Book Review Time!

I mentioned last week that I read some books on babies and parenting that I really enjoyed. These books just happened to go along with my mindset on babies, labor and even parenting. I like things explained in a matter of fact sort of way. I also like that some of these books encourage you to look into yourself and use common sense, not necessarily go with what the general public thinks you should do or act.

What's Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life - A friend gave me this book and I just love it! It's so nerdy and scientific. Sometimes this book goes overs my head with how scientific it gets, but most of the time I totally get it and I just love reading about babies minds' and what influences them.

Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond - This book teaches you about meditation and how it can help you with labor and such. This is real good for people who have never meditated before. I think learning meditation and relaxation methods for pregnancy and labor are super helpful. This book was a great companion to read along with our Bradley Method classes.

Bringing Up Bébé and Bébé Day by Day - I'm actually surprised I read a book like Bringing Up Bébé. I think those French/Greek/Japanese Women Don't Get Fat type books are silly. Nor I am one for reading parenting books. But I downloaded a sample of this book and I was like, "Hey! I feel the same way about parenting!" Ever since we went to Japan and saw how well mannered kids were over there, we knew we wanted to raise our kid in a similar way and this book (and its companion Bebe Day by Day) fit what I was looking for. It's a common sense sort of book that brings you back to basics and teaches you that you don't have to be a helicopter parent in order to raise the best kid.

Happiest Baby on the Block -  The copy from the library was so worn out that I just had to laugh. I can only imagine how many tired desperate parents read this book while their babies just cried and cried in their arms. That's why I read this before we have our kid! This book is about the "4th Trimester" and how newborn babies are not truly babies once they are born and prefer to still be in a womb like environment for a few extra months and are so freaked out about the outside world they cry and cry. That's why swaddling, rocking, loud noises and such can help calm a baby. This book also got scientific which I loved.