Our Water Baby

I wanted to read book for my kiddos every night towards the end of my pregnancy so that they could understand a home water birth. I wanted to like this book, and I LIKE it but I don't LOVE it or like it a lot by any means. I can't point my finger at one thing but its the way the book is written that i am not a fan of. They first start off by telling the older sibling that the baby will be born when the flowers change in the garden....not a concept my two kids quite understand, yet. When mom goes in to labor, the father tells the boy that she will feel lots of aches and pains. Aren't we trying to go away from associating labor/birth and pain when educating our children? I just wasn't pleased with the storyline after i finished. i had to ad lib a lot of information so my kids could understand the birth in the water. So, i will just continue to show them [appropriate] home births so they can understand the noises mommy's make when in labor. Hope this review gives you some insight (versus a rant)! :)

Beautiful artwork, and a lovely story to share with a child normalizing home water birth. I particularly loved where it talks about the mom moaning and making noises in labor. It opened up a conversation with my 3 yo and practiced making loud moaning sounds - I felt a little silly but I think it will really help her to not be shocked or scared when her baby brother comes. We will be reading this again! The illustrations are really fresh and delightful, I don't know what the one mom was saying about some if them being inappropriate for her 3&5yo. While the mom is topless in the tub, no nipples or anything are depicted. And honestly, if your kids are going to witness a home birth they are going to see a LOT more nakedness and body parts than are shown in this book. The one place I think the book fell short is while it talks about the mom breastfeeding, they don't show a picture of her nursing the baby. :( Thankfully we have some other birth books to read to my daughter that show breastfeeding, and we have lots of friends who nurse their babies so it's all very normal in our world.

We got this book to expose our 1-year-old to the words and images around home birth. Much of the story is over her head, but it’s well written enough for us not to get sick of reading it over and over (unlike many children’s books. ugh.) Our daughter loves the pictures, and we help point out familiar images like the mommy’s round belly, and the birth tub, the birth ball and the baby.

The story is OK, but not great. I wish the illustrations had been better as my 4 & 2 yr old tend to relate to the pictures more than the text, especially this text which was clunky sounding and too wordy. I'm not saying you shouldn't try it, it just wasn't great for my family.

Read this to my daughter almost every night before her brother was born. She still asks to read it :) the only thing I didn't care for was that it says mom will get aches and pains. I just read it with my own words "mom will feel very uncomfortable"This was my favorite one purchased for my daughter ♡

our three year old son loves this book. we read it almost every night in preparation for our upcoming home water birth. it normalizes home birth and talks about what a young child can expect while mom goes into labor. it discuses some of the sounds and actions that mama will make while in labor, mentions daddy helping out in the tub, the midwife assisting, grandparents being there to help etc. and at the end the boy gets to hold his baby brother and our son gets giddy at this part, as he is so excited to be a big brother soon.

Wonderful story. My 3 year old asked to read it over and over while I was pregnant. It really helped him to understand what was happening and how the birth would be. And when the baby was born, he whispered to her, "I'm your big brother" and that was a hugely important moment for him. Very sweet book.

We got this to help our 4 year old prepare for our home birth, and he loves it! It's helped him get more specific in his questions so that he can communicate his concerns and excitements better.

I love love love this book, we bought this and 'Hello Baby' for my 4 and 2 year old but the other book was far too graphic and not suitable in my opinion. 'Our Water Baby' contains the perfect amount of information (mentions that mummy makes noise because she has aches and pains that feel better when baby arrives). My eldest daughter frequently talks about how the baby is going to arrive in the pool. I can't wait and I really hope that all goes smoothly so that my children can be present for the birth of their sibling!

As a midwife and mum of two babies born at home I was really pleased to see a children's book that covers home birth and water birth. It's a very sweet book and nicely illustrated.I feel it could have shown a little more of what happens at a birth. I prefer 'hello baby' and 'mama midwife'

Great for preparing sibling for a homebirth. Lovely illustrations.

Daughter loves, even 4 months after our home waterbirth she likes to have it read to her. Ideal for 2+ years I'd say. Some of the illustrations are a bit unusual, but book did the job of helping our 2 year old learn about birth.

Really lovely book giving accurate, child-friendly descriptions of birth, with beautiful, colourful pictures. Has been very useful in preparing our daughter for our second planned home water birth.