The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be

There are a LOT of books out there. And the getting-ready-to-be parents genre is its own cottage industry, selling product to raise parenting expectations. This one has a lot of outdated information, is at times offensive, (especially the comments about why it would be nice to have a "cute, 20 year old au pair in your house") and rather clumsily promotes the idea of an equal partnership in raising children, while the existence of this book presumes a sort of paternal laziness ("I'll just read this book and be all set"). There MUST be better, more insightful books out there that don't treat expectant fathers like lazy, horny idiots.

I'm an expectant father and our baby is yet to come so maybe I should have written this review some 6 months later. But regardless of what will happen in the future I had a lot of fun reading this book and took lots of notes for further reading and exploration into the topic. This book made me realize how ignorant I had been on the topic of pregnancy and birth, and I'm thankful to the author for writing in a "man-to-man-talk" style. The positive effects of the book can also be seen by listening to my wife's remarks; she became happier when I started to make much more educated comments about her and baby's situation and she was also excited to learn some more information that I gleaned from the book which I happily shared. I'm sure I'll show more need to learn much more about the process of having a first child and most of it will come from first-hand experience but it is always comforting to get some high quality information from a good resource such as this book. It was also assuring that the authors had the help of a medical doctor for health advice and suggestions. show less

Nice book, mostly owing to its focus on the particular concerns of expectant fathers. The subject of birth and parenting is most often regarded as an issue which only holds interest for women. If you're a man who disagrees with that, you'll find the book very empowering.

A good and educational book that follows pregnancy month by month and gives helpful advice for the expectant father. It is an easy to read book that doesn't bog down too many details. It has helpful information for both the father and the mother to expect. There is also some information on things to expect with the newborn as well. Some information may be outdated so I would double check information.

This book was easy reading, and had good information on a month-by-month basis of what to expect during pregnancy. It includes information such as a simple explanation of the particular stage of pregnancy, and what's happening with your wife at this point. This is one of two books I used several years ago to prepare me for being a dad. This was the serious one and contained some actually useful information. To maintain balance in your reading, I suggest "What to Expect When Your Wife is Expanding" to go along with this.

This is the best book specifically for expecting dads we've found, but we both agree this book is a bit offensive and outdated. There are a lot of assumptions about dad's expectations, dad's current and future roles, how much dad previously did around the house vs. how much he should do during pregnancy, etc. We found that most of these did not match our reality.

An overview of the entire path to fatherhood, from month 1 to the first week home. The book has a good tone with being open to ideas like homebirth, but overall it just asks a lot of questions without providing answers. It's more of a memoir of one man's travel through two pregnancies rather than a book that's applicable to all men. The format is also a little funky, I suggest reading the whole book rather than waiting to read a chapter a month. The sidebars also get very numerous in parts so that it's hard to decide what paragraph to read. Overall a nice book, but it definitely didn't satisfy some of the details and specific tips I need for fatherhood.