Enjoy some of Nurturing Birth’s top doula book recommendations!
Fancy settling yourself down with a good read? Wanting to know what pregnancy or birth book to treat yourself with? Thinking of expanding your doula library? Look no further – Nurturing Birth has gathered a list of some utterly gorgeous books that every doula and doula client deserves to enjoy.
Illustrated books
Loads of people find wordy books hard to access, so having some fun and informative illustrative options in your collection can be a brilliant way to help to share those vital birth messages.
The Food of Love and Bump
Cartoonist and author Kate Evans has created two wonderful books, “Bump”, about pregnancy and birth, and “The Food of Love”, a book about breastfeeding. Both are delightfully drawn and packed with excellent, high quality and detailed information. Kate Evans manages to really delve into the physiology of birth and breastfeeding, explaining how we can best support our bodies, and how birth and breastfeeding really work, while remaining judgement-free and supportive of everyone’s individual decisions.
“Bump” and “The Food of Love” are books for adults, but they’re also a lovely way to teach children and teenagers about birth and breastfeeding. Plus they make amazing coffee table books to just casually leave there when someone who needs to know more pops round!
Kate’s books are available from her website, cartoonkate.co.uk.
The Princess and the Poo
We also love the delightful cartoon book, “The Princess and the Poo” by Lara FairyLove, and published by AIMS. This attractive little book is written for children, helping them to understand the normality of birth and the importance of undisturbed birth. If every boy and girl read “The Princess and the Poo” in their childhood, they’d be introduced to the understanding that birth is a process that they don’t need to be afraid of. Perhaps it would start to counter some of the negative media images that they’re all exposed to as they grow.
Birth In Focus
During Becky Reed’s lifetime as a midwife she collected hundreds of inspiring photographs, some of which (with permission!) she has collated into her book, “Birth in Focus”. The book illustrates many different types of birth, home, caesarean, water, twin, breech. As well as the beautiful photos, “Birth in Focus” shares the birth story that went with the picture, from the perspective of the mother and the midwife. “Birth in Focus” can be purchased from Pinter and Martin or you can contact Becky directly on 07843282951 for a signed copy.
Books about birth
Labour of Love
We particularly love “Labour of Love – The ultimate guide to being a birth partner” by Sallyann Beresford. This is a wonderful book to share with the birth partners of doula clients, as well as being invaluable for all doulas, too. Sallyann’s unique and wonderful angle is to help birth partners to understand what they need to know. There really isn’t another book like this!
Parenting books
Kiss Me and My Child Won’t Eat
Two books by the same author, Carlos Gonzalez, are spectacularly helpful parenting books. “Kiss Me” is a book that honours the child, supporting parents to move away from the authoritarian styles that they’re likely to have been raised with themselves, and shares vital tools to successfully break the mould.
His other book, “My Child Won’t Eat” is the book every parent of a picky toddler or child needs to read. He points out that the health benefits of eating broccoli through one’s life is well proven, so our job as a parent is to ensure that our children are not put off eating broccoli, rather than forcing them to eat it and ensuring they won’t touch it in adulthood!
“My Child Won’t Eat” provides helpful tools and ideas to help parents to feel confident in their children’s diet, and can be a wonderful book for doulas to share with clients who are starting to prepare for weaning.
Books for delving deeper
The Politics of Breastfeeding and Complimentary Feeding
“The Politics of Breastfeeding” by Gabrielle Palmer is one of those life-changing books that you can’t un-see. If you have any inclination to better understand the history, politics and current reality of how businesses undermine breastfeeding, “The Politics of Breastfeeding” is the book for you. Gabrielle also wrote the must-read book, “Complimentary Feeding: Nutrition, Culture and Politics”, which extends the discussion past breastfeeding and into the ways that the manufacturers of baby foods and foods marketed at young children have influenced our understanding of the needs of this group – in ways which are far more beneficial to their pockets than our babies.
Why Human Rights in Childbirth Matter
“Why Human Rights in Childbirth Matter” by Rebecca Schiller is another must-read for those wishing to understand who is running this most intimate part of our lives, and why. This small book, from the “Why it Matters” range by Pinter and Martin, helps us to understand why our rights in pregnancy and birth may be taken from us if we don’t know we have them, and what still needs to be done to make birth better.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Do let us know how you enjoyed them, and what you love that’s on your bookshelf on our social media:
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