New Motherhood

A wide range of women—actors, athletes, academics, CEOs, writers, small-business owners, birth workers, physicians, and activists—share their experiences of becoming mothers in this multifaceted, moving, and revealing collection.

I love being a Spice Girl, but what I am proudest of is being a mum. Even though I had all the real-life girl power of the actual Spice Girls on speed-dial, my incredible partner and my mum, I had so many worries and questions I couldn't always ask out loud. What I really, really wanted was one easy-to-digest, honest book that would give me support without judgment - that might even make me chuckle occasionally.

In this updated and expanded version of Isa Gucciardi’s acclaimed Return to the Great Mother, the listener is invited to rediscover the transformative feminine power at the heart of childbirth. Mothers, their partners, and birth professionals will learn how to tap into this ancient wellspring of power to create a birthing experience that is deeply intuitive and empowering.

This book is a bundle of two books, one focusing on sleep training and the other one focusing on gentle discipline. Each book presents a set of powerful and efficient techniques, and ends with positive self-affirmations that will empower both parents and kids and help them along the way.

Is bedtime a constant struggle with your toddler? Do they have trouble falling asleep or often wake in the middle of the night? Are you exhausted from sleepless nights of your own trying to keep up with them? Get back to basics with this guide to toddler bedtime troubles and how to solve them. Using child psychology and gentle, science-backed parenting techniques, this audiobook will provide you with everything necessary to teach your child how to sleep on their own.

You’re excited to be a new mom…but you have no idea what to expect. You know it’s going to be a magical experience, but you’re feeling both exhilarated and scared. You’ve been looking forward to this moment for as long as you can remember, but now that it's drawing nearer, you’re getting nervous. Maybe you’ve looked through countless websites on motherhood but your research is becoming more overwhelming than helpful. Don’t worry: You are not alone!

Whether you're nervous, exhilarated, or overwhelmed by the idea of motherhood, this is the perfect chance to learn what normal newborn behavior is really like and how best to care for yourself and your little one.

In busy-mom-friendly short essays, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay delivers the empathetic straight dirt on parenting, tackling everything from Mommy & Me classes ("Your baby doesn't need to be making friends at three months old - you do! But not with people you'll meet at Mommy & Me") to attachment parenting ("If you're holding your baby 24/7, that's not a baby, that's a tumor").

No one said motherhood would be easy. For Adiba Nelson, the journey to parenthood started with a big bang and continues with a breakdown (or two) and several “why?” questions for God.

In Better Breastfeeding, Dr. Linda Dahl presents a new paradigm for breastfeeding based on diagnosing and treating mothers and babies using anatomy and physiology, offering a comprehensive overview of how breastfeeding works, why it fails, and what to do about it. Dr. Dahl takes you through the basics of breastfeeding in a week-by-week guide and explores solutions for little-understood difficulties like gape restriction and tongue tie, nipple and breast pain, issues with milk supply, or abnormal nursing behaviors.

After the birth of her baby triggers a manic maelstrom, Dyane Harwood struggles to survive the bewildering highs and crippling lows of her brain's turmoil. Birth of a New Brain vividly depicts her postpartum bipolar disorder, an unusual type of bipolar disorder and postpartum mood and anxiety disorder. During her childhood, Harwood grew up close to her father, a brilliant violinist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic who had bipolar disorder. She learned how bipolar disorder could ravage a family, but she never suspected that she'd become mentally ill - until her baby was born.

Ravaged and sore from giving birth to her first child, Megan is mostly raising her newborn alone while her husband travels for work. Physically exhausted and mentally drained, she’s also wracked with guilt over her unfinished dissertation - a thesis on mid-century children’s literature. Enter a new upstairs neighbor: the ghost of quixotic children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown - author of the beloved classic Goodnight Moon -whose existence no one else will acknowledge.

Whether you want practical guidance for an unassisted birth or simply want to deepen your understanding of natural birth in general, this book is the how-to manual you've been waiting for. Introducing the idea of a Brave New Birth—any birth where the mother and baby are free to birth by instinct and are given the privacy and safety necessary for the body and baby to birth themselves, without interference, intervention, or being watched/measured/observed.

Many parents are not aware that sleeping, and especially sleeping through the night, is not an innate but a learned behavior. That is why it is essential to teach your infant how to sleep on his/her own at nap time and during the night. The result? You are not only better able to be the great parent you wish to be, but you will have time and energy to heal your mind and body from the stresses of pregnancy and childbirth.

Stand-up comic, broadcaster and actress Ellie Taylor is relatable, clever and interested in how women can have it all. Her honest, hilarious and moving account of the whys and hows of having a baby makes perfect listening for expectant mothers and fathers everywhere, as well as those who've been there, done that, and wonder how on earth they did.

Having a child developing inside you is one of the most magical moments in your life. But too many worries, which lead to stress and anxiety, can harm your baby’s health and development. Get ready to choose a more positive path that is going to skyrocket your baby’s overall health and happiness.

Nothing is simple about being a new mom alone in a new house, especially when your baby is collicky. Natalie Fanning loves her son unconditionally, but being a mother was not all she wanted to be. Enter Paul, the neighbor. Paul provides the lifeline she needs in what feels like the most desperate of times. When Paul is helping with Oliver, calmed by his reassuring, steady presence, Nat feels like she can finally rest. But Paul wants something in return.

Doula Beccy Hands and midwife Alexis Stickland know what a challenge it can be to balance self-care with motherhood. In The Little Book of Support for New Moms, they bring together decades of experience to share invaluable tips and tricks to boost confidence and calm frazzled nerves - plus answers to all those questions new moms may be too embarrassed to ask. Here are instructions for creating cooling breast pads with chamomile tea, quick stretches for relieving aching muscles, and tips for reducing swelling.

In this anthology of creative nonfiction, 28 writers set out to discover what they know, and don't know, about the person they call Mother. Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse and insightful collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers and expands our notions of motherhood in the South. The mothers in these essays were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time.

In therapy, on the cusp of a mental breakdown caused by a sleep-defying baby, Alyssa DeRose listens as her therapist (read: paid best friend) finally puts her version of the truth into words: "It's okay if becoming a mother was both the best and worst thing to ever happen to you." Alyssa now welcomes fellow women into the brutal and transformational season of life called new motherhood, inviting us to reflect on our own flawed stories of motherhood and offering needed permission to embrace our imperfection.