What's the first thing a woman does when she thinks she might be pregnant? She Googles. And it all goes downhill from there. The internet is littered with hyper-judgmental message boards and contradictory, scolding information. Stop Reading Baby Books guides parents through the trenches of new parenting, warning readers of the pleasures and perils of "mommy blogs", new parent groups, self-described "lactivists", sleep fascists, incessant trend pieces on working versus non-working mothers, and the place where free time and self-esteem goes to die: Pinterest (back away from the handmade flower headbands for baby!).
With refreshing humility and riotous humour, J. J. Keith cuts to the truth – whether it's about "perfect" births, parenting gurus, the growing tide of vaccine rejecters, the joy of blanketing Facebook with baby pics, or germophobia—to move conversations about parenting away from experts espousing blanket truths to amateurs relishing in what a big messy pile of delight and trauma having a baby is.
"My one piece of advice to new mothers is usually to stay away from baby books, but this one is the exception to the rule"—Chrissie Swann
"Right on, sister. It's their food that needs pureeing, not your brain"—Libbi Gorr
J. J. Keith has written about parenting for The Huffington Post, Salon, Babble, xoJane, The Hairpin, Role/ Reboot, Mamamia, and The Rumpus. Her work has also appeared in Bitch magazine and Reader's Digest. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children, where she parents adequately and eats a lot of mac 'n' cheese.