Book Reviews
Yvette O’Dowd has been a passionate reader since childhood. Her first pregnancy in the early 1980s saw her consuming the local library collection of books about pregnancy, childbirth, child development and child care. Having ignited a life-long interest in these subjects, Yvette went on to work at Merrily Merrily Enterprises [the retail arm of the Nursing Mothers’ Association of Australia (now known as The Australian Breastfeeding Association)] from 1995 - 2000. This included the recommendation and sale of books on breastfeeding and human lactation, parenting and related titles to both parents and health professionals.
From 2008 - 2013, Yvette ran The Breastfeeding Centre In Dandenong, Victoria - the Victorian Branch Office of the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Here she curated and maintained an extensive library of books available to both members and volunteers. When establishing the Southern Natural Parenting Network in 2014, Yvette had a vision of a collection of books available to members and the wider community, establishing a community library on wheels available at meets and events. Yvette’ family are resigned to her extensive personal collection! (Thank goodness for the digital revolution!)
Yvette also has a passion for children’s books - particularly picture books - and her collection expanded as her family has. Books for children about babies are of particular interest. Stay tuned for review soon!
Browse Yvette’s recommendations:
Boobin' All Day Boobin' All Night: A Gentle Approach To Sleep For Breastfeeding Families
This book offers a gentle, breastfeeding-friendly approach to infant sleep, grounded in biological norms and real-life experiences. Lactation consultant Meg Nagle challenges the mainstream obsession with sleep training and embraces night-time parenting as an extension of the breastfeeding relationship.
You've Got It In You: A Positive Guide to Breastfeeding
This is a warm, reassuring, and refreshingly honest book that offers exactly what the title promises—a truly positive guide to breastfeeding. Written by experienced IBCLC Emma Pickett, You’ve Got It In You meets parents where they are, offering encouragement, practical advice, and emotional support without judgement. It’s ideal for anyone preparing to breastfeed or navigating those first challenging weeks, especially in a world that can feel full of conflicting advice.
Unbuttoned: Women Open Up About the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding
This collection of essays brings together a diverse group of women sharing deeply personal experiences of breastfeeding—raw, humorous, joyful, and painful. The book explores not just the act of feeding a baby, but the emotional, cultural, and political layers that surround it.
Milk, Money, and Madness: The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding
This powerful book explores the intersection of breastfeeding with commerce, politics, and global health. Naomi Baumslag sheds light on how corporate interests, policy decisions, and cultural narratives have shaped infant feeding norms across the world—with profound consequences for public health and maternal wellbeing.
Supporting Breastfeeding Past the First Six Months and Beyond
This thoughtful and comprehensive guide by IBCLC Emma Pickett fills a longstanding gap in breastfeeding resources. While most materials focus on the early weeks and months, this book explores the lived realities and developmental changes involved in breastfeeding older babies and toddlers. With compassion, nuance, and evidence-informed support, Pickett addresses everything from solids to nursing manners, from returning to work to night feeds, and from boundary setting to the emotional shifts in long-term feeding relationships.
Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk: A Guide to Providing Expressed Breast Milk for Your Baby
Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk is a practical, comprehensive guide by Stephanie Casemore, born of her firsthand experiences pumping breast milk for her premature infant and continuing through toddlerhood. In this second edition, Casemore—clearly noting she’s not a medical professional, but a well-informed mother—offers a compassionate roadmap for families choosing to feed via exclusively expressed breast milk. The book covers every stage: from starting pumping, choosing the right equipment, and overcoming common challenges like low supply or physical discomfort, to storing milk, navigating life with a pump, and eventually weaning. Special attention is given to parents with babies in NICU, offering targeted support for their unique situation .
Work. Pump. Repeat: The New Mom’s Survival Guide to Breastfeeding and Going Back to Work
Work. Pump. Repeat is a candid and practical guide for parents navigating the challenges of expressing breast milk while returning to paid employment. Drawing on hundreds of real-life stories, author and working mother Jessica Shortall offers a refreshingly honest look at the realities of pumping at work—logistics, awkward encounters, emotional upheaval, and small triumphs. Rather than idealising breastfeeding, the book embraces the messy middle ground many parents occupy, and provides practical advice on everything from setting up a pumping routine to managing business travel with a breast pump in tow. It’s a rallying cry for working parents who are trying to do it all—and a reminder that they’re not alone.
Spilt Milk: Honest Breastfeeding Stories
Spilt Milk is a compelling anthology that brings together over 80 personal accounts of breastfeeding, collected by Elizabeth Yip—a retired midwife, nurse, and lactation consultant—and edited by Dani Malone. The book delves into the multifaceted experiences of mothers and non-birthing parents, offering narratives that span from the 1950s to the present day. These stories encompass a wide range of emotions and situations, including joy, struggle, perseverance, and the complexities of feeding journeys. The collection also includes reflections from fathers and partners, providing a holistic view of the breastfeeding experience.
