Parenting books are out there for a reason: they can be incredibly informative and give us insights to parent in ways that you value and feel confident in. Here are some amazing must-read books for new parents!
Becoming a new parent is overwhelming and exciting at the same time. And it’s true what they say: the job doesn’t come with a manual. There are no instructions, and yet, having your child is one of your most important responsibilities. And while some parenting decisions will seem straightforward and leave you feeling confident, you will also be greeted with challenges that you might not know how to approach, leaving you feeling a little lost.
The beautiful thing about parenting is that it’s a journey and a relationship between you and your children. And while you’re on your parenthood journey, you can draw inspiration from experts by reading some amazing parenting books. This list covers the best books for new parents.
Read these books if you want to parent a little differently. I highly recommend these books to help you best prepare for this new journey you are on and get you through the first few years of parenting.
Best Parenting Books for Baby’s First Year
You can’t go wrong with tried and true parenting books that hit a little bit on everything you might need to know during the first year! Here are some good first resource books for parenting. Some of them give good general tips across a broad range of parenting and baby care topics.
1. The Montessori Baby
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For Raising Confident and Independent Humans
Montessori is another parenting philosophy that I love and use with my children daily. This book teaches you how to establish this parenting method from the infant stages.
This is a great book to read during your pregnancy as it will also teach you how to best prepare for becoming a parent in all aspects of your life. It is filled with countless amazing principles to naturally help your child be mindful, present, and develop with confidence!
2. Bringing Up Bebe
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Learning to Parent, Inspired by the French
This is such a fun, light read! You might even get through reading it in one sitting. American journalist Pamela Druckerman had a baby in Paris and was awestruck at how well-behaved babies were in France.
So, she researched all about French parenting for years and created this amazing resource for new parents. You will learn fascinating, mind-blowing parent hacks to help your child sleep through the night, eat healthily, be creative, and so much more. It’s a great parenting mindset book.
3. The Happiest Baby on the Block
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A Must-Have for Calming a Fussy Baby
This book was a life-saver during the “fourth trimester,” aka the first three months of a baby’s life. During these three months, babies are adjusting to life outside of the womb and usually require a lot of attention from mom and a little extra help with getting to sleep and calming down.
This is where Dr. Harvey Karp’s magical recommendations came in, and I found them to be just the answer I was looking for when I couldn’t comfort my newborn.
He recommends the Five S’s for soothing babies: swaddling, shushing, swinging, sucking, and side or stomach position. But before trying this, it’s important to read the book or watch the video. The video was extremely helpful because he demonstrated the proper techniques so you can easily follow along and not second-guess yourself.
After your baby is born, you will probably feel tired, drained, and stretched thin as you adjust to your new routine. When your newborn cries no matter what you do, it makes the postpartum period a lot harder. But, after reading this book, you’ll know exactly what to do to calm and soothe your little one.
4. Two Thousand Kisses A Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages & Stages
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LEARN ABOUT GENTLE PARENTING!
Written by L.R.Knost, ‘Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages’ introduces the concepts behind gentle parenting and its practical application in your everyday life with your baby/toddler. I love that it guides you through each stage of development through toddlerhood.
As with most gentle parenting books, this one will inform you on how to create a strong foundation of respect and trust between you and your child, encouraging guidance, patience, and an overall healthy connection.
5. CALMS – A Guide to Soothing Your Baby
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LEARN THE MAGICAL STEPS TO A CALM BABY
This is a wonderful book for first-time parents. A combination of honesty and fact goes a long way in helping new babies and new parents find a sense of peace among the stresses of new parenting.
This book offers practical advice and guidance to help you calm your baby and enable you to have a deep sense of connection with your baby. You’ll also learn a lot about infant development and various parenting resources.
6. First Aid for Babies and Children Fast
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A Great Resource for Emergency Situations
Any new parent must learn how to take care of their children, especially in emergencies! Be sure to learn first aid for babies as soon as possible. You never know when it can come in handy.
This book was well-written and is straight to the point. It is an excellent first aid guide that every family should have at home after you complete your training.
Please note that this is a great reference book, but it is no substitute for having first-aid and CPR training. Having this book at home will help calm your anxiety in case something goes wrong and you forget exactly what to do.
This book is great for emergencies and everyday issues as well. You’ll be able to identify when something is more serious and how to help your child heal and recover better. I’m so glad I knew all this helpful information!
Related: 25 Best Baby Books for Your Baby’s First Year
Parenting Books on Childhood Development
These books center on the development of your baby/toddler. Everything from emotions and intellect to learning about the physical development of a child’s brain, these books make for fascinating reads that will help you raise a happy child.
7. Brain Rules for Baby
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Tips and Tricks for Raising Smart Kids
“Brain Rules for Baby” bridges the gap “between what scientists know and what parents practice.” You get parenting advice based on scientific research, straight from an expert.
You’ll find many funny stories, research showing just how impactful the first five years of your child’s life are, and simple ways to help your child’s brain develop as best as possible.
Reading this while you are pregnant will profoundly impact your child’s happiness!
