Sunday, 27 January 2008

Reading

I've been buying quite a few books recently (surprise!) I tried to be as UK focused as possible as buying specifically American books sometimes turns me off ... I end up not being familiar with the products involved or the customs the authors talk about. I am still wondering whether to get the Attachment parenting books or whether to attempt to wing it ... immersion in all this information is brilliant, so I suspect I will read everything.... The kind of parent I want to be is very clear in my mind, but the steps in how to get there, the nitty gritty - kind of hazy - I wonder if it just comes naturally ... not a lot does in this life, so I suspect reading and then working it out on a more personal level is the solution. Also, I can only see as far as how I want to parent a newborn... I can't see how I can possibly speculate as to how I will parent the child as it grows older (past the 6 month stage) as I have not met the baby yet! I'll worry about books about THAT stage and beyond later ...

More than the books though, a magazine has been the most informative and thought provoking - I'm Pregnant! is fabulous, I have an issue form last year and one form this year and it's more than enough. I do like Junior Pregnancy and Baby magazine too, but it's a bit irrelevant. I have two issues and one is brilliant, the other is largely full of not much.

For the pregnancy so far I have - Zita West's 'Natural Pregnancy' and looking though it, I think it answers most of my current questions which are about how to develop further the things I've already been working on in terms of taking care of my body, skin, nutrition etc holistically. I also got Susannah Marriott's 'Your Non-Toxic Pregnancy' - I scared myself a little reading it, but keep reminding myself that there are only a few things I can change and it's ok if I decide not to make all the changes ... I like being informed and am getting Iain (engineery dude who works for a chemicals company and is ever so geely about such things) go through the book and tell me if any of the information is bull. He keeps pointing out that yes, toxins are stored in our bodies after we absorb them from crops and fields and cleaning products and gadgets and lotions etc but they are stored away inside us - they don't harm us necessarily - I am not convinced, I know what the oestrogen stored in my fat does to me (my PCOS etc), and that it can do far worse, and does so to some of my PCOS friends ... If that stuff can do all that ....

I got Dr Miriam Stoppard's 'First time parents' for me and Iain, it's easy to read and has a few pages on pretty much everything from ttc to when the newborn is at home, with lots of photos. There are columns of information directed at the father too, a nice touch. It's a bit mean leaving Iain out most of the time.

In terms of the baby, and looking after him/her/being a parent - I LOVE Lynne Murray & Liz Andrews' 'The Social Baby' - again lots of photos and really explains what babies body language means. I got 'Secrets of the Baby Whisperer' by Tracy Hogg, which I plan to use (have to finish reading it to decide! She kind of thinks like I do so I think it'll probably be the book I stick to). I laugh at myself as years ago when my sister raved about this book I thought it was a ridiculously gimicky title, and when she showed me lines from it that had held special meaning for her I was taken aback as I was not aware there was any other way to think of a child other than kind of Hogg's way .... But then, I've never looked after a baby for any length of time ...

I borrowed Daisy Goodwin's 'Bringing up Baby' from the library too, but it looks a bit like she talks as if the baby is a chore .... Lets see, I haven't read much.

Aside from that I'm reading a whole lot of yoga books for pregnancy and have borrowed a hypnobirthing book from the library because in Royston where I live, there is a new hypnobirthing course I can do, and I can book a Doula (I'm definitely having one!!) through them too, I'm hoping I like the philosophy and that it fits in with the yoga and stuff I like ... It will be nice meeting other new parents through the course too.

Books I might still buy - 


Ina May's guide to childbirth for the birth itself...

Perhaps Pregnancy Childbirth and the Newborn to learn  more about it all, perhaps I have enough ...

and for once the baby is here, aside from one of the child-rearing books above, I think one or both of these are in order - The Diaper free baby and Diaper free: the gentle wisdom of natural infant hygiene - it's the only way, because we can't use re-usables and I don't want to use disposables for years and/or have a child of 3 or 4 sitting in his/her own poo for ages on end. 

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