I’ve been a newborn photographer for over a decade. During this time, I’ve had hundreds of conversations with new parents about what was helpful during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I’ve gathered all these helpful resources to help you with this tricky time.
Pregnancy resources
My favorite pregnancy book is, The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Genevieve Howland. I loved that this book gave you information about the baby weekly, gave you advice on things to think about each week, included recipes and exercises, and focused on “natural” products and concepts without being too judgey. I know that she has a youtube channel and website, but I just read the book!
I also used the Ovia app to get daily articles that lined up with my pregnancy timeline as baby grew. Every week I looked forward to seeing what size fruit/vegi the baby was, and what stage of development he was in. They also have a great video series for each week, and a contraction timer that we used when I was in labor!
Birth podcast
My absolute favorite podcast is The Birth Hour, which I still listen to. There are birth stories from women all over the world, and all different types of births. I found listening to all the stories so helpful since you really don’t know what to expect from your own birth, and everyone is different. I felt like no matter what happened, I would have someone’s story to reference and know that everything would be OK. I honestly feel that I learned more about birth from this podcast than I did from books or even our birth class.
New parent support groups
After Ollie was born, I found mom’s groups to be so helpful. Beth Israel does 3 free groups a week in Dedham, Milton, and Chestnut Hill, and I still go to group when I can. I also went to postpartum doula Rachel Hess’ First Time Parents Group, and couldn’t recommend it more! Being a new mom can be isolating, especially when your partner goes back to work, and it is such a relief to speak with other new moms going through the same things you are.
Sleep resources
We purchased Taking Cara Babies’ sleep training class, and it was the best thing for our family. I was terrified to let Ollie cry it out, but at 7 months he had regressed and we were up for hours each night trying to get him back down. We finally did the TCB sleep training plan and Ollie only cried for 25 minutes! Now we can put him down awake, and he sleeps for 12 hours in his crib. We did the same thing for naps and he will often nap for 2 hours, falling asleep on his own. Her Instagram and blog are also super helpful for tips and tricks for night sleep, naps, wake windows, etc.
Breastfeeding resources
KellyMom is my favorite resource for all things breastfeeding. They have a ton of articles about pumping, breast milk storage, and more. Also, I wrote a blog post with my own personal breastfeeding advice.
