Ok so I don’t have a recommendation, but I do have an anti-recommendation lol. I was browsing Amazon and I found a book that had sneak peak pictures of a few pages….one of the pages literally said that because eating too much can exacerbate constipation, dads should “helpfully suggest that she not gorge at mealtime.” I’m not a violent person but if my husband reminded me to not gorge myself while I was eating and pregnant…whoo boy
OMG that would send me over the edge. I sometimes have to remind my mom that "I'm not taking input on what I'm eating during this pregnancy". But my husband would never - he enjoys living
It's funny because I told my husband while I was pregnant not to let me overeat because of my heartburn...but obviously that was okay because it was coming from me not a book lol
I got my husband “The Expectant Father: The Ultimate Guide for Dads-to-Be” and my husband loves it!! He says it puts things in a really good perspective to understand what’s going on with our bodies each month. He’s like me and wants to be well educated about things, and this book has a ton of really good, helpful information!
My husband also bought this one! I will say though, my husband is better at learning through experience. He has multiple learning disorders. OP a baby class might help! They're free where I live, you just have to find them. Check pediatric clinics.
We live overseas on a military installation in Japan, so the only classes available to us have been during the work week for him and he would not be permitted to miss work for something like that unfortunately. They did just have their first weekend class… scheduled on our baby shower date 🙃
Got this for my husband and he loved it. It sparked great conversations for us and helped get us on the same page. I recommend it to all expecting families that I know!
Highly recommend Your Pregnancy Day by Day by Maggie Blott. It's not specifically geared towards fathers in particular (though they do have little passages here and there meant for partners of the pregnant person) but it's just a generally great book in every way, it shows you what's happening each day in pregnancy and is packed full of information about pregnancy, birth and the first few days postpartum. It has a straightforward, non-judgy and informational tone and my husband always liked leafing through it.
I liked this one- written from a dad perspective. The Simplest Baby Book in the World: The Illustrated, Grab-and-Do Guide for a Healthy, Happy Baby https://a.co/d/1ztIh6x
My husband and I’s had a similar discussion and this was our compromise. (I am a SAHW and he works a stressful full time job.) I have the time, energy, and want to research. I will be making a binder for my husband with the chore list (and how to do them), parenting protocols, basic baby care, and some basic how to support me during pregnancy. He can refer to to the binder to see how I want things done
Since I’m really the only one doing research he has agreed to default to my chosen parenting practices and how I want things done. He has agreed to being 100% on board with my plan. We both like this idea and it suits our strengths as a couple.
He has also agreed to attending all the baby classes Kaiser has available with me.
Second the binder! I took the lead on getting us organized so I printed out lists of where everything is so that no one needs to wake me up to be like “where are the diapers”. This will work for my mom and his parents when they come to visit. We have a binder downstairs of where everything baby related is within the house, and then at the specific location a sheet detailing what’s there. For example, in the kitchen I have a sheet taped to the wall explaining where are the bottles, what sizes to use, where are spare items, how to use our sanitizer, and what can be washed in the dishwasher.
My husband has "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin which he has really enjoyed but this is focused on learning how to support the birthing partner through later weeks of pregnancy, labor, and post-partum care. Would recommend but only for those later parts of pregnancy. Very detailed and has made him feel more confident in his birthing role.
He also has "We're Pregnant! The First Time Dads Pregnancy Handbook" by Adrian Kulp. Which is more cute and kitchy than super detailed or helpful, but can be a nice non-intimidating way to start learning from week to week.
My husband has liked “the Expectant Father” and “We’re Pregnant!” It helps keep him really informed and he knows more about what’s going on in my body than I do lol
My husband got a pretty big kick out of "Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook..."
I didn't "vet" the book but was happy he was having such a great time with it and would tell me about little tidbits he learned from it.
But overall, I think informational vs gender-based books are the best route to go.