Related: 50+ Best Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
8. Whole Brain Child
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For Helping You Understand Your Baby’s Developmental Growth
The “Whole Brain Child” is another powerful resource for learning your child’s brain and exactly what is going on at each developmental stage. Different areas of the brain grow stronger at certain times, and once you learn this vital information, you can help your toddler’s anger and turn it into a sense of peace and calmness.
Neuroscientist Daniel J. Siegel and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson give 12 different strategies to help you nurture your child’s brain properly. You will learn how to label and handle big emotions in toddlers, all through different things a child can understand, like storytelling.
9. Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
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For Raising Little Ones with Emotional Intelligence
Children need to learn how to manage and deal with their emotions, but it is hard to teach them this essential principle when you can’t handle your emotions! “Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child” will teach you how to do both.
By reading this book, you will help your little ones learn all about self-awareness, self-control, managing emotions healthily, and so much more. Dr. Gottman is a wonderful resource. This is a must-read for new parents!
10. Generation Stressed
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A Handy Tool for Reducing ANXIETY
So many children have anxiety nowadays. While it is a good thing that it is talked about, and there are many effective ways to help manage and control anxiety in children, you still don’t want your child to become anxious in the first place.
Dr. Michele Kambolis gives amazing and effective play-based tools to help your child overcome anxiety and be confident and happy little children. It uses cognitive behavioral therapy strategies fit for small children and is so crucial to helping these anxious thoughts and feelings from an early stage.
The exercises in this book can be used both at home and at school. It is an incredible handbook for all parents with young children.
Parenting Books on Breastfeeding and Feeding
You can find some really helpful books to guide you on your breastfeeding journey. There are also some great reads on feeding your little one table food when ready.
11. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
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An Essential Guide to Breastfeeding
While breastfeeding is a natural process, it is not always natural. Often, it can even be painful and hard for a new mother. The La Leche League created this incredibly helpful guide so you know exactly what to do once your baby arrives.
So many new moms do not get the breastfeeding support they desperately need and struggle for too long until they cannot handle it anymore. This book teaches you how to latch, gives research and data, and helps troubleshoot when things aren’t working for you. It is also filled with all types of lifestyles, from working moms to single moms and everything in between.
Definitely grab this to read so you are best prepared to breastfeed your newborn.
12. The Book of Organic Baby Food
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Introducing Healthy Foods and Clean Eating
To further help you establish healthy eating habits, grab “The Book of Organic Baby Food.” This resource comes with various foods to incorporate at every stage of your little one’s life.
From finger foods to baby purees, toddler meals, and more, you will find a wide variety of recipes for healthy food your kids and the entire family will actually want to eat.
If coming up with baby and toddler meals is stressful and overwhelming to you, or you want to learn more about introducing solid foods, this book makes it mindlessly easy. You won’t have to worry if what you feed your child is good.
Related: 40+ Finger Foods for Babies
Parenting Books on Respectful Parenting and Discipline
The adventurous toddler years will appear before you know it! And yes, you’ll need some strategy to discipline your child in a way that makes sense to you. Here are some inspiring books that help guide you to helping you and your child find peace.
13. Elevating Child Care: A Guide to Respectful Parenting
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Best for Overall Respectful Parenting
I am a huge fan of the author, Janet Lansbury. She gives such practical parenting advice that you sometimes just want to do a facepalm and ask yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Her philosophies are centered around respecting a baby (yes, even a newborn), and I feel like her advice has awakened a new generation of parents to caring for their children differently – more gently and carefully – than was done in the past.
I don’t agree 100% with any one parenting philosophy, but I did learn so much from Janet. In short, Janet’s books and her blog are a must-read!
Read this book to have a great bond with your child for life!
14. No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame
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For Gentle Toddler Parenting and Discipline
Another of Janet’s books will be helpful as your baby grows from the newborn stage and becomes more independent.
I recommend reading this before you have a defiant toddler on your hands because her advice is so practical and useful for even earlier stages. For example, her advice will come in handy around 9 and 10 months of age when your baby starts resisting diaper changes.
It’s better to be prepared for how to effectively handle your baby’s growing sense of independence rather than to find yourself stuck and wondering how to handle a tricky situation. The toddler stages are so hard, and you’ll want just to give up and yell at times, but by reading this book, it was so much easier to handle both my own emotions and my toddler’s feelings.
Related: 15+ Realistic Self-Care Ideas For Tired New Moms
15. How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen
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super Smart TIPS for Communicating With Little Ones
While you might not need to read this before you have kids, it is still a great one to read sooner rather than later. “How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen” is for parents with children ages 2 through 7 years old. You won’t just learn how to manage the toddler stages; you will thrive and know exactly how to get your children to listen to you.
Toddlers will always have outbursts; that is just how they learn more about their emotions and the world. But that doesn’t make it easy for parents with young ones. By reading this book, you will be equipped with knowing exactly what to say and do to manage both of your emotions healthily. You will learn how to communicate effectively even in hard times when you are exhausted with toddlers screaming at you.
16. Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
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LEARN WHAT YOUR CHILD NEEDS
This book focuses on the central question: what do kids need, and how can we meet those needs? It’s a great parenting book that will force you to rethink the conventional approaches to discipline. One of the main ideas is that we need to learn to work and live with our children rather than feel like we control them.
Another concept this book addresses tackles how parents think and feel with their children to ultimately inspire parents to rethink how they conceptualize parenthood and the parent-child dynamic. You’ll find thirteen techniques that can help parents reframe how they approach their children, inviting them to live and grow together, side-by-side.
17. Positive Parenting in Action
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READ HOW TO DISCIPLINE WITH REAL-LIFE SCENARIOS
While you’ll find many positive parenting books discussing how important it is to not become adversaries with our toddlers, very few books go into real-life scenarios to show you how to practice positive parenting, which is why I love this book!
This one will go through about forty examples of various situations and circumstances so you can see how it works and how to break down real situations and peacefully approach them, showing you how you can teach rather than punish.
18. If I Have To Tell You One More Time…
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POSITIVE PARENTING TO THE RESCUE
Amy McCready offers more positive parenting solutions to bring a sense of calmness to your household. Throughout this book, she provides all the tools you will need to sort through child misbehavior.
As you might guess, this book is not a book about babies! It focuses on toddlers and young children. Of course, those years are fast approaching, so it can’t hurt to give this one a read once your little one turns one!
19. Positive Discipline: The First Three Years
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TODDLER-SPECIFIC DISCIPLINE FOR EVERYDAY CHALLENGES
In this book, you’ll find really helpful solutions to challenges you may face in the first three years of your little one’s life. This book takes positive parenting and breaks it down into various stages you may encounter with each phase of development.
I love that this book centers its discussion on the first three years of your little one’s life. It makes it manageable and specific to your little one’s needs. For example, the concepts all revolve around encouraging independence while providing boundaries (definitely necessary for a young toddler!). By the end of this read, you’ll be able to identify your child’s behaviors, understand what the best method of approach is, and offers a variety of ways to use non-punitive methods for feedback. It even dips into things like sleep and potty training.
Parenting Books on Being a Good Parent
A good part of parenting is as much about you, the parent, as it is about your child. These books are specifically about you and how to make you into a better parent by connecting to yourself and your emotions and growing into your new role.
20. The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children
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TRANSFORMING YOURSELF AS A PARENT
The premise of Dr. Shefali Tsabary’s The Conscious Parent is that our own children have the power to transform us out of our unconscious being, triggering emotions and reactivity that ask us to be conscious and present. The idea is that our unconscious emotions can surface in our parenting techniques and ultimately affect our children’s unique beings. So, the goal for parents is to learn how to awaken into a conscious present so that we can give our own children opportunities to become who they are.
It’s a heavy concept and certainly does not hone in on how to parent a baby. It’s more of a philosophical read that focuses on you, the parent. It identifies your child as more of a spiritual compass to help you grow.
An interesting read for sure, but make sure you go into this book with the knowledge that this is not a how-to-parent book. The book can also feel a little obvious in parts if you’re already familiar with gentle parenting.
Parenting Books on Baby and Toddler Sleep
Sleep is a big one in those early years. Without sleep, you can feel pretty lousy and certainly not your best self. Help your baby sleep better so you can sleep better, too! Here are some great books on various methods to help your household get a good night’s rest.
21. The Gentle Sleep Book
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EFFECTIVE GENTLE SLEEP METHODS
Sleep patterns can be challenging. Sarah Ockwell-Smith will help you out! She examines everything from the newborn stage through toddlerhood. Whether you’re dealing with naptime woes or frequent nighttime waking, she offers a lot of information, guidance, and evidence on how to gently help your little one get a good night’s rest. Instead of feeling guilty or frustrated, the author encourages us to tackle the potential issues gently with grace.
22. Sweet Sleep: Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family
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AN ESSENTIAL READ TO LEARN ABOUT NORMAL SLEEP
This book will make nighttime much easier! It offers well-researched information (that leans towards attachment parenting). This can be truly an invaluable resource for breastfeeding moms! I appreciate this book because it sorts out the facts about bedsharing, discusses what normal sleep looks like for a baby and toddler (and every stage!), and helps steer your baby towards longer periods of sleep.
Related: 10+ Things to Try When You Need to Calm a Fussy Baby
23. Safe Infant Sleep
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A DISCUSSION ON COSLEEPING
This book breaks down infant sleep statistics and offers expert opinions and guidance around cosleeping (sleeping in the same room or on the same bed as your baby). This book examines historical insights on infant sleep and discusses the various facets of sleep safety, and compares recommendations to scientific findings.
I appreciate this book as it is a great source of information to help you make informed decisions about your baby’s sleeping practices.
Happy Reading!
Luckily, there are some amazing parenting books out there that offer some really helpful information, opinions, and insights to help you prepare for the complexities of early parenthood.
The nice thing about most of these books is that they are available as audiobooks to help you learn the material even if you are super busy.
While these books may not necessarily have an answer for all the parenting questions you will have along this new journey, they will make a huge difference in how you parent and raise your children. Even if you just have time to read one, do it!
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What’s your favorite parenting book? I’d love to know!
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