As World Breastfeeding Week 2017 draws to a close, I want to continue telling Part 2 of my breastfeeding journey (click here for Part 1). It’s amazing how just the act of breastfeeding can vary so differently between two kids from the same mother. Personalities, latch, schedules, pattern of weight gain, sleeping habits, you name it. This was something I had heard, of course, but it wasn’t something I could really relate to until Nora was born!

August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week 2017 (aka International Breastfeeding Week), and this is my third WBW while nursing. I’m here to share with you Part 1 of my breastfeeding journey. I hope it’ll be a source of information and encouragement for others. I know not everyone chooses to or is able to nurse their babies the way I have nursed mine, and that’s quite all right.

When I first got pregnant, I read a ton of books (including the usual What to Expect When You’re Expecting), and got a few more as gifts. I appreciated the knowledge I gleaned from each one, so I now recommend them to new moms on a regular basis.

These books make great shower gifts for the expecting or first-time mom, gifts for second- or third-time moms who don’t need anything, gifts for the mom who didn’t register or already has everything, or last minute gifts for really any mom!

When we had our first child in 2015, I struggled a lot in the beginning emotionally (more on that later) and somehow felt ill-prepared despite the years of planning and preparing I felt I had done…and I remember thinking “I wish someone had told me!” So I started making a list to share with friends who were due after me, so they wouldn’t feel like I did! Here it is, the running list I began more than 2 years ago, in no particular order: