Book List

This is a post from my private blog. Its a list of fantastic books on natural pregnancy and childrearing that I have read. I'll obviously be updating this as I read more, but for now this is a list of some of my favorite natural pregnancy, midwifery, birth books. The picture of the book is a link to it on Amazon.

  Birth Matters by Ina May Gaskin. An awesome “call to arms” and inspiring, pro-midwifery, pro-natural birth book that blew the lid off the maternity system in the US for me. It picks apart studies that are commonly used to scare American women away from home birth or natural birth and proved the majority of American maternity policies to be financially driven, or by fear of litigation. Very glad I read this after watching the Business of Being Born.

Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon. I actually read this when I was pregnant with Abby. It’s very helpful as far as some simple stretching to do while pregnant to open up the pelvis and shows different positions to try while laboring. 

Breastfeeding Made Simple by Nancy Mohrbacher. I love this book. I wish I had read it before I had Sam. I feel like this book is the reason Abby and I are still breastfeeding and have really had very few issues. It’s simply written yet very informative, and I love the laid back style that dismisses times, intervals and durations that I hung on so tightly too trying to BF Sam, and when we did not adhere to them exactly, I felt like I was doing something terribly wrong and ended up giving up. 

The Breastfeeding Book by Dr William and Martha Sears. I love me some Dr. Sears. I actually read the iPad version of this book and I will be buying a paper copy soon. I just prefer traditional books, and I feel for some, the electronic versions don’t do them justice. This book was very informative regarding the science behind breastfeeding; exactly WHY it’s better for the baby, the chemistry and anthropology of the bond between breastfeeding mothers and babies, the breakdown of how formula effects the baby’s body and development vs breast milk. This book it more of an “in addition to” for a new breastfeeding mom, where as Breastfeeding Made Simple is the actual act of breastfeeding, broken down to mechanics and positions etc. 

The Baby Sleep Book. Another awesome read by my main man Bill. This was actually the very first parenting or baby book I read after night after night of Sam not sleeping, crying and fussing all night. I can’t remember exactly how I found it, because I was just looking for a solution as to why is my baby not sleeping peacefully in his crib all night like I had been lead to believe? I honestly thought babies slept in cribs. My mom, whom I was living with at the time (Jeff was deployed) was telling me that I just needed to keep “picking him up, hugging him and putting him back in” which I did because I had no idea what I was doing. One night we fell asleep together in my tiny bed and we both slept like logs. After that he slept with me every night and this book (and the Attachment Parenting Book) was the first voice telling me that yes, this is right for babies too.

The Attachment Parenting Book. This book was the second parenting book I read after the Baby Sleep Book told me that its ok to fall asleep with your baby, its called co-sleeping. This book said yes, theres a reason you want to hold your baby all the time, and wear him in his carrier instead of putting him in a bouncer seat or a sling. I found out that this ‘primal parenting’ thing, as I think of it, is actually a THING. Other people do it, its not just me. And actually, its beneficial to the baby, not detrimental as all those around me were saying. Its both informative to the chemical, physical and anthropological reasons to breastfeed/ baby wear/ co-sleep, but also gives tips on how to do so. Another iPad book that will soon join my real life library.