10 Best Books on Breastfeeding Reviewed in 2024
Although there are thousands of books on the subject of breastfeeding, only a few are worthy of being called the best and recommendable. We have found the absolute best of the breastfeeding volumes for you to enjoy and gain the knowledge within. These top ten books have the best ratings and the most reviews from buyers who overwhelmingly loved them and would purchase them again. They are authored by women who are experts in the field of lactation or nursing or who have breastfed babies themselves. We analyze each one according to its educational value, support it gives, emotional development it offers, and effectiveness of the information it contains. It is hard to decide which books to read on the topic of breastfeeding, but the more you read then the better informed you will be when issues arise. Happy reading and learning!
In a Hurry? The test winner after 32 hrs of research
Sponsored by La Leche League International
Updated, refocused, and retooled for modern moms
Has many stories and nursing advice
Full of great illustrations and photos
Gives new insights for old approaches
- The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding 8th edition
- Breastfeeding Made Simple
- The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk
- Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding
- Work. Pump. Repeat.: The New Mom's Survival Guide
- So That's What They're For! 3rd edition
- The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know
- The Nursing Mother's Companion 7th edition
- Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding
- Eat to Feed: 80 Nourishing Recipes
Top Breastfeeding Books Reviewed
1. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding 8th edition
Sponsored by La Leche League International
Updated, refocused, and retooled for modern moms
Has many stories and nursing advice
Full of great illustrations and photos
Gives new insights for old approaches
Some women felt that the wording was “their way is the right way”
Not enough information for a few people
Having over 1,000 mostly positive online reviews, the revised and updated version of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is sponsored by La Leche League International.
Read moreOffered in paperback and Kindle versions and authored by Diane Wiessinger and Diana West, this wonderful breastfeeding book has 578 pages and was originally published in 2010. It is still going strong to give insights for old approaches and pass along many great stories and much nursing advice. This best-selling guide has been updated, refocused, and retooled for the modern moms of today. It tells you how to store milk and gives suggestions for positions for nursing.
Support
Whether you are a single mom, mother of several children, or a stay-at-home mother you will gain plenty of information from this breastfeeding book. It provides the know-how to feel great in what you are doing.
Educational value
Full of great illustrations and photos, it gives guidance for daycare, weight gain, food allergies, postpartum depression, colic, and breast health among many other topics of interest.
Effectiveness
Practical in its guidance and advice, this product is real knowledge that mom can use right away and learn from. Everything they will encounter as a breastfeeding mom is discussed in this book.
Emotional development
Having such a well-round book on breastfeeding by these leading authors will give mothers the information they need before they must use it. it prepares the mind for motherhood.
2. Breastfeeding Made Simple
Available in audiobook, paperback, and Kindle
Has a foreword by Jack Newman MD
Gives mothers seven laws for breastfeeding
Discusses breast refusal and weaning problems
Helps with positions, storing milk, and pumping milk
Wording can be repetitive
Topics seem to some women to be unorganized
Available in the formats of audiobook, paperback, and Kindle, Breastfeeding Made Simple has a foreword from Jack Newman MD and is authored by Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett.
Read moreIt includes 352 pages and removes the mystery from the dynamics of breastfeeding. This exciting guide gives mothers seven laws for breastfeeding that will keep them on the right track. It discusses the challenges of breast refusal, low production of milk, weaning problems and much more. Also included is help with positions, a breastfeeding rhythm, mastitis, and discomfort, solid food transitioning, storing milk and pumping milk.
Support
Knowledge is power, so moms need to power up with the information in this terrific breastfeeding book. It covers everything nursing mothers will live through in the first important beautiful months of their baby’s life.
Educational value
This item is much like a crash course in how to handle everything the lactating mother will endure. It is divided into sections of vital topics that should be read from cover to cover.
Effectiveness
Real issues and concerns are addressed in this volume concerning all the important topics that breastfeeding mothers need to know. It is real advice that can greatly affect the outcome of the bonding experience.
Emotional development
All of what you thought was right might not be, but you will know when you read this book on breastfeeding that has plenty of answers. It prepares the mother for challenges such as breast refusal and weaning problems.
