The Contented Mothers Guide

Ensure your contented baby has a contented mum Becoming a mum is an exciting journey, with new rewards and responsibilities. But while you focus your energies on the needs of your growing baby, it's easy to neglect your own needs as a new mum. Gina Ford has helped millions of women bring up contented babies and now she wants to ensure that it's not just your baby that's happy, but you are too. In this indispensable guide, Gina has worked with her online community of mothers to distill the best advice on being a happy mum. This one-stop guide will help you navigate all the essential issues of motherhood: - Happiness, health and fitness - Relationships with friends, family and your partner - Outings and holidays with your new baby - Returning to work or becoming a full-time mum - Whether to extend your family further With the personal experiences of hundreds of mothers, The Contented Mother's Guide will help you make the best choices and embrace your new role as a mum.

For any mom who has ever felt inadequate, overwhelmed, or guilty in trying to balance it all, popular podcaster Sarah Bragg offers brilliant clarity and respite in this friendly manual for becoming your most authentic self, instead of just surviving motherhood. Nothing will make you grow up faster than trying to raise a kid. This is what popular podcast host and mom Sarah Bragg explores so beautifully as she encourages and equips moms who are discovering all the ways they still need to grow. It's easy to lose our sense of self in the all-consuming process of raising our children, but Sarah reminds us that the best gift we can bring to our kids is our true, authentic selves. Through vulnerable and relatable stories, no-nonsense wisdom, and a compassionate perspective for all the joys and challenges of motherhood, Sarah provides shame-free practical help to surviving right where you are in life, in relationships, in work, and in faith. This guidebook to health and sanity for the wilderness of parenting will help you: Give yourself permission and find the courage to show up as yourself Wrestle with how purpose, work, and calling fit together Notice and celebrate the good that's happening right around you Remember your worth is not in your kids or your role as a parent but in something far more lasting Find solidarity, understanding, and helpful encouragement to embrace all that motherhood is and remember who you truly are. Because you matter, and raising great kids starts with raising yourself well.

Recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show there are 9.9 million single mothers in the United States. This number is up from only 3.4 million in 1970, showing that single motherhood is more common than ever. For every mother recently finding herself single, or new moms learning how to raise their first child by themselves, there are countless things any mother will need to know. Single motherhood presents innumerable situations that are much harder to handle without the helping hands of a second parent nearby. But one of the best ways to prepare yourself for success as a single mother is to arm yourself with knowledge about what to expect with single parenting. A Complete Guide for Single Moms: Everything You Need to Know About Raising Healthy, Happy Children on Your Own is for every mother who is learning how to raise children on her own. Regardless of how you came to be a single mom whether it was through divorce, the end of a relationship, surrogacy, adoption, unplanned pregnancy, or by the death of a spouse this book will walk you through the information you need to know to help you and your child adjust to a new lifestyle. The book covers what to do when pregnant and single and how to rely on your family and friends for support and help. You will learn the basics of early childcare, including what a child needs in its first year, from breastfeeding and nappies, to clothing and travel. You will learn what to expect as your child grows, including the early years of school and the problematic teenage years. This book teaches you how to take care of yourself in addition to your children, which includes knowing how to find rest and work your way back into dating. You will learn how to prepare yourself for the sacrifices you will be forced to make and how to handle financial matters while raising a child alone. Even the difficult topics are covered, such as the first times you must discuss with your child why his or her father is not present. You will learn when you can fill in as a father figure, when you cannot, and what you can do to provide the male influence and support children need during those formative years. If your child s father is involved, this book will teach you how to work with him. You will learn how to raise a boy as a single mother and find positive role models for your children. We have conducted multiple interviews with successful single mothers, as well as with experts in child care, to provide a comprehensive outlook on everything you can expect as a single parent on your own from the first few weeks of stress to the later years of toilet training, proper diet, allergies, health care, and learning to talk. From conception to graduation, the life of a single mother is a trying, challenging road to travel. With this guide in hand, you will have what you need to raise a healthy, happy family.

Nurturing, supportive, and empowering, this year-long guide featuring monthly themes, inspirational stories, and soul-searching exercises, focuses on enhancing balance and emotional well-being in mothers' lives.

