Your dream parenting/bf-ing/etc library section...

[blizzard_babe]

OK, DH works for our tiny little library. His job is to spend grant money on books. He has lots of money left and asked for recommendations for the parenting/breastfeeding/etc section.

I have a few, but I know you guys have more.

Recommend! Recommend! Recommend! Don't limit yourself!

[Smokering]

"Breastfeeding Matters" by... someone. I can't remember who, but Mum (an ex-midwife) lent it to me when I was pregnant and it was awesome. A lot of great info about why breastfeeding is best, and not just the obvious stuff but some cool biological trivia I hadn't heard before; and a very good how-to/troubleshooting section. It's an older book, but really valuable.

[christinar]

Breastfeeding - So That's What They're For; I've also read great things about Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy

Pregnancy/Labor - Pushed, by Jennifer Block; Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin; Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby Naturally; Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent; Henci Goer's Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth; Birth Partner, by Penny Simkin

pregnancy/birth/parenting - the Sears books

And a subscription to Mothering magazine!

ETA: My favorite pregnancy/birth memoir is Sandra Steingraber's Having Faith. Love, love, love that book!

[Ambishop19]

I agree with all the others mentioned, plus Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding.

Can I just tell you how awesome your husband's job sounds? Is he a librarian? I work as a shelver in a public library, and I really like it.

[LuckyMommaToo]

The Baby Book by Sears
Kids, Parents and Power Struggles
Playful Parenting
How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk
Adventures in Gentle Discipline

-e

p.s. It's late and my brain is not working enough to come up with authors -- I'll edit tomorrow.

[blizzard_babe]

Thanks for the ideas... keep 'em coming!

Originally Posted by Ambishop19

Can I just tell you how awesome your husband's job sounds? Is he a librarian? I work as a shelver in a public library, and I really like it.

He's not a librarian; his job title is "Library Technician" or something like that. The job has been GREAT. He works half-time, mostly evenings and weekends, and he likes the work.

[SparklingGemini]

Breastfeeding

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by LLL International
The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers by Jack Newman
How Weaning Happens by Diane Bengson
Mothering Your Nursing Toddler by Norma J. Bumgarner
Adventures in Tandem Nursing by Hilary Flower
The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk by Diana West

Sleeping
The No-Cry Sleep Solution & The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers by Elizabeth Pantley
The Baby Sleep Book by William Sears
Good Nights by Jay Gordon
Sleeping with Your Baby by James McKenna
Three in a Bed by Deborah Jackson

General Parenting & Development
The Wonder Weeks by Hetty Vaderijt & Frans Plooij
Our Babies, Ourselves by
The Natural Child by Jan Hunt
The Baby Book by The Sears'
Attachment Parenting by Katie Allison Granju
Attached at the Heart by by Lisa Trusiani Parker
Why Love Matters by Sue Gerhardt


Other
The Vaccine Book by Robert Sears
Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn
Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
I Love Dirt by Jennifer Ward
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

I know I'm forgetting some but I hope that helps.

[ticklemegreen]

Lots of great suggestions so far. I just wanted to add Permission to Mother by Denise Punger. Denise Punger is a doctor and it sort of takes you through how she found home birth, baby wearing, ebf, etc. I really liked this because she talks about when she was still in med school and what it was like working in a hospital and the birth enviroment a hospital has vs. a homebirth.

[elanorh]

Great suggestions. I would add:

I'd get multiple copies (2 or more) of So That's What They're For! and The No Cry Sleep Solution.

Birth:
The Business of Being Born dvd (so people can check it out and watch it)

Breastfeeding:
The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers (Newman)
Medication and Mother's Milk (Hale) - as a reference

Milk, Money, and Madness (Naomi Baumslag)
Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives (Katherine Dettwyler)

General Parenting:
KIDS (by Meredith Small, author of the pp mentioned Our Babies, Ourselves)

Nurture Shock (Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman)

Siblings without Rivalry (Faber and Mazlish)

Diaper Free (about EC) - if you think people would check it out

Babywearing (Maria Blois)

Child of Mine,
How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much,
Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family, and
Your Child's Weight: Helping, Not Harming [all by Ellyn Satter]

For Allergies:
The Culinary Guide to MSPI (Wise)
The Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance Guidebook (Field)
The Complete Food Allergy Cookbook (Gioannini)


I have not yet read Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must be Fixed (Marsden Wagner) but have heard it recommended and it's on my list of books to read.