3. The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk
Has a foreword by Martha Sears, RN
Crucial information from two lactation professionals
Gives mothers the latest discoveries and data
Important facts about returning to work
Advice on using alternative therapies
Some women found other books more helpful
Information can be repetitive of what is on the Internet
The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk book on breastfeeding is written by Diane West and Lisa Marasco with a foreword by Martha Sears, RN.
Read moreAvailable in the reading formats of paperback and Kindle, this breastfeeding book includes 306 pages and is crucial information from two lactation professionals. This volume gives mothers the latest discoveries and data about how the female body makes milk, what causes a low supply of milk, and how the baby affects the production of milk. There are suggestions on how you can increase the milk supply, use alternative therapies, and find out if the infant is getting the needed milk amount. You also get important facts about how to function and pump when returning to work.
Support
All of the latest data will be at your fingertips with this volume of milk production theories, facts, and fiction that helps sort of what works and what does not for the new mom.
Educational value
From two lactation specialists, you will learn the right and wrong way of doing things to benefit both you and the infant when breastfeeding is concerned. This breastfeeding book reads like an encyclopedia because it is full of facts.
Effectiveness
Everything you wanted to know about making more milk is in this fabulous breastfeeding book. It discusses not only what the mother does to affect the flow of milk but also the baby too.
Emotional development
Many difficult situations in life come up when a woman wants to breastfeed, such as returning to work and maintaining a pumping schedule. Advice on this topic and alternative therapies are provided.
4. Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding
Formats are Kindle, audiobook, paperback, and audio CD
Writer has decades of midwife know-how and experience
Uses real-life tales, medical facts, and advice
Aids with the mother and baby connection
Subjects include medications, weaning, challenges
Wording can be more information and less instruction
Not as good as her other books said a few
Authored by Ina May Gaskin, who is a leading midwife in this nation, the Guide to Breastfeeding is offered in the formats of Kindle, audiobook, paperback, and audio CD.
Read moreThis incredible breastfeeding book of 352 pages discusses the psychological benefits and health of breastfeeding with May’s invaluable insights. It uses real-life tales, medical facts, and advice to guide readers and aids with the mother and baby connection. Subjects include medications, weaning, challenges, as well as sleeping arrangements, nursing products, and sick babies. The author of this book on breastfeeding teaches midwifery and is the director and founder of the Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee.
Support
Real information and real facts are what this terrific breastfeeding book is full of from a leading expert in the subject. The author supports the breastfeeding mom with all her wisdom to keep you on the right track.
Educational value
So many topics are covered about breastfeeding in this volume that it will be hard to mentally absorb it all at once. Women should tackle a few topics at a time to get the best benefit.
Effectiveness
The writer has decades of know-how and experience in helping babies, mothers, and pregnant women and answers nearly every question anyone could have on the topic.
Emotional development
Reading a breastfeeding book penned by an expert in the field somehow sets our minds at ease just like we were actually having a conversation with them. this amazing book will relieve the anxiety and stress of new moms.
5. Work. Pump. Repeat.: The New Mom's Survival Guide
Offered in audiobook, paperback, MP3 CD, and Kindle
Humorous, relatable, and practical
How to negotiate your pumping schedule
Solutions of pumping in undesirable places
Winner of the Axiom Business Book Award in 2015
Can be too wordy in spots
Not really a how-to book but a how-to-get-along-at-work book
Work. Pump. Repeat. breastfeeding book is offered in audiobook, paperback, MP3 CD, and Kindle formats and is written by Jessica Shortall.
Read moreHumorous, relatable, and practical with its advice to women returning to work while still breastfeeding, this terrific volume covers 208 pages. It talks about breastfeeding choices as far as jobs are concerned and shares the surviving basics of being a breastfeeding mother in the working world. Learn how to negotiate with colleagues about your pumping schedule and figure out business travel. Winner of the Axiom Business Book Award in 2015, it provides solutions of pumping in undesirable places. With humor, hacks, and war stories of her own and others,
Support
Nursing moms can depend on each other for information and guidance as to what they went through and how they got through it. Such stories along with humor are doled out to new moms in this treasure.
Educational value
The more books on breastfeeding you read, the better you will be prepared for what you will face on the job from others. this fabulous item tells you how to handle such difficult situations.
Effectiveness
You get hands-on real experiences from those that have been there and lived to tell their stories. Good solutions to the everyday problems of working out and still maintaining a breastfeeding schedule are given.
