Pregnancy is a scary time. Not only because the woman’s body is going through a myriad of different changes, but also because everyone in the family is going through some big changes. Work and school schedules have to be brought into line, budgets decided upon, and college funds set up. It’s enough to scare any prospective parents who are starting a family or adding a new baby to an already existing family.

The anxiety is quite manageable, however, and it should never overshadow the pure joy and bliss of the occasion. And it doesn’t have to if parents are armed with the right information. That’s why we have decided to do some research on the matter and find the books that can help make pregnancy a more pleasant experience. So let’s go ahead and take a look at the ten best pregnancy books that are available at this time.

Best Pregnancy Books – Reviews

10Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong

This pregnancy book is written for women who are sick and tired of being treated like infants by their doctors and other health-care professionals. Women are always being told by health care professionals that they should avoid wine, sushi, and their morning latte, but doctors rarely tell them why they should avoid these products or the pros and cons of using them. That’s where this book steps in and gives expecting mothers the information that they need, and it does it without being condescending or by being deliberately vague. It’s the pregnancy guide that women have always wanted and one that should prove quite useful.

9The Belly Book: A Nine Month Journal For You & Your Growing Belly

There are plenty of pregnancy guides and books that give information to expecting mothers and/or fathers, but this one is a little different. Instead of providing information to expecting mothers, it gives them the tools they need to chronicle their pregnancies from beginning to end. Using a series of prompts, the expecting mother can chronicle just about every aspect of their pregnancy and preserve it for future generations. Mothers can add their aversions and cravings, ultrasound pictures and pictures of their bellies. They can also add their prenatal visits each week. By the time they have their baby, they’ll have a keepsake that they’ll want to give to their children.

8We’re Pregnant! The First Time Dad’s Pregnancy Handbook

Let’s face the truth; Not all men know how to be a father when they find out for the first time that their partners are pregnant. Some men need a little bit of help in this area, and this is the pregnancy handbook that provides that helpful information. It gives first-time fathers all of the tools they need to be a more engaged and informed father. It relays a ton of advice including planning family goals, caring for newborns, and helping first-time fathers overcome their anxieties, so they can become the best parent they can be. All of this makes this a must-have gift for any father who is expecting their first child.

7Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, & Early Motherhood

The author of this book is Erica Chidi Cohen, a CEO and co-found of Look and a woman who began her career volunteering as a doula in San Francisco’s prison system. She worked with pregnant inmates and helped to educate them so that they could have a happier and healthier pregnancy and delivering. In this book, she takes all of this information and real-world experience and has turned it into a guide that will help all expecting mothers to steel themselves for the challenges of pregnancy and the birthing process. It’s a book that every mother will find useful and it has important information covering everything from pregnancy to post-partum care.

6The Mama Natural Week-By-Week Guide To Pregnancy & Childbirth

This pregnancy book is written by Genevieve Howland, an author who has received more than 80 million views on her YouTube channel that empowers women to embrace a more natural pregnancy and parenting style. This book aims to get rid of the conventional advice offered by male doctors and aims to present a more natural and empowering way for women to have babies. This guide is full of a ton of information that women of all ages and backgrounds will find useful, and it’s also full of advice from a certified nurse-midwife, a registered nurse, and even a lactation consultant.

5The Big Fat Activity Book For Pregnant People

Pregnancy can be both a blessing and a chore, but the one thing it should never be is boring. And with this book, it doesn’t have to be. This activity book is designed not to present concise, well-researched information, but is designed to add a little bit of levity to the pregnant woman’s life. It’s chock-full of irreverent humor and humorous activities that will keep a mother’s mind off of their concerns, at least for a little while. It’s a book that’s full of funny musings, quizzes, mazes, and fill-in-the-blank activities. It also has journaling pages so the mother can keep track of their pregnancy. All of these features make this book a must-have gift for any baby shower.

4Real Food For Pregnancy

Anyone a little unsure of how they should be taking care of their prenatal nutrition might want to think about purchasing this book. That’s because this book gives clear-cut answers to some of the most important nutrition questions that expecting mothers tend to have. It’s a book written by Lily Nichols, an author who is also a registered dietician and nutritionist and is a certified diabetes educator as well. Using a commonsense approach, she breaks down what foods are optimal for pregnancy and what foods women should be adding to their diet to ensure a healthy pregnancy and birth.

3Your Best Pregnancy Ever

This pregnancy book is designed to give expecting mothers useful health tips that they can put into practice during their daily lives. This book is written by Jen Torborg, a licensed physical therapist with experience in pelvic floor physical therapy. In this book, expectant mothers will find chapters on how to nourish their bodies with food on drink, proper breathing techniques, how to get better sleep during pregnancy, exercising in a way that’s not only good for the mother but feels good as well, and preparing for birth and recovery. That makes it a handy guide for anyone concerned with the physical part of pregnancy and childbirth.

