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Summary: Exhaustive but warm encouragement of/for nursing families
Review: Almost everything you can think of to ask--or didn't realize you needed to ask--about breastfeeding and the normal course of nursing a baby is covered in this thoughtful and gently informative book. You are urged to follow your own instincts and do what feels right.
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Summary: Facts, tips, support, and encouragement rolled into one book
Review: If you are looking for just one book for information and encouragement, read this one. If you think the book is missing something, then go check the others. You will be surprised to realize how comprehensive this book is. Unfortunately for me, I read a different book to prepare me for nursing. I had some problems with nursing and did not find enough information in other book. The other book also had no encouragement, it was more of "just the facts", and was unemotional. The flip side is The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, (which I discovered after my nursing problems were over and my son was two months old), which intertwines positive encouragement and parenting style choices between the breastfeeding facts and how-to's. I especially love the sections written by regular mothers, which is like real advice from the real world. The opinion is written in the book to take from the book what is helpful to you and leave the rest behind. A refreshing change from other parenting books whose authors infer "There is one way to do it, and that is my way". Book applies to both stay-at-home mothers and working mothers. Easy to read.
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Summary: Wonderful book! Every expectant and new parent should read!
Review: La Leche League is the authority on breastfeeding, and this is such a great book! Warm, friendly and knowledgable, it has answers to just about every breastfeeding question that a mother could have. Also, it is full of information about the wonderful health benefits of nursing, for a woman and her child.In additon to it's wonderful breastfeeding information, it offers practical, loving advice about parenting and families. It shows a woman that she really should listen to her instincts and heart about raising a family. How I wish I had read this book while I was expecting my first! It would have been so valuable.
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Summary: Like digging for gold, you'll need to dig past the testimonies to find the useful info.
Review: ~If you're looking for reasons why you should breastfeed, this book is for you. But if you already know you want to breastfeed and only want the straight facts on
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Summary: The best book on breastfeeding
Review: La Leche League is the world's leading authority on breastfeeding. Now in its 40th year, LLL publishes its best ever edition of its classic manual. Going well beyond the "how-to"s of nursing a baby, this book provides valuable support for the breastfeeding couple. If you only buy one book about breastfeeding, make The Womanly Art your choice.
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Summary: Fascinating updated text & capable warmth empowers mothers
Review: Today's world of long commutes, 50-hour workweeks, and half-baked frozen dinners cries out, with the voice of a frail and faultless infant, for homespun mothering. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding captures the coziness of 1956, compiling fascinating updated text and stories of mothers' own personal experiences into timeless wisdom defying decade. The women in this book exude the capable warmth one desires from a big sister or best friend, never preaching, just mentioning what worked for them, what normal really is for the breastfeeding family. The sincere sharing in this book is substantiated with countless scientific studies on the unique value of human milk, and indeed the milking process itself. Practical hints on working and pumping, storage of expressed milk, sleeping patterns, good nutrition, and mothering the mother, catapult this book into the new millenium. The reader closes the book convicted that breastfeeding is best in this mayhem, materialist world, and that mother is the individual most capable of identifying and satisfying the deep-seated needs of the child. Like a soul-soothing friend, the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding will be there time and again to comfort, share, and reassure.
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Summary: The definitive book on breastfeeding
Review: This book covers just about every situation that could happen in the normal course of breastfeeding (as well as lots of special circumstances). From how to get breastfeeding off to a good start all the way through to starting solids and weaning, you can find just about any information on breastfeeding you need. Are you a working mom and need information on the mechanics of pumping and storing breastmilk? The answer is here. Are you an at-home mom and need suggestions on how to meet the needs of your baby while still taking care of the house, other children, your husband, and yourself? A myriad of suggestions are offered. Want to know how various choices in childbirth options can affect getting breastfeeding off to a good start? Look no further. If you're having a problem (thrush, mastitis, overactive letdown, etc.), this book is full of helpful tips and suggestions to help you overcome the problem. While this is a wonderful book for the breastfeeding mother to read, it's even better for the expectant mother to read---being prepared with knowledge and information ahead of time can help a mother avoid problems and have a wonderful breastfeeding relationship with her baby from the very beginning. This book should be on the bookshelf of every expectant or breastfeeding mother.
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Summary: Old fashioned opinionated book insulting to the thinking mom
Review: This book is short on practical "how to" advice on breastfeeding, and long on preachy passages that attempt to convenince all moms to stay at home and breastfeed until your child is 8. I'm a working mom of 3 and have extensive experience with breastfeeding. There are about 3-4 pages of this book that actually inform, and the rest is an attempt to pursuade mothers to stay at home and breastfeed the rest of their lives.
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Summary: good, but needs a practical companion manual
Review: As a devout breastfeeder, which I vowed to be during my pregnancy, I was determined that breastfeeding would be a success for my daughter and me. She was then born as a champion nurser, and I left the hospital certain that my brilliant girl and I would spend the next year enjoying this special experience together. Three weeks later, however, when she was on what they termed her second large growth spurt, and ate and cried frequently, leaving me in fairly significant pain and exhausted, I ordered The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. This had been recommended by La Leche League and some friends, so I waited eagerly to see solutions to all of my breastfeeding woes.
What I got was a fairly lengthy tome about the virtues of breastfeeding, staying home with your children, and co-sleeping. Well, I can spout the benefits of breastfeeding with the best of them, and staying home isn't an option for me. I was given a lot of information about how different babies eat different amounts, that it's impossible to determine what schedule will be "normal" for each baby, and basically that direct breastfeeding was better than pumping. There were some helpful hints about dealing with mastitis and plugged ducts, but not many specifics beyond what any mom could suggest. Particularly unhelpful was the section about "choosing" to work, which described how mothers and babies are bonded and the impact on children of being separated from their mothers. As a working mother in a foreign country for my job, working for a company that will sue me if I quit, the word "choice" isn't in my vocabulary, so I didn't really appreciate the litany that nagged even more at my already bruised conscience.
This book does have some helpful guidelines, and can be very encouraging to anyone wanting to breastfeed but unsure of themselves. Since I was already confident and determined to nurse, it wasn't as helpful for me. If there was a companion manual entitled something like "The Practical Science of Breastfeeding," this would be a great counterpart. I just needed more specifics, about everything from pumping to hand expression to sleeping through the night. This was just a little too "everything is different for every family" for me.
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Summary: Waste of money!
Review: This book was a total disappointment. It didn't tell me anything different from the information that I received free from my hospital. I was so frustrated when I got home from the hospital and I had read this book about a month before my daughter was born. The best advice I can give is to see a lactation consultant at the hospital where your child was born or see if you can have someone come in and actually help you have your baby latch on. The book has zero information as to how to wean your child as well.
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