Emotional development
Shortall tells how to deal with the guilt and stress that comes with mixing breastfeeding and work in an interesting book you will not want to put down. It can help prepare you for the mental aspects of breastfeeding.
6. So That's What They're For! 3rd edition
Humorous, light-hearted, and practical
Answers are down-to-earth and factual
Tells the trials and joy of breastfeeding
Gives encouragement and support
Writer is a certified educator of lactation
Talks against not breastfeeding a child
Information can seem outdated
Available in paperback form and authored by Janet Tamaro, this marvelous breastfeeding guide has answers that are down-to-earth and factual for questioning moms.
Read moreIt is a humorous, light-hearted, and practical guide about breastfeeding and one of the best books on the topic currently available. The writer is a certified educator of lactation who gives encouragement and support for those new to the practice. This fun and enjoyable book tells the trials and joys of breastfeeding in its 352 pages. It also discusses whether you should try it, stop doing it, or go ahead with it.
Support
Knowing what could happen and what might happen are good things that this book on breastfeeding can relate to those about to breastfeed or are already doing it and wanting some answers.
Educational value
Plenty of know-how facts are ironed out in this breastfeeding book for those still deciding whether or not to breastfeed. All of the information needed to decide is in this witty volume that is sure to brighten your day.
Effectiveness
Advice from an expert on lactation is valuable in this practical guide that nursing mothers can use. it is real advice for real issues when breastfeeding an infant.
Emotional development
Sometimes it takes a funny or humorous approach to a difficult topic to make readers appreciate the wisdom and confidence they can gain from a breastfeeding book. This one has that format to help guide women.
7. The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know
In paperback, Kindle, audiobook, and MP3 CD formats
By a registered nurse and a doctor, pediatric experts
Illustrations for latching and how to begin breastfeeding
Author is the mom of eight breastfed children
Penned more than twenty parenting books
Has the same info as the Sears Baby Book says readers
Authors seem biased against those who do not breastfeed
Written by Martha Sears and William Sears who are a registered nurse and a doctor, The Breastfeeding Book is offered in paperback, Kindle, audiobook, and MP3 CD formats.
Read moreThese splendid pediatric experts explain the benefits of breastfeeding for a healthier and smarter infant and give advice on fitness and nutrition for the mother. Martha Sears has penned more than twenty parenting books and lectures often about her experiences and expertise in the field. She is also the mom of eight children who were all breastfed. This 206-page volume gives illustrations for latching and how to begin breastfeeding and explains how to do it when away from home. Optimum nutrition for the child and breast pumps plus weaning and nursing of toddlers are also great topics in this book along with many others.
Support
The different circumstances that can arise when breastfeeding a baby are all approached in this volume along with suggestions and guidance to get you through the tough situations.
Educational value
With the vast amount of experience and hands-on know-how from breastfeeding eight kids, the authors have much wisdom to give to others who just simply read their breastfeeding book.
Effectiveness
Practical advice is very helpful to new moms or mothers that have children already but want to try breastfeeding this time around. Many topics on nutrition, health, and things that affect you now are vital to understanding.
Emotional development
These two professionals in the field of pediatrics can calm any anxiety and fear that nursing moms may have with all of their answers for common issues. Just being able to read their suggestions in this breastfeeding book is calming.
8. The Nursing Mother's Companion 7th edition
In paperback, Kindle, and audiobook
Has sold more than one million copies
A best-selling volume for more than thirty years
Recommended and respected by professionals
Pages are color-coded for fast referencing
Readers found grammatical errors and repetitive phrases throughout
Has a “mommy shaming” tone for those that do not breastfeed
This book on breastfeeding is recommended and respected by professionals in the pediatric field. The Nursing Mother’s Companion is written by Kathleen Huggins and is a best-selling volume for more than thirty years.
Read moreLoved by The American Academy of Pediatrics, and The International Lactation Consultant Association, this 451-page volume has sold more than one million copies since being published and is in the easy formats of paperback, Kindle, and audiobook. The writer is a board-certified consultant on lactation and a registered nurse who operates her own mother’s store named Simply MaMa. She lectures frequently on the topic of breastfeeding and has authored other successful parenting books.
