Reading List

BIRTH DOULA CERTIFICATION REQUIRED READING LIST

You must read the latest revision of both of DONA International’s Position Papers and the books listed under Required Reading. In addition, you need to read at least one (1) of the most recently published editions of the books from each of the six (6) additional groups of books listed. To confirm and verify your reading, include the signed Statement of Completion form with your certification application.


Must BRING to the workshop:
• The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas and All Other Labor
Companions by Penny Simkin (2013, or later)
REQUIRED READING FOR CERTIFICATION / Beneficial Reading in Preparation for Workshop
Attendance:
• DONA International’s Position Paper: The Birth Doula’s Contribution to Modern Maternity
Care by DONA International (2012, or later)
• DONA International’s Position Paper: The Postpartum Doula’s Role in Modern Maternity
Care by DONA International (2008, or later)
• The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas and All Other Labor
Companions by Penny Simkin (2013, or later)
Group 1 – Read at least ONE of the following:
• The Doula Book: How a Trained Labor Companion Can Help you Have a Shorter, Easier and
Healthier Birth by Marshall and Phyllis Klaus (2012, or later)
• Birth Ambassadors: Doulas and the Re-Emergence of Woman-Supported Birth in America
by Christine H. Morton with Elaine G. Clift (2014, or later)
Group 2 – Read at least ONE of the following:
• The New Pregnancy & Childbirth: Choices and Challenges by Sheila Kitzinger (2011, or later)
• Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn: the Complete Guide by Penny Simkin, April Bolding,
Ann Keppler, and Janelle Durham (2010, or later)
• The Mother of All Pregnancy Books: an All-Canadian Guide to Conception, Birth and
Everything in Between by Ann Douglas (2012, or later)
• The Simple Guide to Having a Baby: a Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide to Pregnancy and
Childbirth by Janet Whalley, Penny Simkin and Ann Keppler (2012, or later)
Group 3 – Read at least ONE of the following:
• Optimal Care in Childbirth: the Case for a Physiologic Approach by Henci Goer and Amy
Romano (2012, or later)
• An Easier Childbirth: a Mother’s Guide to Birthing Normally by Gayle Peterson (2008, or
later)
• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin (2008, or later)
• Natural Hospital Birth: the Best of Both Worlds by Cynthia Gabriel (2011, or later)


Group 4 – Read at least ONE of the following:
• Breastfeeding Made Simple: 7 Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers by Nancy Mohrbacher and
Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, (2010, or later)
• Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding: the Canadian Expert Offers the Most Up-to-
Date Advice on Every Aspect of Breastfeeding by Jack Newman and Teresa Pitman (2015, or later)
• The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by Diane Wiessinger, Diana West and Teresa Pitman
(2010, or later)
• The Nursing Mother’s Companion by Kathleen Huggins (2015, or later)

Group 5 – Read at least ONE of the following:
• This Isn’t What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression by Karen Kleiman and
Valerie Davis Raskin (2013, or later)
• The Hidden Feelings of Motherhood by Kathleen Kendall-Tackett (2005, or later)
• Transformed by Postpartum Depression: Women’s Stories of Trauma and Growth by Walker
Karraa (2014, or later)
• Postpartum Depression and Anxiety: A Self-Help Guide by Pacific Postpartum Support (2014,
or later)


Group 6 – Read at least ONE of the following:
• The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business by Patty Brennan
(2014, or later)
• Doula Programs: How to Start and Run a Private or Hospital-Based Program with Success!
by Paulina Perez with Deaun Thelen (2010, or later)
• The Only Grant-Writing Book You’ll Ever Need by Ellen Karsh and Arlen Sue Fox (2014, or
later)
• Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing and
Writing Successful Proposals by Tori O’Neal-McElrath (2013, or later)
• You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself by Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford (2011, or later)
• Worth Every Penny: Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What
You’re Worth by Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck (2012, or later)
• Body of Work: Finding The Thread That Binds Your Story Together by Pamela Slim (2013, or
later)

REQUIRED READING

The Labor Progress Handbook: Early Interventions to Prevent and Treat Dystocia – 4th Edition

The Labor Progress Handbook: Early Interventions to Prevent and Treat Dystocia is an unparalleled resource on simple, non-invasive interventions to prevent or treat difficult or prolonged labor. Thoroughly updated and highly illustrated, the book shows how to tailor one’s care to the suspected etiology of the problem, using the least complex interventions first, followed by more complex interventions if necessary.

This edition includes a new chapter on reducing dystocia in labors with epidurals, new material on the microbiome, as well as information on new counseling approaches specially designed for midwives to assist those who have had traumatic childbirths.

2. Killing The Black Body

In 1997, this groundbreaking book made a powerful entrance into the national conversation on race. In a media landscape dominated by racially biased images of welfare queens and crack babies, Killing the Black Body exposed America’s systemic abuse of Black women’s bodies. From slave masters’ economic stake in bonded women’s fertility to government programs that coerced thousands of poor Black women into being sterilized as late as the 1970s, these abuses pointed to the degradation of Black motherhood—and the exclusion of Black women’s reproductive needs in mainstream feminist and civil rights agendas.

3. The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding

Journalist and infant health advocate Kimberly Seals Allers breaks breastfeeding out of the realm of “personal choice” and shows our broader connection to an industrialized food system that begins at birth, the fallout of feminist ideals, and the federal policies that are far from family-friendly. The Big Letdown uncovers the multibillion-dollar forces battling to replace mothers’ milk and the failure of the medical establishment to protect infant health. Weaving together research and personal stories with original reporting on medicine, big pharma, and hospitals, Kimberly Seals Allers shows how mothers and babies have been abandoned by all the forces that should be supporting families from the start–and what we can do to help.