Breastfeeding Reading List

We have chosen to breastfeed. There are many great reasons to breastfeed, which I'm sure have been fully expounded upon before, so I won't go into those here. I feel extremely lucky to have a sister who I can call and ask questions to, as well as my mom. My mom breastfed all four of us kids, and I am really glad that I will be able to ask her questions if I have trouble. Still, I'm one that likes to prepare. As usual, I headed to the library and picked up a few books that I thought would be helpful. Most pregnancy books include a short chapter or two on breastfeeding, but I found a few that dealt completely with breastfeeding. Here's the rundown:

Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers by Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett- I liked how this book really went into the scientific dynamics of breastfeeding but in a simple way. It has several very helpful charts about what a baby needs, how many diapers to expect, etc.  Also helpful were sections at the end of each chapter called "When the System Breaks Down" that troubleshoot problems. In some ways it got repetitive, but I actually didn't mind because I'm still learning, and the more things are repeated, the better you know them. The only other thing I didn't like was that it kept comparing humans to animal nursing practices. I know of course there are similarities to point out, but it seemed very evolutionary. Still, it was a thorough book on the topic.

New Mother's Guide to Breastfeeding by Joan Younger Meek- This book is put out by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It wove throughout the how-to chapters stories of mothers and breastfeeding, which was an interesting feature (not sure if those were just example scenarios or true stories, but still helpful). I liked that it had many black-and-white sketches to illustrate various ideas, and Q & A sections for common questions in each chapter. Basically the same ideas as the previous book, so reading either/or would cover the same ideas.

Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding by Ina May Gaskin- Just like her Guide to Childbirth, this book is excellent! I love how the author focuses on how natural breastfeeding is meant to be, although it can have rough starts and sometimes complications. She mentions that some of these complications can come from birth choices- medications at birth, not enough skin-to-skin time or rooming in, stress of the mother from a room full of people, etc. Not that any of these factors will make a mom unable to breastfeed, but just that it can be more difficult. Especially interesting were the chapters on Shared Nursing, Wet Nursing, and Forgotten Lore and Nipplephobia. An excellent choice if you only have time to read one.

On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Buckman- This book focused on developing good nursing routines that can lead to the baby sleeping through the night. Contrary to what I have heard many people say, I do not feel that it is cruel to the baby at all. One of the strongest points in this book is that the baby needs to get the rich hind milk when he empties the breast for the nutritional value. While the other books mention it, Babywise explains why it is so important. So, the idea is that the baby is full at eat feeding, and thus eventually is able to spread out the feedings, and drop the nighttime feeding (more rest for mommy sounds good to me!) The book does not advocate starting a routine in the first few weeks, but letting the baby feed when they are hungry, which was another concern I heard with this book, but did not find to be true. I also hear concerns that this method would leave you unable to produce enough milk, but the book is pretty clear on how to troubleshoot that problem if it does occur (probably trying to spread out feedings too soon).

All of these books were helpful, but I am sure that in real life things will be different! I will have to figure out what works for me and my baby, as each mother does. Hopefully we get off to a good start and he is feeding well through the summer. The next challenge will be transitioning to pumping when I go back to work in the fall. Not looking forward to that... I'll tackle that when I get there. Right now, my goal is to get started and breastfeed at least through six months, at which point we can hopefully introduce solid foods to supplement breast milk. I think it will just depend on how everything is going if I continue to nurse after the six months, so we will see. Hope this list was helpful to someone out there! I'm sure there are other great books too.