Support
The excellent foreword is by the website creator of The Leaky Boob, Jessica Martin-Weber, and the new preface is from the creator of the site KellyMom, Kelly Bonata.
Educational value
This wonderful breastfeeding book reviews current breast pumps, how to introduce solid foods, co-sleeping and SIDS, and developing a routine for nursing. It covers all new nursing mothers need to know.
Effectiveness
Moms will learn about the storing, expressing, and feeding of the milk along with common challenges and obstacles and how to cope with them. this is hands-on guidance that can be used immediately.
Emotional development
The pages of this best go-to-guide for nursing moms are color-coded for fast referencing. This book on breastfeeding gives advice for the first few days of breastfeeding all the way to the toddler years and is a revised edition with updated information.
9. Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding
Formats of Kindle, paperback, and audiobook
Tells you how to reach your personal goals
How to manage through lifestyle changes
Gives resources for more support
Complete with illustrations and suggestions
Did not go into detail as some women would have liked
Repetitive of a lot of common information
Latch breastfeeding book is written by Robin Kaplan with a foreword by Abby Theuring. It is in the formats of Kinde, paperback, and audiobook and tells you how to reach your personal goals of breastfeeding.
Read moreThe author is a certified consultant for the International Lactation Board and the mother of two breastfed children. She began the San Diego Breastfeeding Center in 2009 and is a media commentator on breastfeeding. Complete with illustrations and suggestions, this 166-page breastfeeding book debunks common myths, provides troubleshooting and talks about growth spurts. It shares how personal breastfeeding can be, shows you how to becomes established with it early, discusses how to manage through lifestyle changes, and mentions how to wean the child.
Support
The author gives resources for more support, storage guidelines for the milk, and stories from other breastfeeding mothers. It lets you know the problems of others and that you are not alone.
Educational value
There is so much information that is relevant for new moms in this breastfeeding book that it is hard not to put it down. You will reference it often throughout your term to solve problems as they arise.
Effectiveness
Great advice for all issues with breastfeeding is given in an easy to reference and read format. From beginning to end, this volume has you covered with anything that could pop up during your nursing journey.
Emotional development
Without judgment, this breastfeeding book will guide you to make the best choices for you and your infant. Certain concerns are addressed to conquer the challenges that lie ahead and deal with them head-on.
10. Eat to Feed: 80 Nourishing Recipes
Support overall health and supply of breastmilk
Eighty excellent recipes
Has over 75 gorgeous photos
Inspiring, supportive, and warm
Founders and developers of Oat Mama
Some found the advice not practical
Could use more common ingredients for the recipes
Eat to Feed is a cookbook in full color in the formats of paperback and Kindle and written by Eliza Larson and Kristy Kohler. Consisting of 224 pages, this volume shows you some creative drinks, snacks, and meals that support overall health and supply of breastmilk.
Read moreThere are eighty excellent recipes for beverages, snacks, desserts, dinners, lunches, and breakfasts and over 75 gorgeous photos. It promotes whole foods that are nutrient-dense and milk-boosting and mentions the naturally lactogenic ingredients of barley, almonds, oats, papaya, and fenugreek. Advice and tips on about meal prep, sourcing ingredients, and making a healthy pantry are provided in this inspiring, supportive, and warm breastfeeding book. The authors are the founders and developers of Oat Mama, a brand of lactation foods, that is a million-dollar brand specializing in lactation teas and granola bars.
Support
This is one book on breastfeeding that can actually provide much knowledge of how to feed yourself better rather than just give parenting or breastfeeding advice. It is a guidance of a down-to-earth nature.
Educational value
Learning about the foods that can benefit you both can be fun and enjoyable. You increase your knowledge about how to help yourself the most and get to experiment with various recipes.
Effectiveness
The best foods that are rich in lactogenic ingredients are the most excellent for the nursing mom and the infant. this breastfeeding book shows how to get these ingredients into your daily diet easily.
Emotional development
We all know that foods can change our mood and alter our daily outlook, so why not choose the best and most nutritious foods for you and your baby with the guidance of this incredible volume?
Criteria Used for Evaluation
Support
Plenty of support, encouragement, and guidance is given in each and every one of these informative volumes. The women who wrote them are either professionals in the field of lactation and/or are mothers themselves who learned from their own mistakes and challenges. They can make your breastfeeding experience much more enjoyable and satisfying than their own by you reading their books and listening to their sound advice.
