Congrats! You've made it past the pregnancy stage and have successfully created a new human. Now what? If the idea of raising a kid without some guidance seems daunting, these parenting books will get you through the finish line. Because no one starts out with perfect knowledge of everything that goes into parenting, so you’re going to have a blind spot or two at some point. Our list of the best parenting books cover the gamut: Some are nitty-gritty parenting how-tos that cover how to get from milestone to milestone, some are journalistic looks at the ways we parent today, and some are memoirs or humor books that are meant to give you catharsis just at the moment when you think you’re ready to throw in the towel.



A note on parenting books to stay away from: I’ve never found books about how to take cues from parents in another country particularly helpful; if you can’t take advantage of that country’s social polices like parental leave and healthcare, you won’t be able to copy those citizens’ laid-back ease-of-parenting. And I’d also be wary of anything that promises sleep solutions for babies right out of the gate — only so much you can do right away, no matter what some expert whose coached a million babies says. Also, the No. 1 way to go crazy as a sleep-deprived parents is to use your precious non-parenting minutes reading about the reasons your baby may not be sleeping. (They’ll get better at it eventually — promise.) So, for what you can control, here are useful parenting books.

