Nine Golden Months: The Essential Art of Nurturing the Mother-To-Be

by Heng Ou, Amely Greeven, Marisa Belger

This beautiful book, from the bestselling authors of The First Forty Days and Awakening Fertility, provides clear, positive, nonjudgmental guidance to mothers-to-be on how to care for themselves—and not just their babies—during pregnancy.

Nine Golden Months shares timeless guidance from the authors’ extraordinary circle of practitioners, guides, and wisdom-keepers specializing in prenatal care; it draws from Traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda and features rituals and female-sourced wisdom, so that it addresses all aspects of a woman’s pregnancy emotional, mental, physiological, and spiritual.

There is so much noise surrounding pregnancy and birth. There are countless books teeming with information—what test does what, the “rights” and “wrongs” of eating, and “safe” or “risky” lifestyle choices—but few that hold a woman through the experience, acting as an elder sister, a matriarch, or as a circle of women might hold her—with compassion and wisdom.

In era of high-speed living, endless demands, and more than a little anxiety and fear, Nine Golden Months provides care and solace. A woman needs to feel connected to others, rooted in the knowledge that many have done this before her, and calmed and fortified by time-honored practices that nourish her body, soothe her mind, and hold up her spirit.

Genres: Parenting, Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Health, Family, Nutrition

256 pages, Hardcover

Published August 30, 2022

Reviews

[Aideen G]

This came up as a recommendation when buying the first forty days, so I thought why not. Ultimately I’m pretty disappointed. While it says it’s not it feels very geared towards wealthy white women who like burning sage at home whose husbands work in silicon valley. I had hoped for something truly enriching, but its very basic intros to breath-work and the likes. The messaging throughout out is trust your instincts, don’t let yourself be henpecked by the opinions of others (good advice), and then goes on to say things like “don’t eat seed oils don’t put your baby at risk by eating foods that have been sprayed with pesticides, sugar? No don’t do that either”. The reality is some of us mamas to be are broke and are lucky to afford fruit and veg PERIOD. Now im weighing up whether to plough on with the first forty days or if its going to be another slog for me.

[Stephie]

I expected more actual, applicable advice from the book, but it is more of a "this is my story" with a bit of advice here and there. The nutritional standpoint is pretty accurate, but it is hard for me, as a Christian, to look past the recommended witchcraft (such as yoga). Definitely not a "must read" but entertaining, if nothing else.

[Reagan Crook]

This book has been such a staple to me throughout the first part of my pregnancy! It’s validating and full of love and support. It’s helped me learn how to lean into my intuition, meditate, and take care of myself. There’s also load of delicious recipes at the end. I’ve tried a few and am excited to try more!

[Wei Tchou]

Wish i could give it even fewer stars!

[Joy C.]

I really wanted to enjoy this book more. As a mom of soon to be 5 and someone who has worked with midwives and helped welcome 100s of babies into the world, I can appreciate different points and information in this book. It just wouldn't be my first book of recommendation for anyone who asks me what they should read.

[Maggie Bowman]

2.5

Couldn't get into it in book form, listened to it, felt like a lot of rinse and repeat from TFFD. It didn't say anything new, which it acknowledges right off the bat, and the biggest pointer is to take time to slow down and be in your body and in tune with your needs. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Maybe I just don't get it? Recipes seem nice.

[Stephanie]

Thank you for the book Kait 🩷🩷

[Rachel Wines]

Me giving this two stars is literally generous. Not only was this only 10% about actual food for pregnancy like I thought… it also has a random chapter about late pregnancy loss! Why why why are you putting that in a pregnancy book without warning?

My other point of beef is that this is so “woo woo” she tells us to call on our ancestors in birth? Um no maam will not be summoning anyone during my birth other than Jesus Christ my Lord & savior 🫠

[Livia]

Pregnancy Essential

These ladies are amazing and I’m very grateful for them in taking their knowledge to share with all the women in the world. This book and there others having become an essential resource in my life and for the ones I love around me. If you are a mother to be or thinking of becoming one, even to help someone who is pregnant read they’re books!

[T.M.]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is the second of hers I have read and it was just as informational and educational to me as her fertility book. I love hearing about how TCM supports pregnancy and the pregnant woman’s body as a whole and not just as a medical event.

[Brittany Mooney]

Author Heng Ou takes you on a poetic journey of the importance of self-care and allowing yourself to fully experience the adventure of pregnancy. She wrote this during covid (which is when I had my first pregnancy) so it feels current and relatable. I am sad I did not have this during my first pregnancy but felt like the thirst for it this second time around just deepened my appreciation that Ou brought it into existence.

Biggest takeaway: Trust your instincts and make time to care for yourself. [the author] says at one point “when you don’t have time for yourself, your baby’s soul is asking “will you even have time for me?” and that has to be the most heartfelt way of communicating the importance of self-care during this time and all throughout motherhood. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for them.

How was the audiobook? It was hard to follow at times when there were a lot of back-to-back quotes or the author was walking you through a breathing ritual. The narrator's voice was very neutral/easy to listen to but at times would sound a bit devoid of emotion, which came across as a business menu recording.

…the physical book? Absolutely stunning quality with a linen texture and soothing color palette. Something that makes my shelf look good. I highly recommend getting the physical copy to easily refer to favorite quotes, any relaxing techniques that are shared, and the RECIPES! Let’s just say I did not do my research on the author before reading (I went in blind based on a recommendation from a friend) and I was equally surprised and thrilled when I found the recipes in the back.

[Cal | slug wife reads]

I wanted to get a lot more out of this, but I had a similar reaction to this as I did to Awakening Your Fertility.

