The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

Rating:
Summary: I really wanted to rate it a big, fat, ZERO
Review: After my daughter was born, one of my sisters-in-law gave me a copy of this book as a gift. She is an ob/gyn with 3 kids of her own, so I thought this was going to be a real help to me--especially as I was having a lot of nipple pain whenever my daughter fed off my left breast. Unfortunately, I was sadly, sadly disappointed. Whatever question I had, the only answer the book had was "Consult your local La Leche League" coordinator. I also felt that any woman who was considering breastfeeding her child for a short period of time only would be made to feel guilty for that decision. All in all, I was very, very disappointed. I would recommend this book only for those of you who have some money to throw away and a bird cage to line.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful in a basic way
Review: As a one-stop, all around basic information source, I loved this book. It covers all basic areas, aspects and concerns of breastfeeding. If you need more specific or more detailed information, a more problem specific book may be needed in addition to this one. I most definitely recommend this book as a general first guide to breastfeeding.

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Summary: Dietary Advice Shortchanges Mothers and Babies
Review: Now in its sixth edition, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has served as guide to thousands of women determined to do the best for their babies. And it is loaded with encouragement and practical advice about getting started at baby's birth, and continuing breastfeeding as baby grows.
Unfortunately, the dietary advice in this book is terrible, so wrong that it is likely to undermine all the good that is intended in giving baby breast milk instead of commercial formula.
Let's start with the first sentence in the chapter on nutrition. "If you already have good eating habits, there is no reason for you to make any major changes while you are breastfeeding." We'll look at what the authors consider to be good eating habits in a moment, but even when a woman's diet is very good, her body needs extra nourishment to build a healthy child during pregnancy and lactation. The feeding of special, nutrient-dense foods to pregnant and nursing women is a practice found among all traditional peoples. ... These special foods were invariably animal products, rich in fat, foods like fish eggs, shellfish, fish liver oils, carp, butter, whole milk, organ meats, bear fat, eggs and pickled bones. In China, for example, nursing women eat up to ten eggs per day, a "major" dietary change that ensures high levels of important vitamins and fatty acids in their milk.
But according to La Leche League, women should avoid high levels of animal foods because "research has linked high-fat diets to heart disease and other ills." Nursing mothers should cut back on animal fats and eat more plant-based proteins, they say. "Any fat that is solid at room temperature (butter, margarine, vegetable shortening) should be eaten in moderation," is their advice, even though butter is an important source of nutrients and the trans fats in margarine and vegetable shortening are really bad news for the developing infant. "Safflower oil, canola oil, and soybean oil. . . are important for your health," say the authors, even though these invariably rancid oils contain nothing of benefit to the mother or her infant.
All women have to do to have healthy breastmilk, say the authors of this book, is to eat a varied diet and avoid sugar, additives, highly processed cereals and grains, caffeine and soft drinks. Nursing women should also avoid salt, they say, even though salt is vital for the development of the baby's brain and nervous system. Human milk contains sodium chloride for a reason, but there won't be much there if the mother is avoiding salt.
As for supplementation, only brewers yeast and B12 for vegetarians are recommended. Women can get vitamin A from carrots, they say, totally ignoring research indicating the increased requirements for vitamin A during pregnancy and lactation, and the difficulty of converting carotenes in plant foods to true vitamin A found in animal fats. Tofu, full of mineral-blocking phytic acid, is just as good a source of calcium as milk products, say the authors of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.
As the national voice for breastfeeding, La Leche League has an enormous responsibility to provide nursing mothers with accurate information on diet and nutrition. Instead, the very women who have the will and intelligence to enact the dietary changes that will ensure the optimum development of their children are bamboozled into political correctness. Hints that breastfeeding by poorly nourished mothers shortchanges the nursing baby are sprinkled throughout the book-from pages devoted to dealing with fussy babies to the admission that breastfed babies are subject to tooth decay. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding needs an overhaul and a change of focus-from the promotion of breastfeeding for breastfeeding's sake to breastfeeding for healthy babies...

Rating:
Summary: I'm going to read it again
Review: I credit this book with the success I had breastfeeding my son nearly 20 years ago, even after a very shakey start caused by an uninformed, unsupporting pediatrician. When my daughter was born 5 years later, I often referred back to that very book when I needed to refresh my mind or solve any difficulties I experienced along the way when nursing her. Now I am awaiting the birth of my third child, 14 years after my second. Since my copy of the Motherly Art is long lost, I plan to purchase another just to get me through any bumpy times.

The LeLeche style of mothering that is spoken of in the book can be a bit over the top to many readers. However, if taken with a grain of salt and used as a suggestion, not a mandate, just reading about and becoming aware of this parenting option can be very useful to balance out the often opposite advice and social pressure out there and can be very helpful in opening the mind to other possibilities.

Rating:
Summary: Basically an ad for LLL
Review: This book does contain some useful information on learning to breastfeed, but it is really just an advertisement to join La Leche League. I am expecting my first child in a month, and I do plan to only breastfeed, but this book is very preachy not only on breastfeeding, but also on co-sleeping, mom's who work, and many other LLL beliefs - not just breastfeeding as the title would suggest. Read The Nursing Mother's Companion instead. It is not nearly as biased, and it only about breastfeeding.

