Top 5 Books to Read When Pregnant

Updated February, 2021

Wading through the mass of pregnancy and parenting books can be a blast for some and a daunting task for others. In order to help out, I have selected my top 5 favorite pregnancy books.

I read a lot of pregnancy and child rearing books. By a lot, I mean A LOT. If you name it, I’ve probably read it. To be fair, my degree and passion are in Early Childhood Education, so reading every book about my Monster that I could get my hands on made a lot of sense to me.

Because I’ve read so many, I feel confident telling you that 80% of them suck. At one point, I almost stopped reading a book because it upset me so much. I mean, mid pregnancy it gets me so depressed that I consider leaving my partner, changing my entire birthing plan, and question my ability to be a parent at all. Yes, I know I was going through crazy hormone swings, but as soon as I finished it, put it away, and moved onto the next one, I felt better again. So take advice from someone who knows, skip the crap books that make you feel bad.

I think in all the books I read, these five were my favorites. They made me feel confident, beautiful, and capable. They honored my journey into parenthood and actually provided me with useful content.

1. Sacred Pregnancy by Anni Daulter

Sacred Pregnancy was, without a doubt, my favorite book that I read in my entire pregnancy. It talks a little bit about development but primarily focuses on the journey I was going through emotionally. It offered perspective to my experience and really honored everything I was feeling. It also offered questions to reflect upon and gave me space to journal. There was a new prompt each week and room to process after the birth as well. Honestly, just a really feel good book.

2. Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn by Simkin, Whalley, Keppler, Durham, and Bolding

Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn included the whole pregnancy and birthing process, including the first few weeks after childbirth. Unlike “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”, it didn’t overload me with possible complications or unnecessary information. I really liked the way it is lain out as well, making it easy to skip irrelevant chapters.

3. What to Expect the First Year by Eisenberg, Murkoff, and Hathaway

What to Expect the First Year was great to read while pregnant. I went back and read it each month after Monster was born as well. It’s a fun, easy way to track development as well as a good resource for a lot of common difficulties. It is easy to get caught up in pregnancy and birth and forget about the after. This book reminded me of everything I had to look forward to.

4. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child doesn’t have to be read during pregnancy, but I would strongly advise reading this book before you have a sleep problem. At just two and a half months old, Monster was sleeping for a stretch of 6 hours at night. I largely attributed this to our starting sleep training early and the education that comes from this book. Plus, Weissbluth gives so many more options for sleep training than just the “cry it out” method. I felt like I had a lot of options to choose from and was able to find a good fit for my family.

5. Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman

Bringing Up Bebe is yet another book that is more about after the birth, but again, it is awesome. It points out the very different ways that parents in the United States vs. parents in France view child rearing. I didn’t agree with all of it, but it was a fun, light, easy read and it gave me a lot of perspective. Definitely a take what you like, ignore what you don’t kind of book, but it’s very accessible and has a lot of great suggestions.