It had vague mentions of privilege and resources, but mostly catered to pregnant people with a lot of time, money, and access to a variety of classes, providers, and foods. There’s also a note about inclusion at the beginning that is followed with virtually only mentions of women, femininity and several white-feminism washed versions of what it means to be pregnant.

As a doula, I loved the mentions of trusting your intuition and what your body knows, but hated the suggestion of your body knowing if you need the glucose test (most people have no clue they have GD) and all of the emphasis on staying fairly uneducated on the vendors and risks of various interventions and birth outcomes. I also hated the notion of not wanting advice while telling people they shouldn’t east any sugar or barely any carbs???? Also enough with the seed oil demonization, I am begging you!

[Liuba]

It might have been my personal bias, but being focused foremost on visual information, I expected a degree of expertise in nutrition in the most mundane sense when seeing the cover and picking up this book.

In reality, the first chapters exhibit a beautiful waterfall of new-age potpourri suggesting to "listen to the whispers from within," "drop from a thinking body into feeling body," "connect to Shakti" and, sadly, not providing any evidence-based information. All the subsequent chapters represent themselves as 'treasures'; however, being acquainted with other materials on pregnancy, self-care and nutrition, I failed to find these contemplations particularly treasurable.

The topic of nutrition is only present in the last couple of chapters without carrying much more than common knowledge.

[JGP]

I read Awakening Fertility before pregnancy and enjoyed it. I was excited about this book but was unfortunately dissapointed. Having now read plenty of books about motherhood and pregnancy, this book falls very short in my view. Mixes a very wide range of topics, remains on the surface, lacks a solid structure and comes across as repetitive. It did not add or stand out in any dimension compared to other books. I find the ingredients required for the recipws very unfamiliar and difficult to find in Europe. In short, many ideas thrown into the air but no structured approach as to how to bring all that together in practice.

[Sophia Marcum]

Good, not great, but a true help during my first pregnancy - as a Christian, some perspectives on spirituality are not ones I share - however much of her content is wonderfully wise & compassionate towards the new mother, there are some great tips on daily health & movement, and many recipes we tried!

I preferred her "First 40 Days" book and would recommend reading that one first, if you are short on time and preparing for a baby.

The squash & lentil soup recipe is a particular favorite in our house.

[Michaela]

Excellent book series!

I was so glad to see that there are 3 books in this series! I love the focus on nurturing the mother as a whole, each book addresses nutrition which is what I was searching for, but they also address how to support the mother/ mother to be in many ways that I had never thought of. Just reading these books feels so supportive, and it helps from before conception to years after postpartum.

[Anna Sallee]

3.75⭐️
great book, definitely not my favorite pregnancy book by any means but has some helpful reminders and thoughts on nutrition. she definitely emphasized the importance of seeing your kitchen as a place to sink into, getting out of your head and into your body, where you can feel calm and collected instead of flustered or stressed. overall good a good book, would recommend, but I have others I’d recommend first.

[Willow Bosela]

I really enjoy the aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine shared in this book, and the recipes that make it easy to apply. I enjoy the view of nutrition through almost the philosophy of nutrition, rather than counting macronutrient. Both beneficial, just different sides of the same coin. I wish it would have gone a little more into the herbs and food as medicine, but this is a solid starting point.

[Alaina Gangestad]

Five stars for the info on nutrition and recipes in this book. I have loved Heng Ou’s other two books, Awakening Fertility and the First Forty Days, for the same reasons and find myself returning to the simple and nourishing recipes and ancient nutrition wisdom included in each of her three books.

I wasn’t as big a fan of the rest of the pregnancy info. It wasn’t bad, by any means, just not my favorite.

[Emmie Niemelä]

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I couldn’t finish it. I appreciate a holistic approach but this was such as slow and rather boring read.
The recipies require a lot of ingredients that are very hard to source and pretty expensive too especially during the winter months.
I will however still give first 40 days a go, as I have heard way more about it than this one

[Emilie Fernández]

Très bon livre. Cependant se présente comme ayant des recettes simples et après on se retrouve avec des ingrédients exotiques (chers et complexes à cuisiner) que tu ne trouve que dans des boutiques spécialisées.

[maegan]

This book felt like a loving embrace from a loved one.

I found this much more helpful in terms of changing my mindset to a positive, empowered one; over the food side of pregnancy. Even though it has a colorful dish on the cover, I found the food advice quite generic and, to be honest, I'm a firm believer in trial and error and "you do you".

I'll still read this one again, as well as The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother when I'm close to my delivery time.

[Allison]

This book did not speak to me. I was expecting something a little more holistic, but it was a little overly poetic for my preference. I often found myself sort of drifting off and getting distracted. There were a few too many references to her post-natal food delivery business.

[Emily]

While I liked this book, I did not like it nearly as much as the previous book called The First Forty Days by the same authors. This book felt so much more fearful and dogmatic in its nutrition advice when compared with the loving guidance of the previous.

[Liv Augusta]

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It was a nice soft and loving way to look at pregnancy.

[Katieloowho]

This is a beautiful book about thoughtful, soulful mental birth prep and also traditional foods from different cultures for a nourished pregnancy. Will be recommending to others for SURE

[Courtney Rehn]

Insightful and thought-provoking. A cozy read for any expecting mom who appreciates looking inward for personal growth.

[Evi]

Interessant boek met prachtige inzichten, wel erg langdradig geschreven

[Abbie Etzler]

Good book kind of a slow read

[olivia]

Kind of whimsical and definitely a more philosophical way to approach pregnancy as opposed to practical application tips.