Child development books-any recommendations?

[iliana]

Hi,

I have a new born baby(6 weeks now) and thankfully she is calm and relaxed and I have the time to think about her development and read books.I am interested in any books that you find worth reading and helpful.I have come across some on amazon.co.uk if you have any opinion about them please share:

1)Nurturing Natures: Attachment and Children's Emotional, Sociocultural and Brain Development

2)Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain

So I am more interested in psychological rather than informative books.Thanks for reading and hopefully you have came across a nice books and will share your opinion. :)

[Cora]

I think Penolope Leach writes beautifully about the development of children. A good mixture of practical and theory.

[bluesuperted]

Why Love Matters (Sue Gerhardt) is an amazing book, really recommend it, especially if you're interested in emotional development in babies and children.

I've just started reading Raising Cain which is very psychological but about raising boys, truly fascinating so far though. Really making me think about the way boys are misunderstood and underestimated from an emotional perspective in today's culture. Not so relevant with a daughter but maybe one for future babies ;)

Are you interested in books on motherhood? I love What Mothers Do (Naomi Stadlen), Buddhism for Mothers (Sarah Napthali) and am currently reading Raising Our Children Raising Ourselves which I'm finding very interesting so far.

Other books on my (endless!) reading list are Playful Parenting (Cohen) and Simplicity Parenting (Payne) and I've heard good things about Margot Sunderland and also How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk.

For more of an anthropological approach there is the classic Continuum Concept - I have only dipped in here and there but know people who adore it.

I believe all the books mentioned (mix of parenting and child dev books) have a heavy emphasis on psychology/emotional development and appeal to my attachment parenting tendencies.

Hope this helps and happy reading!

[iliana]

Thank you very much ,the information was extremely helpful and I will refer many times to this post.Best wishes for the festive season and the new year :))

[Fuschia]

Agree with lots of those

Also the wonder weeks

[bluesuperted]

Glad the list was helpful :)

Yes thanks Fuschia, I realised I'd forgotten the Wonder Weeks - a very reassuring read about all those little things going on developmentally that we can't see and might make our babies act funny.

Naomi Stadlen has a new book out - How Mothers Love and How Relationships Are Born - sounds great, follow-on from her previous book - have asked for it for Christmas, might read it in time for next Christmas if I get it ;)

[Fuschia]

Naomi stadlen's first book is the best thing to recommend for a new mother, I would say!

[sillywoman]

Agree about Naomi Stadlen, & 'wonder weeks', but would also add 'The Babysense Secret' by Megan Faure. I've posted about her book before, she makes a lot of sense of what is happening with your baby in the early weeks & months, and does it in a very readable format (good for sleep deprived concentration spans).

[crystal7]

I've just started that new Naomi Stadlen book- excellent so far. Makes me feel much better about finding it impossible to get things done with toddler and newborn!