Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Pregnancy and Your Child's First Year

by Cassandra Vieten, Sylvia Boorstein (Foreword by)

From hormones to stretch marks, labor pains to diaper changes, motherhood is an adventure like none other. The rapid changes in your body, your lifestyle, and your very identity call for a certain mental agility. Mindfulness can help you meet the challenge and approach every experience with your new baby with open eyes and an open heart.

Easy ten-minute meditation exercises and yoga poses throughout this book will help you cultivate greater flexibility and mindful awareness during pregnancy, childbirth, and your baby's first year. Whenever you have a moment to spare, open Mindful Motherhood and discover a skill that will help you find balance and fulfillment during those times when you feel most overwhelmed.

Copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)

Mindful Motherhood contains what so many other parenting books the consoling information that each mother has the ability to know, deep within, how to care for her child. Mindful Motherhood is a gem.
-Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

Wise, soothing, and helpful-this is really good stuff for new mothers.
-Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Self Help, Buddhism

216 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Demi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an ideal read if you're a Mum-to-be or a Mum with a young baby in desperate need of mindfulness to help you keep grounded. I picked up this book when my own baby was 4 months old. I was desperately sick of baby sleep books and expert-opinions. What I really needed were simply some tools to help me navigate the ups-and-downs (and the unexpected!) of being a first time Mum.

I found the book very well structured and quite easy to read (essential when you're sleep deprived!). It offers a lovely introduction and explanation of mindfulness to beginners or a nice "refresher" for those already familiar to mindfulness. If you're not Buddhist or don't belong to any religious affiliation, then this is the right book for you as it is presented in a warm manner for a neutral reader.

The third section of this was definitely my favourite, as it offered simple exercises to work with your emotions during the care of a young baby. These exercises were easy-to-do and inspiring when your tank has run out after a long day (okay, maybe even weeks & months!). It was definitely worth the time to read and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

[Meagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the author claims, the chapters are short enough to read during the average breastfeeding session. (Unfortunately, my milk let-down was really strong, plus I had a huge oversupply of milk, so I had to use two hands to breastfeed for the entire 8 months we breastfed. TMI probably, but that's why I didn't quite finish the book.)

I benefitted from the more frequent but very bite-sized reminders to practice mindfulness. My son's first year was absolute hell for us. He had one of the worst cases of colic that I've ever heard, and you better believe I've heard at least 100 stories from old ladies who are sure that I'm overreacting because, yes, their babies were difficult too, and they nod their heads to each other like I'm an ignorant first time parent. I had terrible postpartum depression and really, really struggled to enjoy even 20 minutes a day of my son's first year. This book did a good job reminding me that
--My son only has his first year once.
--Whatever the experience, however hellish and dark and traumatizing, it will only happen now, so I'm going to experience any possible joy to the fullest.
--In the good moments, I will practice mindfulness and etch them into my memory so that I'll have at least 10 good memories from my son's first year.

The books seemed really practical and applicable.

[Sydney Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, let me just start by saying I think this book was written backwards. The way it ended should’ve been how it started. There were multiple times when I almost didn’t finish the book because it was frustrating, boring, or I just felt like the author had no idea what it was like being a toddler mom. But I ended up finishing it because mama didn’t raise no quitter!! It turns out that the book did have some good nuggets in it that are applicable to my motherhood.

I think I read this book a little bit too late. I think this would’ve been a good book for me to read during my first pregnancy, or during the first year of my first baby’s life. Reading it within the first year of having my second baby was just not the right time for me. With the way that the book was written, immediately within the first five chapters, I just felt like this was an extra thing I had to do. The author states something along the lines of “don’t think of this as something extra to do on your plate. Just practice mindfulness in moments where you already have something happening whether you’re on the treadmill, nursing your baby, or heck, even while you’re in the bathroom!” And then proceeds to give about 20 different yoga poses and writes a bunch of meditations.

I don’t know about you, but I have so much going on in my life that this literally just felt like an extra thing that I needed to do in order to be a good mom.

