8 must-read books for expecting parents

This wildly popular US baby book takes you from your baby’s birth to age two. It’s written by celebrity doctor William Sears and his wife Martha, who draw from their professional and personal experience of raising children, covering everything from eating and sleeping to developing a parenting style that suits you. This book isn’t going to impart any radical new ideas, but it’s a safe choice for the basics. 

The most famous baby book of them all has sold over 18 million copies and is claimed to be read by 93 percent of women who read a pregnancy book. It takes expectant parents through the journey step-by-step, from trying to get pregnant to the birth. The index helps you find what you need in a hurry and the section for dads on how to support their partner during birth is helpful. Also look for the incredibly useful What to Expect app as well as What to Expect the First Year, for after your baby is ready to come home from the hospital. 

Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby by Tracy Hogg and Melinda Blau guides new parents through their baby’s first year by focusing on the importance of routine for infants and helping parents decipher their baby’s cries and what they mean. The book presents a compromise between the Ferber method and co-sleeping that gradually reduces parental interjections until your baby can learn to calm themselves.

The million-copy-selling Wonder Weeks is a week-by-week guide to your baby’s development in the first 18 months, focusing on ten key developmental progressions – or ‘leaps’ – your baby will go through. The theory is that you can identify when these cognitive leaps will take place and help encourage them. Though the writing can be a little repetitive, there’s indispensible information here that helps expecting mothers gain a better understanding into their infant’s behaviour and mindsets.

Dr Jane Nelsen’s Positive Discipline explains how to implement her theory of the same name that is based on the idea that there are no bad children, just good and bad behaviours. Dr Nelsen describes how to reinforce good behaviour while slowly removing bad behaviours without damaging the child emotionally.

In The Whole-Brain Child, neuropsychiatrist Daniel J Siegel and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson explain the science of how a child’s brain is wired andhow it matures, in an attempt to demystify the meltdowns. Through applying the findings to everyday parenting, the idea is you can turn a tantrum into a chance to develop your child’s brain, encourage growth and raise calmer, happier children.

The Everyday Parenting Toolkit: The Kazdin Method for Easy, Step-by-Step, Lasting Change for You and Your Child is full of research-based advice on how to be a better parent to ‘difficult children’. Dr Alan Kazdin’s methods are based in academic research but applied to everyday parenting situations, from getting ready for school to limiting computer time.

In No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame, Janet Lansbury argues for respectful parenting practices that can benefit both parent and toddler. The book is full of practical advice on topics like boundaries, punishment and cooperation that are based on over 20 years of hands-on experience in the infant and child education profession.