I breastfed like a champ with both of my kids, even nursing my daughter while I was pregnant with my son. It was not seamless, however, because when I initially started breastfeeding my first-born I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and spent a lot of time frantically trying to work through the process. I consulted the library of pregnancy books I had, but none of them were specific to breastfeeding so I don’t think they offered as much information as I actually needed.

This is one of the reasons why I was really impressed by The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding by Marianne Neifert, MD. The main emphasis of the book is the art of breastfeeding, but it also has other topics including dealing with sleep deprivation and  eventually starting solid foods. While most baby books are written with the perspective that moms want to learn about caring for a baby and will maybe breastfeed, this book is written with the perspective that a breastfeeding mom also needs to know about dealing with other aspects of raising a baby. I really wish  I would have had this book when I was a new mom.

Babies Online is giving away a free copy of The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding. Simply leave a comment on this post to be entered to win.

The book also dedicates a full chapter to how dads can assist mom with breastfeeding. After all, nursing a baby can be really hard, so when a dad isn’t on board it can be downright impossible. The book covers just about every aspect a nursing mom might need to know about, whether it’s pumping, nutrition or postpartum depression. Everything is presented in a very readable way, so even though it’s written by a pediatrician it doesn’t read like a medical manual.

I give this book a huge thumbs up.

This is the type of book that should be given to pregnant moms as they prepare to have their babies and start nursing. It’s a book that will sit at the mom’s bedside and will undoubtedly be thumbed through over and over again for reference.

The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding is appropriate for any nursing mom, whether she will stay home with the baby or return to work as soon as possible. Pick up this book if you are pregnant or new to nursing because it will probably answer all of your questions (and the questions you don’t know you have yet).