This is my roundup of the best parenting books, from newborn to primary school. Everyone has a different take on the best parenting style. We’ve probably quietly judged our own parents and the parenting style of our friends. But when we become parents ourselves, we realise how hard it can be and reach for books to reassure us we’re not completely clueless.
Here are my favourite parenting books for those first few years.
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1. What to Expect When You’re Expecting – Heidi Murkoff
What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a classic! I’ve never met a pregnant woman who hasn’t recommended this book. If you’re pregnant, I’d be surprised if you didn’t already have a copy.
It covers everything you need to know about pregnancy and childbirth. I found it well laid out, making it easy to skip the chapters that weren’t relevant to my experience.
The book takes you through exactly what’s going on inside your body during every month of your pregnancy. Growing a tiny human comes with many weird and wonderful side effects, and this book put me at ease that what I was experiencing was completely normal.
It was also exciting to track the growth of my baby and to know when my baby moved on from being the size of a poppy seed to the size of a pea.
Best For: all stages of pregnancy
2. 107 Things I Wish I Had Known with My First Baby – Essential Tips for the First 3 Months – Dawn Yanek
Dawn Yanek is the writer behind the popular parenting blog, Momsanity. This is a short and snappy guide that you can read in one sitting. It’s like a chat with your best friend about the parts of motherhood that no one else tells you about.
It features snippets of information that I’ve seen nowhere else, covering everything from making sure the ruffle of the nappy (or diaper, as Dawn calls it) isn’t tucked in to prevent leaks to the sometimes brutal reality of those first few weeks of breastfeeding.
Plus, there’s an entire chapter on what your body may go through in those early months of motherhood—the sweating, the blood, and the hair loss. It’s not pretty, but it’s essential information.
I interviewed Dawn for The Lifestyle Circle. Here’s what she had to say.
Best For: those early weeks of first-time parenting
3. Secrets of the Baby Whisperer – How to calm, connect and communicate with your baby – Tracy Hogg with Melinda Blau
The Baby Whisperer approach is a four-step method for caring for your baby – termed the E.A.S.Y method – Eat, Activities, Sleep, You Time. The structure of this approach was helpful. It made me feel like I knew what to do next and that’s vital in those early months!
It’s less restrictive than some other recommended parenting approaches, and that style worked for me.
The number one tip I got from this book was to put my baby to bed while she was drowsy, but, crucially, awake. My daughter quickly learned to fall asleep on her own. You might think it’s sweet to stroke your baby’s hair or whisper stories to her until she’s fallen asleep, but trust me, when she’s at school and you’re still doing this, you won’t find it quite so sweet. Start off how you hope to go on.
Best For: the first year with your baby and promoting good sleep habits
4. Confident Toddler Care – The Ultimate Guide to the Toddler Years – Jo Frost
Jo Frost of Supernanny fame has decades of experience working with children, and it shows. Her methods are super simple and highly effective.
I credit this book with successful potty training in only 5 days. Yes, that’s right, 5 days! I took a week off work and followed the chapter potty-training in a week to the letter. It worked, and it was totally worth it.
If your child is ready for potty training, and Jo shows you how to tell, then potty training in a week is pretty painless using Jo’s method.
Best For: the toddler years and quick and easy potty training
5. How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk – Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
This is one of those books that I reach for when I snap or yell at the kids! I’ve taken part in and taught many courses on communication skills over the years. It’s a fundamental training course in most workplaces. But I’ve never been on one that focuses on communicating with our children. This book fills that gap.
I certainly don’t agree with everything in this book (it was first published in the 1980s so time has marched on somewhat), but much of the content covers timeless strategies that encourage mutual respect, acknowledging a child’s feelings, and listening without trying to solve our children’s problems for them.
It shows a different way to handle the behaviours that every parent will see at some point from their children while still providing space to set firm boundaries.
It also has hundreds of examples of conversations. Ideal conversations, of course, but they cover so many scenarios that I find something helpful every time I read it.
Best For: toddlers and beyond
6. French Kids Eat Everything – How our family moved to France, cured picky eating, banned snacking, and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy, healthy eaters – Karen Le Billon
This is not specifically a parenting guide. French Kids Eat Everything charts the author’s journey from the parent of picky eaters to the parent of happy, healthy eaters when she moved from the USA to France with her French husband.
We’re a foodie family and because I know how important a varied diet is for good health, I was determined to do everything I could to not raise a fussy eater. Of course, I’m not a miracle worker. My daughter still complains about having to eat vegetables and there are foods she doesn’t like, but she will eat most things and I think that’s because we introduced variety and healthy foods very early.
Eating habits are formed in childhood and it’s worth thinking early about how you want your child to eat when they’re older. This book is an entertaining way to encourage those thoughts. The 10 practical tips from the author to help foster healthy eating habits in children are a handy starting point.
Best For: weaning and beyond