Bringing Up Bébé

I love the French. The food, the culture, the fashion. So when I was looking for a book to read during pregnancy this one immediately jumped out at me. Bringing Up Bébé chronicles Pamela Druckerman’s life as an American raising her kids in Paris. Though she certainly doesn’t claim that the French have it ALL figured out, they certainly have a few things going for them that in America you don’t see very often. Some of the benefits to the French parenting styles she mentions in the book:

1. Having baby sleep through the night no later than 4 months
2. Your child being able to play independent of you at social gatherings and not throwing tantrums.
3. Actual alone time for you and your husband (or lover) and/or friends.
4. Kids eating what the parents eat and not making a fuss.
5. Getting your body back pretty soon after baby.

All of this is explained in a very common sense way. I read the book and had so many Ah-ha moments that completely resonated with me. On top of that, Pamela’s telling of her story and discoveries are incredibly entertaining and outright hilarious at times. It’s a truly enjoyable read that’s informative instead of guilt-inducing or patronizing and it leaves you feeling more confident and equipped for the journey ahead.

Some of my favorite takeaways from the book:

Practicing La Pause. You’re not having baby “cry it out” nor are you picking them up right away to coddle them. You just know that baby’s sometimes cry when trying to connect sleep cycles so  instead of rushing in you give it 5 or 10 min to see if they get themselves back to bed. This helps them learn to connect their sleep cycles which is incredibly important and helps them sleep through the night MUCH faster.

On losing the baby weight. French women get their figures in shape pretty soon after baby. As she says – “For some American moms there’s something morally righteous about committing to motherhood at the expense of their bodies. It’s like giving yourself over to a higher cause.”

I love this quote she cites from a French mother’s magazine of this interview with French actress Géraldine Pailhas – “She is at her base the most simple expression of female liberty: happy in her role as a mother, avid and curious about new experiences, perfect in ‘crisis situations,’ and always attentive to her children, but not chained to the concept of perfect mother, which she assures us, ‘does not exist.’”

C’est magnifique!