Books to Help Dads Prepare for Fatherhood: Essential Reads for Pregnancy, Labor, and Newborn Care
- rkrienitz
- Sep 26, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 16, 2024
As you dive into your pregnancy journey and find yourself grasping for information, books can be one of the best resources for what dads need to know about pregnancy. These key books will help dads prepare for fatherhood and make you feel as prepared as possible. Week by week, we would talk to different people and get recommendations from other expecting parents or parents for books they found essential to navigating the uncertainty that is pregnancy. We don’t all have built-in knowledge of what is going to happen week-by-week in both the baby’s growth and the mother’s progress, and how that will impact her and her body.
Pregnancy books with advice for men (or without!) can help alleviate these unknowns. They can give you week-by-week or even trimester breakdowns of what is happening to the mother and the baby. They can arm you with the tools you need to feel as prepared as possible when you enter that hospital to deliver your baby. While getting information from friends and family can be beneficial, it often comes with subjectivity and nuance, which can muddy the process and isn’t always the most helpful. That’s where pregnancy books step in to fill that gap.
Books to Help Dads Prepare for Fatherhood
This book is a detailed guide for helping a woman through labor and birth. It is an essential manual to have on hand before and during the event. I can’t count how many times I’ve gone back to read Part Two: Labor & Birth. This book is meant for doulas and birth partners who want an essential guide to caring for the new mother, from her last trimester through the early postpartum period. Expect information like:
Preparing for labor and knowing when it has begun
Normal labor and how to help the woman every step of the way
Epidurals and other medications for labor
Pitocin and other means, including natural ones, to induce or speed up labor
Non-drug techniques for easing labor pain
Cesarean birth and complications that may require it
Breastfeeding and newborn care
And much more
Emily Oster is an economist who reviews research studies related to pregnancy and birth and gives you an objective viewpoint to make informed decisions during your pregnancy journey. This is a book for people who love data and need guidance on some of those gray areas. It answers questions like: What does the research say about coffee consumption? What about food restrictions? What does research say about prenatal tests?
Often, things are a bit more nuanced than the binary world people think we live in. The gray area is often where things end up, and she helps make that gray area a bit clearer.
As you reach the final weeks of pregnancy, you are probably looking for more information on the fourth trimester and how to calm the baby down. This book has the latest insights into infant sleep, bedsharing, breastfeeding, swaddling, and SIDS risk. It helps you prepare for those crucial weeks and months after the baby is delivered. It contains information such as:
1. The Fourth Trimester: Why babies still yearn for a womb-like atmosphere . . . even after birth
2. The Calming Reflex: An “off switch” all babies are born with
3. The 5 S’s: Five easy steps to turn on your baby’s amazing calming reflex
4. The Cuddle Cure: How to combine the 5 S’s to calm even colicky babies
The Expectant Father is a pregnancy guide for men that gives month-by-month overviews with the facts you will need to understand your baby’s development, support your partner, and prepare for the joys and challenges of fatherhood. It is split into two sections: 1. Labor & Delivery, and 2. Months after the baby’s arrival. Incorporating the expertise of leading OB-GYNs and researchers, this book is a friendly, readable, and inclusive guide for dads-to-be.
This is not a comprehensive list, but these are a few of the books that were very detailed and helpful in preparing my partner and me for childbirth. Page through these guides, take notes, and take reassurance in the information provided. Many people have been through this before and put this information down to help you in spots where they needed help. Information is power, and you will want to feel empowered as you progress through labor, delivery, and postpartum. For dads-to-be, it is important that you are just as informed, if not more, than your partner. She is and will be going through a lot emotionally and physically, and having a stable and informed partner will make the journey that much more seamless.
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