2What To Expect When You’re Expecting

Why is this one of the best-selling pregnancy books currently being sold? It’s probably because it’s full of so much useful information. Some expectant mothers have even gone as far as calling this book the pregnancy bible. This is a book that provides answers to some of the questions that expecting mothers want to be answered. This includes whether they can stay in their spinning class, when they should and shouldn’t take a home pregnancy test and how much fish is safe to eat. It also has important chapters on gender reveals, 4-D ultrasounds, how to detect when labor is underway and a whole lot more. It truly is a pregnancy bible.

1Pregnancy, Childbirth, & The Newborn: The Complete Guide

This is one of the best pregnancy books available because it not only contains the most up-to-date medical information available but also because it puts expectant mothers in control of their bodies. This guide is full of information that will help expectant mothers to make informed decisions during not only the pregnancy period but also during childbirth and beyond. It’s written with the help of several different experts in their respective fields. This includes Penny Simkin—a physical therapist and childhood educator; Janet Whalley—a registered nurse and lactation consultant; Ann Keppler—a registered nurse; Janelle Durham—a social worker and birth doula; and April Bolding—a childbirth educator and water fitness instructor.

Can’t Find What You’re Looking For? Check these suggestions:

A Guide To The Best Pregnancy Books

We sincerely hope that all of our readers enjoyed our list of the best pregnancy books that are currently available. We did a ton of research to find the books that we felt would be the most helpful to parents starting a new family or adding to an already existing family. It certainly was a pleasure finding high-quality books and helping our readers discover the information that they need.

However, even we have to admit that not everyone might find every book on this list useful, so they may want to strike out on their own and find some of the other pregnancy books out there. That’s understandable and commendable, especially considering that there are probably hundreds of more books on the subject that parents might find useful. And that’s why we’ve decided to write this guide to pregnancy books. It will give all parents the information they need to choose books that are right for them and their families. We certainly hope that you find it useful in discovering the information you want.

Decide On The Book’s Subject

Before parents can find the right pregnancy books for them, they first have to determine what kind of information they’re trying to obtain. As most people will probably notice, there are a lot of different pregnancy books available. And we do mean a whole lot of them. Therefore, parents must decide what kind of information they need the book to cover. Perhaps they need a book that covers a variety of subjects on the matter, or maybe they need something more specific. Maybe a parent wants information on how to bring fathers into the pregnancy process more fully. Or maybe they need dietary advice they can follow during their pregnancy. It will be a lot easier for parents to find the right pregnancy book for their needs if they have narrowed down the field according to the book’s specific subject matter.

Consider The Book’s Release Date

Another important thing to consider is the age of the pregnancy book. Although it’s probably fine to use a pregnancy book that’s a few years old, maybe as much as 5-years old, you’ll want to make sure that the information isn’t too dated. That’s because the tips given to parents tend to change over time. This is even true of very scientific information that may change as new evidence is uncovered. For example, pregnancy guides of the 1940s and 1950s often suggest that pregnant women go on extremely strict diets to maintain their figures for as long as possible. And throughout history, women have been advised to take a variety of supplements to ease the pain of childbirth, and many of those are now known to be harmful to a fetus. Therefore, parents should choose books that are a little more modern and maybe put away your great grandmother’s guide entitled “Smoking Your Way To A Healthier Baby” in the trash.

Research The Book’s Author(s)

By this point, most people will have compiled a collection of books that pique their interest, and they may begin to believe that they’ve done, but nothing could be further from the truth. Their research is only beginning. Now they have to do the leg work to find out as much information about the author or authors as possible. Why? Because to be quite honest, there are a lot of quacks and people peddling bad information, so parents must weed out the books that are written by these crackpots, so they can obtain the best information possible.

Consider Who Publishes The Book

The next thing for parents to consider is who the publisher of the book is. Although most book publishers do a good job of putting out accurate and thoughtfully sourced information, some publishers are less careful and don’t care if they’re releasing the best pregnancy book in the world, or if it’s a general work of fiction. And some publishers are merely the propaganda arm of certain organizations, some of which the parents might be at philosophical odds with. Therefore, parents should take the time to weed out the publishers that don’t produce the kind of content they want to read.

Consider The Book’s Place Of Publication

The last thing any parent should consider before they buy a book is where the book is published and for what culture it was published for. Publishers all over the world are producing some great pregnancy books but not all of them apply to the residents of other countries. Some information or advice might be different from place to place or culture to culture, so that’s certainly something to keep in mind. And sometimes even health guidelines are different from one country to the next. That’s why it’s important to think about where the book is published. You don’t always have to buy a book that was solely published in your country for it to be useful, but you do need to keep in mind how culture might affect the information contained within it.