My sister sent me the following list of parenting books that people on her company mailing list recommended.

  1. Baby 411 (after birth advice)
  2. Baby Bargains (buying guide)
  3. The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp [Watch the DVD; it's helpful to see the techniques demonstrated]
  4. Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy [Hilarious]
  5. Nursing Mother’s Companion [I read in cover to cover.]
  6. Why Motor Skills Matter
  7. The complete and authoritative guide caring for your baby and young child birth to age 5″ by the American Academy of Pediatrics
  8. What’s Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot

To those, I add:

1. Dr. T Berry Brazelton’s Touchpoints Birth to Three
2. Dr. William Sears books
3. Some people also like Louise Bates Ames books (children at each developmental stage)
4. The Continuum Concept (attachment parenting theory)
5. Good Nights (family bed)
6. Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense (positive approach to feeding kids)
7. Super Baby Food (feeding kids from first food and more)
8. So That’s What They’re For (breastfeeding guide)