A highly useful handbook for pregnancy and the first three months after birth that covers essential information for moms-to-be, helping them plan for childbirth and optimize their whole health (physical, mental, emotional) during this time. Based on interviews with 400+ health care providers, parents, and subject matter experts, it includes topics, checklists, and exercises that are presented in bite-sized chapters for easy reference.
At a time when more women than ever live far away from their closest family and friends, new moms-to-be need a resource like this to give them confidence and help them achieve peak vitality and health during this special season of their lives.
The book includes:
• How to prevent and treat common pregnancy ailments
• Questions to consider when creating your birth plan
• Sample partner support plan
• How to find a pediatrician
• How to nurture your spirit
• Nutrition principles
• Which conversations are critical to have, with who, and how to navigate through challenging situations
• Tips, strategies, and action steps for self-care, maximizing available resources, and staying focused while minimizing stress on the journey to parenthood
A highly useful handbook for pregnancy and the first three months after birth that covers essential information for moms-to-be, helping them plan for childbirth and optimize their whole health (physical, mental, emotional) during this time. Based on interviews with 400+ health care providers, parents, and subject matter experts, it includes topics, checklists, and exercises that are presented in bite-sized chapters for easy reference.
At a time when more women than ever live far away from their closest family and friends, new moms-to-be need a resource like this to give them confidence and help them achieve peak vitality and health during this special season of their lives.
The book includes:
• How to prevent and treat common pregnancy ailments
• Questions to consider when creating your birth plan
• Sample partner support plan
• How to find a pediatrician
• How to nurture your spirit
• Nutrition principles
• Which conversations are critical to have, with who, and how to navigate through challenging situations
• Tips, strategies, and action steps for self-care, maximizing available resources, and staying focused while minimizing stress on the journey to parenthood
PRENATAL
PART I. PRENATAL SELF-CARE
1. Building Your Village
2. How to Care for Your Pregnant Friend
3. Nurturing Your Spirit
4. Sample Relaxation Techniques
5. Common Pregnancy Ailments
6. Sample Exercise Precautions
7. Sample Nutrition Principles
PART II. PRENATAL CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS
8. Preempting Mom Guilt
9. Household Planning
10. Navigating Return to Work (or Not)
11. Releasing Your Fears
PART III. PRENATAL CHECKLIST
12. The Checklist: Prenatal
13. Insurance and HR Benefits
14. Sample Parental Leave (U.S.A.)
15. Assembling Your Care Team
16. Standing Up for Yourself
17. Sample Prenatal Appointment Schedule
18. Is Natural Birth for You?
19. Creating Your Birth Plan
20. Sample Partner Support Plan
21. Finding a Pediatrician
22. Sample Packing List for Birth Day
23. Sample Comfort Measures for Labor
24. Childbirth 101
25. Why Isn’t Baby Here Yet?
26. Sample Birth Affirmations
27. Assembling Key Info and Contacts
POSTNATAL
PART IV. POSTNATAL SELF-CARE
28. Giving Yourself Grace
29. Upping Your Mental Game
30. Nutrition and Nourishment
31. Physical Recovery from Birth
32. Body after Baby
33. How Partners Can Help
34. Lifesaving Warning Signs: Mom
35. Lifesaving Warning Signs: Baby
36. Five Steps to Fighting Overwhelm
PART V. POSTNATAL CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS
37. Setting Boundaries
38. Sample Division of Responsibilities
39. Common Emotional Changes: Mom
40. Common Emotional Changes: Partner
41. Postnatal and Newborn Care: The 10 B’s
PART VI. POSTNATAL CHECKLIST
42. The Checklist: Postnatal
43. Baby Blues
44. Interpreting Babies: Birth to 3 Months
45. Early Parenting Decisions
46. Breast or Bottle?
47. Sample Baby Announcement
48. Childcare
49. Sample Sitter Instructions
50. Back at Work Hacks
Share Your Experience
Acknowledgements
Index
About the Author
Written for moms or those who take care of moms, this book is a must-have for the peri-natal period. While there are classic pregnancy-and-new-mom books, those books are often overwhelming in terms of detail and sink the mom-to-be or new mom into a morass of anxious worry. "New Mom Essentials" avoid the trap of trying to cover everything that could ever happen, and just covers...the essentials.
This book covers the essentials quite comprehensively, but does so in a succinct and easily digested manner. Divided into pre-natal and post-natal sections, each section covers self-care, crucial conversations, and contains very helpful checklists.
From building your village, to household planning, to sample partner support plans, the most important aspects of pregnancy and preparing for a newborn are covered. Once baby is here, there are sections talking about physical recovery after birth, setting boundaries, and sample sitter instructions.
As a new mom, I found this book to be a quick yet comprehensive guide to the peri-natal experience, educating but avoiding overwhelming with information. I looooove that there is a section on physical recovery after birth, as I feel this is an area that is not given enough attention with the modern culture. Pregnancy and childbirth are significant experiences to go through, and having a book like "New Mom Essentials" to provide a roadmap for the journey truly helps make the experience as smooth as possible. Pragmatic yet warm, the information is provided in an easily digestible manner, and can be read in snippets.
I cannot stress enough how easily this book can be read and how much information it manages to convey in a very low-key way. Pregnancy and new motherhood can be very overwhelming, and this book helps reduce that by providing summaries of what one is likely to experience and how to handle the situations. The addition of all the checklists, sample scripts, and schedules is super-helpful. No need to start from scratch; "New Mom Essentials" has got your back!