In the latest body of work by author and photographer Claiborne Swanson Frank, the artist set out to explore what modern motherhood means in the 21st century. Turning her lens on 70 iconic families of mothers and children from such celebrated names as Delfina Figueras, Carolina Herrera, Lauren Santo Domingo, Anne Vyalitsyna, Aerin Lauder, and Patti Hansen, Swanson Frank’s stunning portraits capture the emotional bonds and beauty that frame the primal relationship of a mother and her child. Complementing her work is a series of questions-and-answers, in which Swanson Frank delicately tasks each mother to look within themselves and express what being a mother truly means to them. Their answers, while exceedingly thoughtful and introspective, are also amusing, fascinating, and moving. Each one of these deeply intimate and stunning portraits will captivate and inspire readers as they embark on this profound journey that reminds us all of the power of motherhood and the great gift of love.

Expert, practical advice for complete mental and physical maternal health Kate Rope's Strong as a Mother is a practical and compassionate guide to preparing for a smooth start to motherhood. Everyone knows the secret to having “the Happiest Baby on the Block.” This is your guide to being the Sanest Mommy on the Block. It will prepare you with humor and grace for what lies ahead, give you the tools you need to take care of yourself, permission to struggle at times, and professional advice on how to move through it when you do. This book will become a dog-eared resource on your nightstand, offering you the same care and support that you are working so hard to provide to your child. It will help you prioritize your emotional health, set boundaries and ask for help, make choices about feeding and childcare that feel good to you, get good sleep, create a strong relationship with your partner, make self care an everyday priority, trust your instincts, and actually enjoy the hardest job you will ever love. This book is here to take care of you.

As a single mother to a growing son, you take on many roles: coach, chef, cheerleader, buddy, housekeeper, teacher, disciplinarian, and nurturer. The Single Mother’s Guide to Raising Remarkable Boys helps you juggle all these roles with aplomb. You’ll also learn how to help your son: Succeed at school Excel on the sports field Find an appropriate male role model Socialize and combat peer pressure Deal with sex, drugs, and video games Complete with resources and recommended strategies for every stage of a boy’s life, The Single Mother’s Guide to Raising Remarkable Boys helps you go it alone—and raise a happy, healthy, well-adjusted young man!

5K training plans tailored just for busy moms! Whether you're looking for a convenient way to lose lingering baby weight or just want to get in shape to keep up with your kids, See Mom Run will help you achieve all of your fitness goals. Running strengthens your physical body and empowers the mind, a one-two punch to get you through the overloaded days of motherhood. Run Like a Mother 5K founder (and busy mother of three) Megan Searfoss shows you how to take those first steps toward the healthy habit of running, with the goal of completing a 5K race. She teaches you running basics, plus how to eat healthy, strength train, and choose your gear—all in a time-saving, cost-effective way. She will help you assess your fitness level and choose a realistic, week-by-week training plan that you can squeeze in before daycare or school, during lunch dates, or after dinner when the rest of the family is settled in for the night. As your fitness progresses, her programs safely challenge you to move from walking to intervals of walking and running to running continuously. At any speed, See Mom Run will help you cross the finish line and continue running for life!

"A new and updated edition ... is packed with daily entries on baby's development and the most up-to-date health and nutrition advice for both mom and baby. With a slightly refreshed cover, a new sleek concealed spine, and additional space for personal reflection, this one-of-a-kind journal is the ultimate resource for today's expecting mother. -- Publisher's website.

With Mothers Who Can't Love: A Healing Guide for Daughters, Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of the smash #1 bestseller Toxic Parents, offers a powerful look at the devastating impact unloving mothers have on their daughters—and provides clear, effective techniques for overcoming that painful legacy. In more than 35 years as a therapist, Forward has worked with large numbers of women struggling to escape the emotional damage inflicted by the women who raised them. Subjected to years of criticism, competition, role-reversal, smothering control, emotional neglect and abuse, these women are plagued by anxiety and depression, relationship problems, lack of confidence, and difficulties with trust. They doubt their worth, and even their ability to love. Forward examines the Narcissistic Mother, the Competitive Mother, the Overly Enmeshed mother, the Control Freak, Mothers who need Mothering, and mothers who abuse or fail to protect their daughters from abuse. Filled with compelling case histories, Mothers Who Can’t Love outlines the self-help techniques Forward has developed to transform the lives of her clients, showing women how to overcome the pain of childhood and how to act in their own best interests. Warm and compassionate, Mothers Who Can’t Love offers daughters the emotional support and tools they need to heal themselves and rebuild their confidence and self-respect.