My favorite pregnancy book was The Mother of All Pregnancy Books (Douglas) - more mainstream, but IIRC she still is very supportive of NCB, breastfeeding. I think she was neutral about circ (Pros/Cons list). But I liked it way more than the WTE books.

Good kid's books for AP/Breastfeeding stuff:
Will There Be A Lap for Me? (Corey)
What's Inside? (Ashbe)
Sophie and the New Baby (Anholt) (all three of these feature breastfeeding)
Everywhere Babies! (Susan Meyers)

[Sk8ermaiden]

There's a new one out called The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk. It's so much more than it sounds like, and it's also really good at helping a mom who's been undermined by family, friends, or doctors realize that she actually is already making enough.

I wish so strongly that I had read it before giving birth that I actually bought a copy and donated to my midwife's lending library.

[blizzard_babe]

Thanks, everyone!

[blessedwithboys]

the continuum concept
the family bed
unconditional parenting
the american way of birth
silent knife

[SparklingGemini]

Originally Posted by Sk8ermaiden

There's a new one out called The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk. It's so much more than it sounds like, and it's also really good at helping a mom who's been undermined by family, friends, or doctors realize that she actually is already making enough.

I wish so strongly that I had read it before giving birth that I actually bought a copy and donated to my midwife's lending library.

Yeah, I listed this book above!!

Its a great, wonderful, fantastic book. I was thrilled when it finally came out.

[hildare]

Jessica Mills- My Mother Wears Combat Boots
China Martens- Future Generation
Ariel Gore- the Hip Mama Survival Guide

[Masel]

I wished my local library had had a recent book about adoption. The Essential Adoption Hanbook was okay. I was surprised how useful Adoption for Dummies was.

+1 for the Sears books and the Ultimate Breastfeeding book of Answers

I love spending other people's book money for them.

[Trinitty]

Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.
Subscription to Mothering Magazine
Having a Baby, Naturally - Mothering Magazine issued
Natural Family Living - Mothering Magazine issued
Ina May's guide to Child Birth
Spiritual Midwifery
Birthing from Within
American Way of Birth
Business of Being Born - DVD
The Experience of Childbirth - Kitzinger
The Baby Book - Sears
The Vaccine Book - Sears
Sleeping with your Baby - James J. McKenna
Raising our Children - Raising Ourselves
Unconditional Parenting
Teach Your Own

[quantumleap]

I just want to second Sandra Steingraber's "Having Faith". Probably the hardest hitting book I've read in a good while.
-"The Politics of Breastfeeding" by Gabrielle Palmer. This was actually a required text in first year midwifery, but it was hardly difficult to get through! Super interesting and presents everything from the biological benefits of breastfeeding to formula advertising laws and disasters.
-Another "yeah" to Simkin's "The Birth Partner".
-Sleepless in America
-Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Toni Weschler)
-Breeders (I'm drawing a blank on the author here, I think it was actually co-authored by two different women. I really want to say Ariel Gore was involved?? A short read, but a good one)

[Mama Shifra]

These by Faber and Mazlish:

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
Siblings Without Rivalry
Liberated Parents, Liberated Children: Your Guide to a Happier Family

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

Bestfeeding: Getting Breastfeeding Right for You by Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher, and Suzanne Arms really got me on the right track, when breastfeeding my first child.

[ASusan]

Originally Posted by christinar

ETA: My favorite pregnancy/birth memoir is Sandra Steingraber's Having Faith. Love, love, love that book!

I third this.

Wagner's Born in the USA
Weschler's Taking Charge of your Fertility

The Infertility Cure: Ancient Chinese Wellness Program for Getting Pregnant and Having Healthy Babies by Randine Lewis - SO much more than infertility. Very good introduction to women's health from a TCM perspective.

[Mama Shifra]

I forgot about birth books:

The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
The Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year by Susan S. Weed
Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year by Elizabeth Noble
After the Baby's Birth: A Complete Guide for Postpartum Women by Robin Lim
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Peter Rosegg
CREATING A JOYFUL BIRTH EXPERIENCE by Lucia Capacchione, Ph.D., A.T.R. & Sandra Bardsley,R.N., F.A.C.C.E.
Yoga for Pregnancy: Ninety-Two Safe, Gentle Stretches Appropriate for Pregnant Women & New Mothers by Sandra Jordan