Rating:
Summary: Breastfeeding is natural but doesn't always come naturally..
Review: This is a book to help you, woman and mother, find your way to nursing your baby. Because there are many stumbling blocks along the way, this book helps nursing and expectant moms navigate the obstacles so that you can have the breastfeeding experience you want. As critics have mentioned, its purpose is not to validate formula feeding. Yet, it isn't unfair to those who have chosen that path. It simply is not addressing formula feeding as a choice because it a breastfeeding book. And, no, it is not a technical manual. The Breastfeeding Answer Book is better suited for those who need or crave technical information. Rather, it is a book that shows the beauty of breastfeeding and helps moms understand that it is okay to follow your instincts, listen to your baby, and follow your heart.

Rating:
Summary: a great book for how to and support
Review: If you are looking to breastfeed, this book is full of guidance and support. I read it from cover to cover before my daughter was born and it really helped prepare me for what to expect. The authors are very passionate about their opinions on breastfeeding and although I don't necessarially agree with all their views I still feel this book was essential. It is A MUST READ for women who want to breastfeed but aren't getting the emotional, social or educational support that they need.

Rating:
Summary: This book got me through a nursing strike!
Review: I read this book cover-to-cover when I was pregnant with my first child. Breastfeeding went very smoothly for us until she was 9 or 10 months old and went on a nursing strike. This book helped me recognize it for what it was (she wasn't self-weaning) and I was able to work through it and continue nursing until I chose to wean her at 14 1/2 months.

Rating:
Summary: Strong philosophy, little advice on less common problems
Review: I was disappointed with this book. While it contained a wealth of information on the benefits of breastfeeding, I was expecting more extensive and broadranging advice to help with breastfeeding problems. The common problems like poor positioning, mastitis and low supply were covered, but even here did not seem to cover much more than is readily found in the pamphletts handed out by pharmacies, hospitals and child health clinics. I was already a convert, but needed advice about specific problems I was having feeding my 4 month old. I expected that a book of this size would contain information on problems which were somewhat less common, but still very real issues for many breastfeeding mums. I wanted advice about feeding positions suitable for very large breasted women, how to manage a very fast supply and what to do about infant allergic reactions to breastmilk. The book was unhelpful for me on the first 2, and more alarmingly, pretty much dismissed the issue of infant allergies to breastmilk, basically advising mums to keep breastfeeding affected infants as breastmilk was the best source of nutition and least allergenic option. It failed to discuss the severe weight loss experienced by breastfeeding mothers on long term no-allergen diets or the implications for infant health when even a very restricted diet fails to eliminate the allergen. The "breast is best" advice was poor advice in our case and ultimately, crash weaning onto very expensive prescription-only hypo-allergenic formula proved the only answer to stop our son's continued weight loss, illness and bloody nappies. I still feel betrayed by the advice I read here (and elsewhere from similar philisophical sources), knowing it influenced my decision not to wean my son earlier and that this decision caused him unnecessary weeks of pain and suffering.

The benefits of breastfeeding are covered well in this book and commmon problems are covered too. It falls down badly, however, in failing to acknowledge that for some mums and babies breastfeeding remains problematic to a degree that it impacts negatively on the parent/child relationship or on the parent/child's health. It indicates that breastfeeding will be viable, positive and healthy experience for mother and child, if only the mother is willing to invest the effort. This is an false picture which causes real psychological pain for the small minority of women who cannot breastfeed and nourish, and the larger minority who cannot breastfeed without negative consequences for their own health.

This book is a very effective motivator and well champions the breastfeeding cause for infants. However, the seemingly "at all costs" approach detracts from it's appeal.

Rating:
Summary: If you're committed to breastfeeding, this will tell you how
Review: This book is not a balanced book discussing the pros and cons of breastfeeding. It is fully a how-to, encourage the people who want to breastfeed book. If you have already decided to breastfeed, or if you are reasonably sure you want to breastfeed and are looking for a few more arguments in its favor, get this book. If you are sitting on the fence or looking for assurances that formula-fed babies are going to do just as well in life as a breastfed baby, don't buy this book.

For the record, although I breastfed my son and would recommend it to anyone who was expecting a child, I am not of the opinion that those who feed their children formula have doomed their children to failure. There are plenty of perfectly well adjusted formula-fed babies out there--including me! That is one sentiment that is not expressed in this book, however, so do be warned.

However, this book will give you all sorts of tips and descriptions of ways to continue breastfeeding or expressing milk to feed your child. Some folks seem to give up on breastfeeding after a bit of difficulty; it is important to realize that breastfeeding is something you have to LEARN how to do. If you and your baby magically fall into perfect step the first time you try breastfeeding and you have had no one tell you how it's done, you are very lucky!

This book clearly describes how to get your baby to take the breast, what to do if it hurts (it ought not hurt! If it does that means you need to change your technique), and how to make sure that your baby is getting enough milk. It gives you hints about clothes to wear to allow you to breastfeed and ways to minimize your exposure when you breastfeed in public. It is a bit repetative, but it is not really meant to be read from cover to cover. It works much better as a resource you pick up and read sections of at a time.

Once again, it is unabashedly pro-breastfeeding, and it has a chapter on breastfeeding a toddler as well as plenty of discussion about how much better breast milk is for the baby than formula is. This all comes in handy if you're trying to convince some busy-body that you're doing the right thing by breastfeeding, but if you've honestly determined that breastfeeding is not for you, you should save yourself grief and avoid this book.

If, on the other hand, you want to breastfeed your baby but aren't sure that you can, DO buy this book! It can really help you out.