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Four kids here, ages eight and under. The only advice that I give soon-to-be parents is to read the instructions on the website "My Baby Sleep Guide" before their baby is born and they're suffering from sleep deprivation and feelings of being overwhelmed and hopeless. The author is incredible, her website is a gold mine, but it's not very well organized so it takes some time to parse. As a starting point, I think the…
Babywise is a good overview book, but the most useful thing for us was the companion PDF since there's no fluff. They have it freely available here: http://babywise.life/audiobook
You might want to check out the American Academy of Pediatrics' book: Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, Birth to Age 5. If you live in the Southeast of the US, you can get it for free at any Publix supermarket store. https://shop.aap.org/caring-for-your-baby-and-young-child-pa...
Huh, neat - thanks!
And follow the schedules. It will work. This book is insanely popular among friend group which has probably had about 30 babies in the past two years.
Every one of them that follows it is insanely pleased.
Echoing the other comments to recommend Expecting Better by Emily Oster. All of the other books I tried to read were poorly researched and borderline condescending. She digs up the (sometimes decades old and poor quality) research that underpins all the "conventional wisdom" and gives you the statistics to make your own risk calculations.
"Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5" by the American Academy of Pediatrics is a tome, but is the best practical guide for what you need to do, and what to expect, for the first few years of a child's life. Use it like a reference or manual rather than reading cover-to-cover.
As others have said, the "what to expect" books were my go-to's. Helped get through pregnancy and into the toddler years. I'd recommend those books to any parent-to-be.
I suppose I should have added more to this for a new soon-to-be dad: * It's not as hard as you think. Babies are resilient! * You don't need nearly as much clothes/equipment as the baby industry wants to sell you. * Yeah, it may (or may not) take a few weeks for your baby to sleep through the night. Even so they tend to only get up once. * Changing diapers is no big deal, especially for a baby. * Enjoy it! It really…
Look up YouTube videos on 5 S's from Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block. It goes over very helpful techniques on putting your baby to sleep. Useful in the first couple of months.
Baby Owner's Technical Manual It covers the absolute basics with diagrams. Lovely little intro book. The Montessori Baby Covers the theory of what babies need and presents a good minimum of what they need without making you buy a ton. You won't and shoukd not 100% follow this book but adapt it for yourself. Expecting Better and Crib Sheets Oster does an excellent job at listing research, evaluating studies and drawin…
The book you are looking for is too simple to sell. What you need to do: Mom says, “Will you…?” You say, “Yes of course.” When you need to do it: Always and forever. Why it is important: The new human being requires a mother. The new human being is priority one. Mom is priority two. You are priority three. Unless you have a dog. Good luck.
This is bad advice. Parents are real people and need to work in balance with each other and the child. Sacrificing yourself only breeds resentment.