Rating: 
Summary: Every nursing mother should have this book
Review: This book is absolute gold! Every nursing mother should have a copy whether she's breastfeeding her first or her twenty-first. The paperback is comfortably sized and easy to read while nursing. It covers many topics, include some that are routinely ignored in US society such as food allergies and sensitivies. Admittedly, if your nursling has an allergy or sensitivity, this book will only get you started. However, that start can mean the world to a miserable newborn. In my opinion, moms who consult this book for advice first will find themselves well prepared to sustain a long-term enjoyable breastfeeding relationship with their babies. I've personally given this book to about half a dozen nursing mothers from the first time mom to the experienced breastfeeder. Each has had wonderful things to say about it.
Rating:
Summary: Every nursing mother should have this book
Review: This book is absolute gold! Every nursing mother should have a copy whether she's breastfeeding her first or her twenty-first. The paperback is comfortably sized and easy to read while nursing. It covers many topics, include some that are routinely ignored in US society such as food allergies and sensitivies. Admittedly, if your nursling has an allergy or sensitivity, this book will only get you started. However, that start can mean the world to a miserable newborn. In my opinion, moms who consult this book for advice first will find themselves well prepared to sustain a long-term enjoyable breastfeeding relationship with their babies. I've personally given this book to about half a dozen nursing mothers from the first time mom to the experienced breastfeeder. Each has had wonderful things to say about it.
Rating:
Summary: Lifesaver for a new mom
Review: This book was a tremendous help to me when I came down with a bout of mastitus in my first month of motherhood. Not only did it help me diagnose my problem well enough to prompt me to call my doctor, but it offered advice for how to avoid mastitus in the future. Considering how many hours we devote to learning the ins and outs of pregancy, and the number of visits we make to the doc to prepare for birth, it is amazing how little information there is about the complications of and approaches to breastfeeding! The Nursing Mother's Problem-Solver is a must-read for every new mom--I only wish I had thought to read it before I had the baby when I had more time!
Rating:
Summary: Great for Needing Answers NOW!
Review: This is my favorite breastfeeding book. While the others I have are good, too, they have a lot of prose and spend pages on a topic. This one gives me the answers NOW. For example, I prepared to nurse my son one day and started leaking green milk! I was afraid to nurse him, unsure of whether he should drink it. Baby was crying by this point and I wanted the answer now. I looked in the other books and found no help. I looked in the index of this one and voila! Green milk is in there. One paragraph of reading told me that he could drink it and I was on my way. Crying stopped, crisis overcome. I love this book! It is arranged by topic, alphabetically. So you can look up colic under "c", green milk under "g", etc. And the topics are in plain english. Very nice. It is also cross-referenced, so if one short paragraph doesn't quite solve your problem, perhaps a related topic will. There are other books (must get "The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book...") that are nice to read in your third trimester, but this is the one to have in your bag when you go to the hospital and to keep by your rocker-glider when you get home. It really is worth every dime.
Rating: 
Summary: good reference
Review: This is not quite what I expected, but it is a good reference book to have. If you need basic information about breastfeeding, this is probably not the book for you because it is set up more like a dictionary - in alphabetical order by whatever problem you have (such as soreness, biting, etc). It is more like a book to have around when you need to look up something quickly. If you are a new mom needing basic information on how to start breastfeeding, get Dr. Jack Newman's book "The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers." It is very comprehensive and tells you everything you need to know from starting out with your newborn to nursing into the toddler years.
Rating: 
Summary: Myths, negativity, and made-up advice
Review: While I liked some things, including nice information on breastfeeding in public, I found this book negative and full of assertions not supported by research. She is obsessed with food sensitivities, covering them in 14 sections and attributing every whimper to something mom ate. Research does not support her theories! Other suggestions are not supported by research, including drinking more water to boost supply. (It can have the opposite effect if you drink too much -- such as Martin's crazy recommendations to drink 8 to 10 ounces per hour.) On p. 277 she lists among ways you can tell if baby is getting enough milk that stools have an odor more sweet than foul. Once baby is eating solids, they'll always be foul. Here she tells the mother to drink 8 ounces of water every two hours(inconsistent with previous recommendation) to increase supply. These are not the standard evidence-based suggestions for improving supply. On page 96, she tells a mother with cracked, bleeding nipples to circle the six-week date (when she can stop breastfeeding, according to Martin) on her calendar. She describes the pain as normal; while some degree of discomfort may be (research is not conclusive on this), cracked and bleeding nipples are not. In fact, on page 186, she herself says that pain during breastfeeding is not normal. Why all the inconsistencies? Under "Milk: Low Supply," you're making enough milk if baby producing 8 to 12 wet and poopy diapers in 24 hours. She later says that baby must poop at least four times a day. Evidence-based guidelines are two to five poopy diapers per day in the first six weeks (after which some babies poop less frequently), and 6-8 wet cloth diapers or 5-6 wet disposables. The section on traveling by air, p. 292-293, is bizarre. If baby won't nurse, it recommends a lollipop. You want me to use a choking hazard and cavity-causer for a baby? Also says to bring bottles for water and expressed milk. "If he absolutely refuses a bottle, you'll need to nurse him on takeoff and landing." She also advises bringing a manual pump to express between flights. This is confusing given the book's upbeat advice on nursing in public. Why make work when breastfeeding makes it so easy? With my formula-fed child, I had a screaming baby, mad fellow passengers, and too many things to juggle. With my breastfeeding children, no one knew I had a baby on the plane (so many people said, "Where was she?" when we deplaned)and I was so relaxed -- no supplies to juggle. I was shocked by the advice to see (i.e., PAY) a lactation consultant for swaddling advice! These are just a few of the many, many oddities. I wish the author had done her homework before writing the book, as it is organized nicely and could have been a valuable resource.
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