was standing right in her own kitchen. She felt homesick, she realized, with love for home itself. “Of all the elements of a happy life,” she thought, “my home is the most important.” In a flash, she decided to undertake a new happiness project, and this time, to focus on home.And what did she want from her home? A place that calmed her, and energized her. A place that, by making her feel safe, would free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wanted to be happier at home, she wanted to appreciate how much happiness was there already. So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicated a school year—September through May—to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.  In The Happiness Project, she worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family’s treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster. Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions—and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well.  With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy, and experimentation, Rubin’s passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.

The Food of Love: Your Formula for Successful Breastfeeding


Kate Evans - 2008
    Your baby is your baby, and so utterly unique, it is not like any of the ones in the books. This Book Will Tell You all the information you need to breastfeed successfully . . . Along With some refreshingly honest discussions about childcare and original insights into all those things you may not have thought about . . . As Well As loads of fantastically funny illustrations . . . Plus it's square, so it'll stay open, and you can read it when you've got both hands full. The Food of Love explores all aspects of breastfeeding and babycare using words, pictures, personal insights, and humor. Kate Evans shares old ways with new parents: how to breastfeed, co-sleep, and choose babywear. Yet it's not prescriptive. Cribs, strollers, and even formula milk all have a part to play in good mothering. It's all about choice, and The Food of Love aims to support women in all of them.

Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage


Robin Kaplan - 2018
    It can also be filled with new stressors—chief among them: breastfeeding. In Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, Robin Kaplan, addresses specific breastfeeding concerns, allowing you to feel empowered while breastfeeding and overcome challenges as they arise. After working with countless mothers who have felt unique in their breastfeeding challenges, and as the mother of two who overcame breastfeeding challenges of her own, she knows how deeply personal breastfeeding is.Compassionate and supportive, Latch covers the most pressing topics at each stage of breastfeeding and will teach you to: Establish successful breastfeeding early on with attention to breastfeeding positions, latch, mom's wellbeing, milk supply, supplementation, and pumping Breastfeed through lifestyle changes such as returning to work, transitioning to bottle-feeding, supplementation, reducing nighttime feedings, and introducing solids Wean your baby/toddler from breastfeeding including emotional preparation, reducing feedings, and guidance for when your child tries to nurse again Complete with breastfeeding stories from new moms, breastmilk storage guidelines, and resources for additional breastfeeding support Latch will be there for you, holding your hand, every step of the way.

The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parent's Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep from Birth to Age 5


Jennifer Waldburger - 2007
    Psychotherapists and sleep specialists Jennifer and Jill, the dynamic "girlfriends" all of Hollywood calls on to solve Junior's sleep problems, have perfected their sleep technique that will get any child snoozing in no time—most often in fewer than three nights. The key to their method? It addresses the emotional needs of both the parent and child (yes, how to handle the crying!)—a critical component of why most other sleep methods fail. In this much-needed, family-friendly guide, weary parents will learn to define their own individual sleep goals, those that work for their family’s schedule and style. They'll create a customized "sleep planner" to ensure consistency with both parents as well as extended caregivers. (As an added bonus, they'll even improve the readers' relationships with their spouses with the "marriage-saver" section.) With comprehensive sections devoted to each stage of Baby's and Toddler's development, plus solutions to special circumstances like traveling, daylight saving's time, moving to a "big kid bed" and multiples, The Sleepeasy Solution is a dream come true! "This approach was truly amazing in helping our family to thrive. . . . We are eternally grateful!" —Ben Stiller and wife, Christine Taylor, actors "With their gentle approach, Sleepeasy gave us the tools we needed to solve our daughter's sleep problems." —Conan O'Brien, host of NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien "Sleepeasy gave us all the tools we needed to get our baby sleeping through the night. Now when we say good night to our daughter, we know it really will be a good night." —Greg Kinnear, actor Sales Points Jill Spivack cofounded Sleepy Planet, the foremost parenting sleep company that caters to celebrities, including Ben Stiller, Conan O’Brien, Greg Kinnear, and many more The authors conduct workshops at Baby Expos with audiences of more than 300 CBS Evening News, Inside Edition, The Wall Street Journal, and Fit Pregnancy have featured the Sleepy Planet team Jill and Jennifer write the Sleep Q&A column for the Modern Mom website (www.modernmom.com) with over a million subscribers.

Push Back: Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting


Amy Tuteur - 2016
    Once the exclusive province of the alternative lifestyle, natural parenting has gone mainstream, becoming a lucrative big business today.But those who do not subscribe to this method are often made to feel as if they are doing their children harm. Dr. Amy Tuteur understands their apprehensions. “Parenting quickly feels synonymous with guilt. And of late, there is no bigger arena for this pervasive guilt than childbirth.” As a medical professional with a long career in obstetrics and gynecology and as the mother of four children, Tuteur is no stranger to the insurmountable pressures and subsequent feelings of blame and self-condemnation that mothers experience during their children’s early years. The natural parenting movement, she contends, is not helping them raise their children better. Instead, it capitalizes on their uncertainty, manipulating parents when they are most vulnerable.In Push Back, she chronicles the movement’s history from its roots to its modern practices, incorporating her own experiences as a mother and successful OB-GYN with original research on the latest in childbirth science. She also reveals the dangerous and overtly misogynistic motives of some of its proponents—conservative men who sought to limit women’s control and autonomy. As she debunks, one by one, the guilt-inducing myths of natural birth and parenting, Dr. Tuteur empowers women to embrace the method of childbirth that is right for them, while reassuring all parents that the most important thing they can do is love and care for their children.

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.