Did you read lots of parenting how-to books before your child was born?

Well, yes, I would read this pregnancy book by Mayo Clinic. It had the before and after about pregnancy and its stages. It was a big book. Plus I got it for free off of the Internet.

With my first pregnancy I read "What to expect while expecting" - I think that was the name of it, and also the next book "What to expect the first year". Those helped a lot actually. The first baby is always such a new experience - and I didn't have any family around or anything to help me - just friends, so I heavily relied on this book and I felt much more comfortable with all the stages.

I never read any parenting books before my baby was born....but I always had my own ideas on he to parent based on what I saw around me. I've always wanted kids of my own. And I was the official babysitter of the family (I come from a very big family) and had been around kids since they were born...so I pretty much knew what to expect. I actually read some books AFTER my son was born and realized that I was doing the right thing....and the books justgave a general idea on how to do things. What worked for me wasn't mentioned in the books and I've stopped going through any parenting books except for some ideas which I work around to suit me and my baby.

I was thinking as I was reading the start of the post that every child was different and you can't base everything on books - so glad you feel the same! I have to be honest and say that i didn't read that many books etc but that was because I trained to be a nursery nurse/nanny and I had already studied most of what you could learn from those things! xxx

I was the complete opposite i have to admit, i noticed since everyone had their own ideas about raising kids & what to do in certain situations, there were so many contradictions & conflicting ways of doing things! My Mum gave me a book to read which ended up sitting on the table, unread - i figured it would be best for me to just try things for myself - then i could work out what worked best for me & our daughter & then i'd know from my own experience what the best ways to do things were. The only thing i was told that i can 100% agree with came from my mid-wife a short while after my daughter was born. She told me NOT to buy a thermometer, when new mums have them they insist on checking constantly incase anything changes. If the temp has gone up by a degree or a only 0.3 or so of a degree then they freak out since it's not perfect. Without a thermometer i think i did well - we only ever took her to see someone if she was HOT, otherwise she was fine! I also learnt that my daughter was very independent from the day she came out, she loved to be put on the floor to explore herself & the only problem we ever had with crying etc (like you) was when she started teething - otherwise i think we ended up with a pretty easy to take care of baby & we'll have another in about 4 weeks so hopefully he'll be the same!

I read a lot of the pregnancy and birth books and after baby arrives etc. Most of the things I have learnt as I go along as every baby is different and may not be as they describe in the book but all the general stuff really helped. When I got to the toddler stage, i went to my local library and got a fantastic parenting book that helped me understand my toddler a lot better and to deal with tantrums, misunderstandings and the like, if i had not then it would have been overwhelming but it helped me cope a lot better and laugh a lot off or go "oohhh! that's why!":) My child is really good so I have only had to read the one to get on with it...

I read some, but I had a lot of experience helping my mom! She had twelve children, and I was the fourth so I had plenty of time to learn about babies! There were some ideas of my own that I had, and I found some others who think the same way! I did things differently than my mom in a few ways! I did not use cribs, only used a playpen a few times as the babies did not like it much, and held my babies as much as possible! It is quite different having your own babies, compared to babysitting! The thing is that there are few people willing to help out when you need it the most!

I wouldn't say so with my daughter-I was given what to expect when your expecting-But I had a troubled pregnancy so it ddn't help. While pregnant with my son it had been 10 years since I was last pregnant and my husbands first child and he was completely freaked so I signed up for all kinds of email newsletters etc to forward to him. I had another difficult pregnancy. My daughter was an angel from the get go-she slept through the night by 4 weeks. She was potty-trained so easily that I barely remember doing it. My son on the other hand at almost 4 still doesn't sleep through the night and is not potty-trained-he is slightly developmentally delayed. I find that there are books for "normal" kids and kids with "special needs" but not much for the kids in between. And I didn't mention that I am partially disabled myself so there is next to nothing out there about that.

I read what to expect the first year. :)