However, after finishing the book, I do have a better understanding of mindfulness, and how to apply it to motherhood. I really think that the author just wrote the book backwards. It she would have started with the end, I would’ve gone in a lot more confident being able to apply the principles. The principles are very useful, but if you read it, take what you can out of it with a grain of salt. I’m hoping there is a better book out there to explain mindfulness in motherhood, but I have yet to find one.

At the end of the day, I just feel like this book took a really good way of living and just jumbled it all up in a disorganized fashion and out of order.

Would I recommend? Maybe to a first time expecting mom.

[Samantha | thisbookbelongsto.sw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty entry-level information on meditation, mindfulness and grounding techniques, but still very helpful and communicated in a clear, compassionate way.

There was a lot of repetitive information and ideas, but I find that this type of content lends itself to reiteration in that, the more you hear the same, unified message, the more likely it is to stick.

I really appreciated the way the author confronts potential struggles with hope and constructive advice. A major theme of the book is to grant yourself a bit of grace and to embrace each new experience for what it is rather than what you want it to be (which is something I've been working at in my life prior to becoming pregnant, so I already appreciate this philosophy quite a bit).

I think this book was longer than it needed to be, but I think it's a helpful resource and would definitely recommend it to others.

[Sylvie Barak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit repetitive, but the underlying message was solid and helpful. As a beginner to the mindfulness journey, I enjoyed the simplicity of it and the easy exercises. I’d recommend it to other new mums, though it’s probably worth more of a skim than a thorough read... which, to be honest, is probably all a very new mum has time for anyway!

[CC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comforting to read, valuable for folks who are new to mindfulness, but this is really basic Mindfulness 101. I'm really well-versed in mindfulness and Buddhist literature, and was hoping to find something specifically tailored to pregnancy/motherhood that told me something new. This wasn't it.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice quick read. I didn't practice many of the mindfulness techniques it suggested, but I am inspired to start. It seemed pretty repetitive, but I think that was deliberate.

[Katieloowho · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little repetitive, but i really enjoyed it!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to apply mindfulness to your day!

[Sahleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very helpful read but sooo slow and redundant

[Joni McNeal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this would make a better audiobook.

[Laura Stebbins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of the advice is repetitive if you're already familiar with mindfulness techniques.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I added this because it was a project of the Institute of Noetic Science that I learned about in Dan Brown's latest book. It's pretty repetitive if you just sit down and read it. But I really liked a lot of the thinking and meditating skills, they are life applicable, not just useful with a new baby.
Might be better to read one chapter at a time over a few months if you are really trying to use it in your life.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a person who has dealt with periods of anxiety, this book was just what I needed to put my mind and heart in the proper perspective with the upcoming birth of our new baby. It has even helped me overcome insomnia. Even if you're not a mother, the practice of mindfulness is something that every person could benefit by learning about.

[Bucket · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty simple and a lot of common sense, but many of the exercises are helpful in practicing these habits. I also really appreciated the section on the five things are thoughts are doing (and why) which really helped to shed some light on how to better use thoughts for guidance without letting them take over.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely sold me on the concept of mindfulness. This is a great intro for a mom looking for focus. I will definitely be reading more about mindfulness/Buddhism. Highly recommended to other moms/moms-to-be.

[Chessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved what I read of this book. I checked it out of the library and wanted to savor it, which meant I put off reading it too long and had to return it (other folks had it on hold, so I couldn't renew). But my short perusal convinced me it is one worth having on my keeper bookshelf!

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love this book! Oh, how I wish I would have had this book when I was pregnant with my first child. I have recently become interested in mindfulness and becoming a more patient mom and found this book. It is SO helpful (and my youngest is 6 years old). I love it.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one slowly so I could start using what I learned as I read. This had lots of useful stuff--and not just for the parts of my life where I'm in a mom role.

[Lauren Tomlinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not at all what I'd expected and didn't really think it was all that helpful.

[KD · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really nice combination of meditation instruction and reflections on parenting.