I thought I’d take a moment today to recommend 3 good books for Fathers-to-Be and New Fathers.  These are books that were recommended and purchased for me, and they have given me a lot of insights over the last year (while my wife was pregnant, and after the baby was born).

• “The Expectant Father:  Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be” By Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash.
  • This book gives a week-by-week explanation of what is happening with the baby’s development in the womb, and what the mom is going thru.  A lot of books do that.  But the added plus in this book is that it also talks about what you are probably going thru – and how to get thru them.  There were literally things that I had been worried about and then I read “week XX” and there it was, an explanation of how I might be feeling.  This was incredibly helpful for me – nobody wants to feel alone.  It also talks about future planning for the baby (savings accounts, etc.) and even has a good lead into after the baby is born.
• “The New Father:  A Dad’s Guide to the First Year” By Armin A. Brott
  • By the same guy as the book above, I love this book for the same reasons – it talks a lot about what the baby is going thru, and offers some good information about specific developmental milestones, and gives a good lead-in to just about anything you might want to know about, and then you can research it more in-depth elsewhere (online, for example).
  • It also has good topics specifically for guys – like “when the mother goes back to work”, and also digs into what the mother is likely experiencing and how you might be feeling.
• “Great Expectations: Baby’s First Year” By Sandy Jones
  • This book is a good book for more in-depth information (it’s a thick book!).  It is not really written for guys and sometimes it feels like it is not modern in it’s way of referring to the man’s role in parenting, but it is a good book for knowing where the baby is at developmentally, and a little about knowing where the mother might be emotionally, too.

What I like about all 3 books is they are easy to pick up and read for a couple of minutes, then come back to later.  This is critical when there’s a little guy who needs your full attention most of the time!  And, while the internet is a wealth of information, there’s still something nice about picking up a physical book.