17 Best Books for New Moms

Being a first time mom can be daunting. There’s so much information and everyone has an opinion. Cutting through all the noise, while dealing with your pregnancy, and then your newborn, is challenging. These books provide factual information, from what to expect while pregnant to being prepared for what comes next.

Books on Pregnancy

1. Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy

Not sure where to start? This comprehensive guide has everything from safe medicine use to common pregnancy symptoms and week-by-week expectations for new moms. If you’ve never been pregnant before or just want a thorough guide to it all, this well-ranked guide is the perfect starting point for limiting stress during pregnancy and alleviating anxiety while pregnant.

2. What to Expect When You’re Expecting

If you’re pregnant, have been around people who were pregnant, or at least had a conversation about pregnancy, chances are very high you’ve heard of this book. It’s pretty much a classic for new parents, and for good reason—it outlines nearly every situation you’ll have as an expectant mother, with advice, care guides, information, and more.

3. Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide

If you feel overwhelmed and alarmed by other pregnancy books, then you’ll appreciate this straightforward and empowering guide. It’s also especially helpful for families that don’t fit the status quo: blended families, single parents, LGTBQ+ families, and more.

Get information on common processes for pregnancies, including healthy variations, as well as complications and how to deal with them.

4. Why Did No One Tell Me This: The Doulas’ (Honest) Guide for Expectant Parents

This guide for expectant mothers lays out all the options and choices future moms have ahead of them, providing honest advice alongside a fun, personality-filled illustrated guide. Why Did No One Tell Me This? answers some of a new mom’s biggest questions, like “What is a birth plan and do I need one?” Doulas and reproductive health experts Natalia Hailes and Ash Spivak have created a brilliant, intersectional book interspersed with bite-sized advice and tips.

Books About Postpartum

5. Postpartum Depression & Anxiety: A Self-Help Guide for Mothers

Many women suffer from postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety, and fewer get the help they need. Whether you are currently dealing with PPD or want to be prepared in case you do, this compassionate guide, written by the Pacific Post Partum Support Society, offers advice on how to navigate the difficult emotions around motherhood, and perhaps the most important thing: A reminder that you are not alone. While postpartum depression can’t necessarily be prevented, there are lots of ways you can mitigate your symptoms and find the right support.

6. The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality

This holistic guide is here to help you feel more like yourself after what can be a harrowing experience giving birth. American society doesn’t often take care of the mom once the baby is born—with all the focus on a healthy baby, the concept of a healthy mama can fall to the wayside. Yoga teacher and doula Kimberly Ann Johnson offers mindful, grounding techniques to help new mothers take care of themselves and limit the baby blues in the trimester that is the most forgotten.

7. Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers

Intrusive thoughts can be terrifying for new mothers. Motherhood is heralded as a beautiful, inspiring time, but that’s not always the case. Additionally, the shame of not feeling the same way others do can be even more damaging than the thoughts themselves. But no one is a bad parent for having intrusive thoughts, and it is possible to validate your feelings and move on.

8. Not Your Mother’s Postpartum Book

In general, mom life is challenging, but for some, postpartum represents a particularly difficult time. In the refreshingly honest Not Your Mother’s Postpartum Book, authors Chelsea Bodie and Caitlin Slavens share what you can truly expect post baby, far beyond the “baby blues.” Filled with reliable resources, this book takes a non-judgemental, at times humorous approach to the very real stress of being a new mom, covering topics like birth trauma, perinatal mood disorders, baby feeding and sleep, body image issues, mom guilt, NICU life, and intimacy post-pregnancy.

9. Return to You: A Postpartum Plan for New Moms

If you are struggling with postpartum depression or anxiety, it can feel hopeless. Return to You wants readers to know that they are not alone. Given time, guidance, and support, new mothers can rest, recover, and heal. Author Natasha Sriraman says that during the three months immediately following birth, you’re at risk for a variety of mental and physical health challenges, including pelvic floor issues and trouble with sleep, breastfeeding, and nutrition. Her book offers comfort and guidance, helping women rediscover themselves and learn how to carry the emotional burden of motherhood.

Guides About Newborns

10. Heading Home With Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality

This updated classic includes a section on postpartum depression and Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Practical and straightforward, this book is approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics and outlines all you need to know in the months after your child is born.

11. The Happiest Baby on the Block; Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer

Getting a baby to sleep or calming them when nothing seems to work is often the bane of a parent’s existence. This well-reviewed guide is called long-winded by some parents, but Karp’s extensive explanations of her tried-and-true relaxation techniques is guaranteed to calm the most agitated babies.

12. What to Expect the First Year

Your pregnancy may be over, but your parenting journey is just starting. This book breaks down the first year month-to-month, tackling sleep issues, attachment styles, and even information on making your own baby food.

This updated edition also includes research on screen time, breastfeeding, and taking care of parents, too.

13. The Baby Owner’s Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner’s and Instruction Manual)

Babies can be terrifying—there are so many rules and things to know, and they don’t even come with a manual. This tongue-in-cheek guidebook tackles the common need-to-know items, from feeding to changing diapers to getting naps on time, with humor and helpful diagrams.

14. The Newborn Handbook: Your Guide to Bringing Home Baby

In this practical guide to newborns, Dr. Smita Malhotra goes beyond the basics. The Newborn Handbook sequentially covers the first three months of caring for a baby. Consider this the user’s manual for all parents and caregivers. If you need additional help and information, it also provides a list of references and resources. This stand-out is particularly useful for first-time parents who are nervous and doing everything within their power to be prepared for anything.

Guides for the First Few Years

15. Mayo Clinic Guide to Your Baby’s First Years: Newborn to Age 3

You’ve given birth to a healthy child—now here’s how to take care of them. Feeding techniques, healthy sleep habits, learning to travel safely—it’s all here in this companion guide to Mayo Clinic’s pregnancy book. Mayo Clinic provides a trusted, thorough resource for new parents with this informative guide.

16. Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool

Everyone has an opinion on parenting, and the world seems to stop if you don’t agree with someone’s well-meaning advice. There is a lot of pressure on parents to raise perfect children, but this pressure can just as often have the opposite effect.

Economist Emily Oster takes a hard look at the data, including the common myths around breastfeeding, parenting, and sleep training, all with the science-backed decision-making process that defines economics.

17. The Girlfriends’ Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood

While many books give advice on how to take care of a child, there are fewer that deliver tips on how to care for yourself. Delivery room veteran Vicki Lovine knows that before putting the metaphorical oxygen mask on your child, you need to put one on yourself. Expect to laugh a lot as you read The Girlfriends’ Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood, digging into topics like baby euphoria, competitive mothering, body image issues, and observations on the phenomenon Lovine playfully calls “Husband? What husband?”

When to See a Therapist

If you’re a new or expecting parent struggling with anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns, you’re not alone, and there is help. A therapist can walk you through your concerns and provide you with the groundwork to take care of yourself and your child. Find a therapist in your area today.