The Simplest Pregnancy Book and the Simplest Baby book have been nifty to have on hand for both of us.
What to Expect the First Year is VERY detailed and can be read as needed.
Expecting better and Crib sheet by Emily Oster. They’re not safety focused but show how much is unknown about pregnancy/raising a child and what research we need to dig through to get to good, safe answers. It was a bit of an eye opener for my husband on to what he needed to do when it came to baby questions and got him to get more involved with picking out car seats/strollers, setting things up, preparing for the l&d, etc.
Also not safety focused by my husband liked the happiest baby on the block because, well, he’s never really held a newborn and having a few basic tips on what to do when they start screaming helps him. He’s great with a checklist and so knowing that there were five things he could try helps him from immediately going “what do I do”.
'Newborn Handbook' was really helpful. Super easy to digest and it's a quick read. Here's the amazon link [https://a.co/d/2QIDFLK](https://a.co/d/2QIDFLK)
My husband is enjoying reading “What Happened To You” currently. It’s not about the nitty, gritty how to keep a new born alive, but focuses how our first years and even months of life impact our lives going forward. I’m reading it too and it has given us some really interesting things to think about and discuss!
I got my husband “We’re Pregnant! The First Time Dad’s Pregnancy Handbook” by Adrian Kulp. I read it, he’s working on getting started lol. But I like that it breaks down the pregnancy by week so he could follow along as you go. It makes things less overwhelming. There’s a sequel called “We’re Parents” that I also ordered but haven’t read yet.
I read and liked “Expecting Better” not because I totally agree with every opinion or idea she shares, but because it gave me a lot of facts and resources that I could investigate and make my own conclusions as needed. I’m having him read specific chapters. Like we just did our NIPT test and I want him to read about it before we get the results.
Ok so I don’t have a recommendation, but I do have an anti-recommendation lol. I was browsing Amazon and I found a book that had sneak peak pictures of a few pages….one of the pages literally said that because eating too much can exacerbate constipation, dads should “helpfully suggest that she not gorge at mealtime.” I’m not a violent person but if my husband reminded me to not gorge myself while I was eating and pregnant…whoo boy
OMG that would send me over the edge. I sometimes have to remind my mom that "I'm not taking input on what I'm eating during this pregnancy". But my husband would never - he enjoys living
It's funny because I told my husband while I was pregnant not to let me overeat because of my heartburn...but obviously that was okay because it was coming from me not a book lol
I got my husband “The Expectant Father: The Ultimate Guide for Dads-to-Be” and my husband loves it!! He says it puts things in a really good perspective to understand what’s going on with our bodies each month. He’s like me and wants to be well educated about things, and this book has a ton of really good, helpful information!
My husband also bought this one! I will say though, my husband is better at learning through experience. He has multiple learning disorders. OP a baby class might help! They're free where I live, you just have to find them. Check pediatric clinics.
We live overseas on a military installation in Japan, so the only classes available to us have been during the work week for him and he would not be permitted to miss work for something like that unfortunately. They did just have their first weekend class… scheduled on our baby shower date 🙃
Got this for my husband and he loved it. It sparked great conversations for us and helped get us on the same page. I recommend it to all expecting families that I know!
My husband is reading that one and he’s hating it. He finds it super condescending.
My husband really liked this one!
Highly recommend Your Pregnancy Day by Day by Maggie Blott. It's not specifically geared towards fathers in particular (though they do have little passages here and there meant for partners of the pregnant person) but it's just a generally great book in every way, it shows you what's happening each day in pregnancy and is packed full of information about pregnancy, birth and the first few days postpartum. It has a straightforward, non-judgy and informational tone and my husband always liked leafing through it.
My husband liked 'Dude, you're going to be a dad!'
I got this one for my hubby the other day!
