Books and breastfeeding...

Okay, to start, I am fully and one hundred percent behind breastfeeding. I breastfed my own kids until they were each 2. However, I try very hard not to be a bully about breastfeeding-my sister does not breast feed at all, and that's okay. I can reem off lots of facts about it, and why I chose it, but I realize that it's not for everyone.

That said, there are precious few books that portray breastfeeding as natural, so far as children's books go. I was adament that we have at least a few, since my children were each only given a bottle a handful of times. These are the best of the paltry bunch:

1. I'm Made of Mama's Milk by Mary Olsen-this is a board book, seemingly made of fuzzy digital photos. This is the absolutely only board book I could find on this topic. It's a bit...off, really, but my girls liked it and we read it until basically each of them had given breastfeeding up.

2. We Like to Nurse by Chia Martin-again, this book is a little odd. There are all kinds of different animals shown nursing, and the text basically matches the picture. Not great, but okay.

3. Only the Cat Saw by Ashley Wolff-this is one of my favorite bedtime books with the girls. It is about all the things that the cat sees at night while the family is sleeping. I am including it here because there is a nice, normal picture of the mom nursing the baby included near the end.

4. Michele: The Nursing Toddler by Jane M. Pinczuk-Michele is pretty much a normal toddler and this book is about many normal things she does. She nurses one time near the end of the book. Again, it's okay, since there isn't much out there on the topic, but it is by no means great.

5. Maggie's Weaning by Mary Joan Deutschben-I really like this one. Maggie is an older sibling telling all about how she breastfed for a long time, and then eventually gave it up. This helped in our house with the transition to not nursing any longer. The pictures are all black and white, but beyond that it's a good book.

And that's pretty much it. Like I said, it's a kind of weird lot. But if you're looking for these books, this is bascially the best you can do...