Sleeping Like a Baby
This title explores normal infant sleep through a gentle, biologically informed lens. Rejecting sleep training and rigid schedules, Pinky McKay offers advice on responsive night-time parenting, co-sleeping, sleep regressions, and balancing adult rest with baby needs.
Parenting by Heart
This foundational title offers an encouraging and compassionate introduction to gentle parenting. Pinky McKay draws on science, instinct, and lived experience to help parents build secure attachment and confidence from the newborn stage through toddlerhood. Topics include breastfeeding, sleep, infant communication, settling, and responsive care.
The Attachment Parenting Book
This book introduces the core principles of attachment parenting in an accessible, supportive format. It outlines the "7 Baby B's" — birth bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, bedding close to baby, belief in the language value of your baby’s cry, beware of baby trainers, and balance — as foundational tools for building secure attachment. The authors emphasize flexibility, parental intuition, and emotional connection.
Birth And Breastfeeding: Rediscovering The Needs Of Women During Pregnancy And Childbirth
French obstetrician Michel Odent draws on decades of experience to explore how modern maternity practices interfere with women’s innate physiological processes during birth and breastfeeding. He explains how medicalised environments, stress, and lack of privacy can inhibit oxytocin — the hormone responsible for labour, bonding, and milk ejection — and argues for a return to instinctive, uninterrupted birthing and breastfeeding experiences. Odent’s writing is grounded in his research on primal health and his clinical innovations supporting undisturbed birth.
Breastfeeding, Take Two: Successful Breastfeeding the Second Time Around
This gentle, encouraging book is written for mothers who are preparing to breastfeed again after a challenging or disappointing first experience. Stephanie Casemore speaks directly to those carrying grief or frustration from their earlier journey, offering reassurance, reflection, and practical strategies for approaching breastfeeding differently the second time around. The tone is warm and empowering, with a strong focus on emotional healing and rebuilding confidence.
Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History
In this compelling and deeply researched book, science journalist Florence Williams explores the biology, symbolism, and politics of breasts. Blending memoir, investigative journalism, and science writing, she examines everything from puberty to breastfeeding, environmental toxins to cancer risk, and the way breasts have been sexualised and commodified across cultures. The book invites readers to consider how modern life is reshaping our bodies — particularly the breasts — in ways that are often invisible yet profound.
Breastfeeding Myths: Challenging Misconceptions and Cultural Beliefs
This accessible, evidence-based book by IBCLC Lucy Ruddle takes aim at some of the most persistent myths and misinformation surrounding breastfeeding. From ideas about supply and sleep to cultural beliefs that undermine confidence, Ruddle debunks common misconceptions with clarity and compassion. Her clinical experience is evident throughout, making it both informative and reassuring.
Milk: An Intimate History of Breastfeeding
In Milk: An Intimate History of Breastfeeding, cultural historian Joanna Wolfarth delves into the multifaceted history of breastfeeding, intertwining personal narrative with extensive research. Prompted by her own challenges with breastfeeding her first child, Wolfarth explores how infant feeding has been represented, celebrated, and censured across different cultures and eras. She examines artifacts like ancient baby bottles, 18th-century breast pumps, and artistic depictions from various civilizations, providing a comprehensive look at the socio-cultural significance of breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding Doesn’t Need to Suck
In Breastfeeding Doesn't Need to Suck, health psychologist and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett offers a compassionate, evidence-based guide that addresses both the physical and emotional challenges of breastfeeding. The book delves into topics often overlooked in traditional breastfeeding literature, such as the impact of breastfeeding on sleep, safe (and unsafe) bedsharing, and how infant sleep locations affect maternal mental health.
Why Breastfeeding Grief and Trauma Matter
This deeply compassionate book explores the emotional impact of breastfeeding experiences that don’t go to plan. Dr. Amy Brown gives voice to the grief, guilt, anger, and confusion many parents feel when faced with unexpected challenges, early weaning, or lack of support. Through evidence and empathy, she validates those emotions and outlines a path toward healing.
A Loving Weaning
This gentle guide supports families through the emotional and practical journey of weaning — whenever and however it happens. Winema Wilson Lanoue offers a compassionate, respectful approach that honours the parent-child bond, encourages responsive timing, and provides affirming stories from a wide range of weaning experiences.
Milk
In this compelling and wide-ranging exploration, Australian food writer and former chef Matthew Evans delves into the cultural, nutritional, ethical, and environmental history of milk. From breastmilk to dairy farms to plant-based alternatives, Milk invites readers to consider where milk comes from, who it serves, and at what cost.