Homegrown Picks: The Ultimate Doula Training Reading List

Yay!  You’re doing  a DONA birth doula training!  Choosing to become a birth doula is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself, your future clients, your career, and the state of maternal healthcare (okay, maybe we’re a little biased).  Truly, thank you for making this move.

We’ve all been there, getting ready to dive into the intensive training and all the steps toward certification.  It can be a little overwhelming. We’re here to help you get through it with confidence and clarity. Let’s start with the reading list.  It’s a lot of awesome books to choose from.  So how do you choose just one from each of the six required, thematic groups? Not to worry, we’ve got your back! Here’s a list of our top pick from each group.  We promise that choosing these seven books will give you a solid, well-rounded, evidence-based foundation.  Plus they’ve proven themselves to us as great references over the years.

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Here are the Homegrown Picks for DONA birth doula certification required reading:

The Birth Partner, 4th Edition, Completely Revised and Updated: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin (2013 or later). This comprehensive guide for labor support people is amazing, thorough, well organized, and easy to reference.

The Doula Book: How a Trained Labor Companion Can Help You Have a Shorter, Easier, and Healthier Birth (A Merloyd Lawrence Book) by Marshall and Phyllis Klaus (2012 or later). This book gives you lots of evidence for the benefits of doula care.  Both statistical and sociological research is in here, along with personal accounts.

Pregnancy, Childbirth, And The Newborn (2016-5Th Edition) by Penny Simkin, April Bolding, Ann Keppler, and Janelle Durham (2016 or later). Covering all aspects of childbearing, from conception through infancy, this book walks you through the whole process.  With great illustrations and research-backed information, this is a stand-alone reference that we still use after years of practice.

Optimal Care in Childbirth The Case for a Physiologic Approach by Henci Goer and Emy Romano (2012 or later). This one’s like an encyclopedia of birth.  It’s not a light read, but the quality of information is worth the focus it takes.  It’s an awesome reference too!

Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers by Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett (2010 or later). Set up for easy use and reference, this book comes from a combo of high-quality research and tons of personal experience with mothers and babies.  Unbiased and helpful for breastfeeding, bottle feeding, or hybrid situation.

The Hidden Feelings of Motherhood: Coping with Stress, Depression, and Burnout by Kathleen Kendall-Tackett. Full of current statistics and studies, along with historical perspectives on women’s roles.  This book presents practical approaches for bringing balance and health back to the postpartum time.

The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful Motherbaby Business 2nd Edition by Karen Kielman and Valerie Davis Raskin (2013 or later). Written by someone who has been in the birth world for over 35 years, this book really understands how doula businesses are different than other businesses.  It’s a book for doulas, but it’s also a great business book. 

If you would like a complete list of every single book on our list for each group, including how long they are and an in-depth summary of each one, click HERE to receive our FREE Comprehensive Reading List Insider’s Guide. Happy reading!