Educational Value
Learn all you can about breastfeeding and its issues before you do it yourself. You could possibly prevent some bad things that could occur or at least know about them even if they never happen. Education from books and experts is the best way to gain valuable knowledge quickly and easily. These books are all easy reads that speak directly to the nursing mother to guide and inform her along the way.
Effectiveness
The hands-on tips and advice given in these volumes will have a great effect on your performance as a breastfeeding mother. You will be able to head off problems before they arise or get out of hand and learn from the mistakes of others you read about. Plenty of great ideas and horror stories are related in these books by authors who have been there and experienced just what you are about to go through yourself. They want to help make your journey the best it can be for you both.
Emotional Development
Pregnancy is just as much an emotional journey as it is a physical one. The new mom must be emotionally prepared for breastfeeding, so she can love it as much as the baby does. Reading as many books as you can about it will ease your mind and let you know that it is a beautiful experience to be savored and treasured. As you learn the techniques and tips from others, you make your own experience that much more enjoyable and stronger.
Right after the infant is born is the perfect first time that a child should feed on the mother. This could be before the child is bathed, weighed, and dressed, but always when the baby is ready for the contact of skin-to-skin.
In the first hour after birth, the skin-to-skin experience is vital for both mother and child. it enhances the bond and gets the mom to be more confident in her breastfeeding.
Other Factors to Consider
Value
Knowledge is valuable, especially when trying something new and exciting. Just the art of motherhood is thrilling, so adding breastfeeding to the joy takes a lot of information to do it successfully with comfort. These volumes have loads of data that can make your motherhood journey much simpler and happier. You can avoid common mistakes and pitfalls that others before you had to experience the hard way. It is wise to read as much as you can before you must use the information.
Comfort
A mother about to or already breastfeeding her child will be comforted with the knowledge that these books can give her concerning the topic. The information can calm any anxieties or frustrations that may come up or be bothering the new mom. Being at ease with what you want to accomplish for you and your child is important and should be a natural process with no complications. If problems do arise, then these books will address how to handle them.
Frequently Asked Questions
q: What are the benefits of breastfeeding within the first few hours of the birth of the child?
It can decrease or eliminate any difficulties the baby would have with sucking, plus early breastfeeding stimulates the infant’s bowels and digestion. The mother gains confidence in her breastfeeding abilities, and the bond between them both is established. Probably the most important reason for breastfeeding right away is that the infant begins receiving the colostrum effects for immunity.
q: How can you tell which breastfeeding books are the best?
Look at the contents of the books and see which ones will answer your questions are concerns based on chapter headings. The experience and credentials of the author is a good way to judge a book also. You will have to decide which one will give you the information you need. Some of the books online let you take a sneak peek into the content, so that is a great thing to do. It will show you how the book reads and the level of information.
q: Do the authors have to have any kind of medical or parental training or certification to write a book on breastfeeding?
No, they do not, but people are more willing to accept advice from those with hands-on experience or education in a certain field they are giving advice about. All of the authors of these books have some kind of professional training or a strong background in breastfeeding.
q: Do any of these books on breastfeeding give advice on the best foods to eat while breastfeeding?
Yes, some of them touch on foods, medications, and nutrition, but the last book on the list deals with that topic specifically. Eat to Feed has plenty of advice about foods that will increase and enrich your breastmilk with eighty wonderful recipes using common and uncommon ingredients. It is very different from the other books that just give general advice on foods and what to eat during nursing. It has specific recipes you can try.
q: What negative things are buyers saying about these books on breastfeeding?
Women who tend to read a lot of information on the Internet for free and any book they can grab on the subject of breastfeeding can often run into a book that tells them nothing new. We found this to be a common remark in customer feedback about these books. It is not that the book was not informative, it is just that the reader is so well educated the book did not give them any new information they did not already know.
q: Have any of these books been recognized for awards or on a best-seller’s list?
Yes, a few of them have won awards. These are all on the best-seller’s list for Amazon in the breastfeeding category.
Sources
- Your Guide To Breastfeeding, Online Article ,
- Breastfeeding - when to start, Online Article ,
- Feeding Your Newborn, Online Article ,