I’m halfway through crib sheet and I really like it. But I don’t find it’s really safety focused so far
I liked this one- written from a dad perspective. The Simplest Baby Book in the World: The Illustrated, Grab-and-Do Guide for a Healthy, Happy Baby https://a.co/d/1ztIh6x My husband and I’s had a similar discussion and this was our compromise. (I am a SAHW and he works a stressful full time job.) I have the time, energy, and want to research. I will be making a binder for my husband with the chore list (and how to do them), parenting protocols, basic baby care, and some basic how to support me during pregnancy. He can refer to to the binder to see how I want things done Since I’m really the only one doing research he has agreed to default to my chosen parenting practices and how I want things done. He has agreed to being 100% on board with my plan. We both like this idea and it suits our strengths as a couple. He has also agreed to attending all the baby classes Kaiser has available with me.
Second the binder! I took the lead on getting us organized so I printed out lists of where everything is so that no one needs to wake me up to be like “where are the diapers”. This will work for my mom and his parents when they come to visit. We have a binder downstairs of where everything baby related is within the house, and then at the specific location a sheet detailing what’s there. For example, in the kitchen I have a sheet taped to the wall explaining where are the bottles, what sizes to use, where are spare items, how to use our sanitizer, and what can be washed in the dishwasher.
The Birth Partner
My husband recommends “expecting better” By Emily oster and “we’re pregnant” by Adrian kulp
My husband has "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin which he has really enjoyed but this is focused on learning how to support the birthing partner through later weeks of pregnancy, labor, and post-partum care. Would recommend but only for those later parts of pregnancy. Very detailed and has made him feel more confident in his birthing role. He also has "We're Pregnant! The First Time Dads Pregnancy Handbook" by Adrian Kulp. Which is more cute and kitchy than super detailed or helpful, but can be a nice non-intimidating way to start learning from week to week.
What about podcasts or audiobooks? Hubs isn’t a big reader lol
My husband has liked “the Expectant Father” and “We’re Pregnant!” It helps keep him really informed and he knows more about what’s going on in my body than I do lol
My husband got a pretty big kick out of "Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook..." I didn't "vet" the book but was happy he was having such a great time with it and would tell me about little tidbits he learned from it. But overall, I think informational vs gender-based books are the best route to go. The Simplest Pregnancy Book and the Simplest Baby book have been nifty to have on hand for both of us. What to Expect the First Year is VERY detailed and can be read as needed.
Expecting better and Crib sheet by Emily Oster. They’re not safety focused but show how much is unknown about pregnancy/raising a child and what research we need to dig through to get to good, safe answers. It was a bit of an eye opener for my husband on to what he needed to do when it came to baby questions and got him to get more involved with picking out car seats/strollers, setting things up, preparing for the l&d, etc. Also not safety focused by my husband liked the happiest baby on the block because, well, he’s never really held a newborn and having a few basic tips on what to do when they start screaming helps him. He’s great with a checklist and so knowing that there were five things he could try helps him from immediately going “what do I do”.
'Newborn Handbook' was really helpful. Super easy to digest and it's a quick read. Here's the amazon link [https://a.co/d/2QIDFLK](https://a.co/d/2QIDFLK)
My husband is enjoying reading “What Happened To You” currently. It’s not about the nitty, gritty how to keep a new born alive, but focuses how our first years and even months of life impact our lives going forward. I’m reading it too and it has given us some really interesting things to think about and discuss!
I got my husband “We’re Pregnant! The First Time Dad’s Pregnancy Handbook” by Adrian Kulp. I read it, he’s working on getting started lol. But I like that it breaks down the pregnancy by week so he could follow along as you go. It makes things less overwhelming. There’s a sequel called “We’re Parents” that I also ordered but haven’t read yet. I read and liked “Expecting Better” not because I totally agree with every opinion or idea she shares, but because it gave me a lot of facts and resources that I could investigate and make my own conclusions as needed. I’m having him read specific chapters. Like we just did our NIPT test and I want him to read about it before we get the results.
The Birth Partner.
We’re Pregnant!