Hello everyone! I’m about to become a parent in a few months and I was wondering what books would you recommend reading to get myself prepared. Is there a new parents bible or something like It? The baby won’t come with instructions. Thanks!

  • I recommend the book Precious Little Sleep. You will think about how to get your baby to sleep a lot during the first year and especially during those first 3 months. People often recommend The Happy Sleeper, but personally I think that book is for when things have already gotten out of control, not when you’re just trying to formulate a plan.

    I would recommend having a peek at the CDC’s milestones app and also the ASQ-3 which is a checklist for milestones going up to 5 years old.

    Yale has a fantastic online parenting course that’s based by science. It’s really an in depth explanation of the ABC Model of parenting, which has been shown to have the best outcomes and is really the authoritative style of parenting, which should not be confused with the authoritarian style of parenting which does not have great outcomes. Neither does the permissive style of parenting.

    The “Your ___-Year Old” Books (here is Your One-Year Old) are fantastic for learning what children at like at various ages as far as temperament and general interests. I would disregard a lot of the parenting advice in this book because it’s very much of that “Girls like dolls. Boys like trucks. Neither should speak unless you give permission” variety.