My List of Breastfeeding Books for World Breastfeeding Week

Photo from Jellywatson's flickr photostream

This week is World Breastfeeding Week in Canada. I thought in order to have a little celebration on my blog for it, I would give you a list of a few books that I think are great resources for breastfeeding.  I will include books that are great for the new  mom to read while pregnant and to reference with questions after the new baby arrives.  I'm also going to include some books that would be nice to read to siblings before the new baby comes, especially if they have never seen mom nurse a baby before.

Breastfeeding Books for Mom (and dad too!):

First up is Dr. Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding.  I feel this book should be required reading for all pregnant women.  Not only does he give fantastic breastfeeding advice, but he also covers the dangers of formula feeding.  He gives you the facts about formula so at least if you decided you don't want to breastfeed you will be making an informed decision.  When it comes to breastfeeding he takes you through just about any problem that you might encounter and helps you through it.  When I read this book while I was still pregnant with my youngest, for the first time I felt I could actually breastfeed and succeed at it. I've been breastfeeding him for 18 months now, and I definitely credit this book.
Dr. Newman also has a website that you can reference for great advice even if you don't own the book.  He has videos on the website that can really help if you are struggling with a proper latch as well.

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding from La Leche League International was the first book I ever read regarding breastfeeding.  When I was pregnant with my first child my mom gave me her copy to read.  A lot has changed in the book from then until now (like no longer are they telling you to toughen up your nipples with a towel) but a lot is just the same as it was then.  From this book I learned the most important advice any new mom can learn - rest, breastfeed and rest.  Don't try to do it all.  This is really important in those early days as doing too much can really have effect on your supply.  I feel this is also a great book for dad's to read.  They will learn a lot about what they can do to participate in the breastfeeding relationship and they will also learn how to be a good support to his wife when she is breastfeeding and things he can do to make it a little easier on mom.

Breastfeeding Made Simple was recommend to me by my public health nurse, who came to visit and help me often.  Those first few weeks after I had my youngest were so hard.  It seemed like if there was a problem we were going to go through it.  On one of her visits she suggested I read this book because it really explained the reasons some things happened.  Once I understood why some things were happening I was able to fix them or if it was a good thing I knew to keep doing what I was doing.  It was a great book and it really helped to have a simple resource on hand when my hands were full of baby.
Breastfeeding Made Simple also has a website you can check out to see if you would be interested in purchasing the book and you can find some great information right on the site if you need help today.

Books About Breastfeeding for Children:

This book is written from the perspective of a nursing toddler. It's a nice sized board book with 24 pages. It's not a very pretty book but it's a great book for the young one that isn't ready for paper pages yet. I think it's a nice book if you are having a baby and you have a toddler that has never seen you breastfeed before.

This is a really sweet book that shows a mom nursing her baby in bed, in a park and it also shows baby wearing.  It also shows animals nursing their babies.  Just a nice book to show how natural nursing is for everyone!







So those are my books that I think are good to have at home if you are going to be nursing a baby now or in the future.  What books do you think are helpful to other mom's that are going to breastfeed?