
Ask HN: A hacker's books on pregnancy and childbirth? - sho_hn
In light of the discussion on pg&#x27;s parenting tricks, I thought this might be a nice Sunday Ask: Can anyone recommend books on pregnancy and childbirth the HN audience would enjoy?<p>Books on the journey to birth and its immediate aftermath. But not opinionated tutorial&#x2F;self-help guides - rather, ones that are relentlessly and neutrally informative on the technicalities of it all, and the envelope of common practices and complications.<p>Books that chart and canvas the scene. Books for learning.
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DanBC
The NHS used to have two books available in print and as PDF.

They've now put all of that on a website:
[https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-
baby/](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/)

PDFs are still available, but check the information is still correct:

[https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/Preg...](https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/Pregnancy_Book_comp.pdf)

[https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/birth-
five](https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/birth-five)

[https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2018/05/Birth2Fiv...](https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2018/05/Birth2Five.pdf)

My one bit of advice is to just relax and enjoy it. There's so much pressure
put on parents about things that are micro-optimisations (eg breast feeding is
best, but some people can't make it work even with support and those people
should not feel guilty about formula feeding: their child is not suffering as
a result), and some people are weirdly judgmental about this stuff.

------
gus_massa
Books are like programing langues, they are "pragmatic" if you agree with the
choices of the author and "opinionated" if you disagree.

There is an interesting old thread about recomendations (not books)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053211](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053211)
(90 points, 6 months ago, 110 comments). Including my comment
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053962](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053962)

I'd add that there is a high chance of spontaneous abortion during the first
weeks of pregnancy. Wait until the 8 weeks ecography to tell everyone (or
better, wait until the 12 week ecography). I don't have the numbers but it's
something like 25% but it is never discused, so it can be a sad surprise.

I agree with the comment of DanBC, breast feeding is best but some people
overestimate it and increase the pressure innecesarily (assuming you have easy
access to clean water).

------
steerpike
I strongly recommend Cheers to childbirth[0] which is by far the most useful
and practical book I found on what you can actually do to be a helpful partner
in the leadup and during the birth. Remember you're not the priority in this
situation but you do need to be a partner. Which means being a strong and
empathetic advocate for what your wife and baby need. This book will help you
understand what that is so you can discuss it with your wife and formulate a
plan so that she can focus on getting the primary work done.

[https://cheerstochildbirth.com.au](https://cheerstochildbirth.com.au)

