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Rating: 
Summary: A thinly veiled attempt to debunk latest medical advice
Review: I just hope anyone considering this book knows that it used to be titled "Bottlefeeding Without Guilt," which should tell you something about the author's real motivation here.I agree with some of the other reviewers....save your money and try something else if you really need support. Perhaps your doctor can refer you to a group or something else that could be helpful to you. The author here is just content to rant about how some people believe that breastfeeding should become the recommended form of feeding infants (which incidentally seems supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization) and that makes some mothers who can't (or who don't want to) breastfeed feel guilty. I honestly feel sorry for mothers who CAN'T breastfeed....a group that the author seeks to make larger for some strange reason......but why attack those who do? There is no reason to feel guilty if you feel confident about your choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunate debates going on here
Review: I've just been reading all the reviews and it's quite sad to see and feel the anger going on here. Breastfeeding or bottlefeeding is a mother's personal choice and I think mothers should be respected on whatever decision they make in regards to feeding choices for their infants. What a sad situation in this society to have people "feed in fear", feel guilty and throw insults at each other for fear of the wrath of either side.
Rating:
Summary: Unfortunate debates going on here
Review: I've just been reading all the reviews and it's quite sad to see and feel the anger going on here. Breastfeeding or bottlefeeding is a mother's personal choice and I think mothers should be respected on whatever decision they make in regards to feeding choices for their infants. What a sad situation in this society to have people "feed in fear", feel guilty and throw insults at each other for fear of the wrath of either side.
Rating:
Summary: A thinly veiled attempt to debunk latest medical advice
Review: Review of When Breastfeeding is Not an Option If you are a woman who is otherwise healthy and has had serious logistical problems that made breastfeeding difficult or impossible to continue, this book is a good source of validation and emotional support. The author describes the anti-bottlefeeding climate, the lack of resources for parents who must bottlefeed, and the backlash and pervasive, persecutorial attitude towards those who choose to bottlefeed in our society today. Unfortunately, she doesn't provide much in the way of specific bottlefeeding resources and information, she spends most of the book merely complaining about the lack of them. If you are in the category of women who CANNOT breastfeed because of maternal illness, etc., and are looking for very detailed information about bottlefeeding and possibly emotional support for the specific grief and guilt under the circumstances, this is not a particularly good resource. If you, like me, want concrete information with solid medical references, you will find this book almost useless. The first half of the book is entirely devoted to describing the anti-bottlefeeding climate, and the difficulties of women who found bottlefeeding logistically difficult or impossible. The author primarily demonstrates her points with quotes from individual interviews and online chat sources. The author does make an effort to list the reasons that women cannot bottlefeed, but she doesn't address their specific concerns. A basic question for a woman who knows she will not be able to breastfeed, for instance, is what to feed the newborn in the first few days. For breastfeeders, the colostrum produced in the first few days is different than the breastmilk that follows - what is the best bottlefeeding equivalent? Some hospitals give newborns sugar water - is this because of the similarity to syrupy colostrum, or because it's easier to get the baby to take sugary water than plain water? How advisable and safe is the sugar, and how does the option of sterilized water stack up against sugar water or even formula from day one? What are the baby's nutritional and hydration needs in the first few days? Should a mother who has researched her options be prepared with her own bottles and supplies when she goes to the hospital to deliver? This book doesn't even touch on basic questions like these. What to Expect When You're Expecting, for example, devotes some space to discussing the emotional and medical concerns of women with the most common chronic illnesses impacting pregnancy; I had hoped this book might pick up with specific information about bottlefeeding for such women, but it doesn't. For example, the author points out that for some women with certain diseases - e.g., viruses -illness impacts the quality of their milk, and that these women cannot breastfeed and are largely ignored in La Leche League literature. The author then fails to provide any practical advice for these women herself: she could have (but didn't) discuss the pros, cons, availability and safety of using banked breast milk for children who may have been exposed to their mother's illnesses in utero, or who may otherwise have special need for the immune factors provided in breastmilk. Is formula a good option, because, (to name a possible reason) it can be made under sterile conditions and provided reliably to the infant? No such discussion in this book. The author points out that women who have to take certain medications may not be able to breastfeed; but then the book never touches on solutions as simple as why and how to use acidophilus with formula if the mother has had to have antibiotics during pregnancy or breastfeeding, for example. When I bought When Breastfeeding is Not an Option, I was expecting solid information, a review of reassuring studies to counter the negative, scary messages about formula and bottlefeeding found in so many otherwise good publications, like the Sears' Baby Book, sources that don't seem to consider that some women CANNOT breastfeed and still want to do their level best for their babies. Unfortunately, the author of this book does little more than provide hypothetical arguments against certain conclusions about breastfeeding versus bottlefeeding (to studies she admits she hasn't even read herself). As much as I want to believe the author, I personally needed good, convincing information and solid references rather than speculation and hearsay to buy her reassurances. The author does give some advice about bottle and nipple types, and a few accessories, but the information wasn't too specific; I found product books like Baby Bargains more helpful in that regard. For bottlefeeding logistical advice without the formula guilt trip, I personally preferred the bottlefeeding information in Penelope Leach's book, Your Infant and Child. When Breastfeeding is Not an Option does not provide any information on the safety of various materials in bottlefeeding equipment, such as plasticizers, nor does it examine any specific topics such as the quality of the ingredients in popular formulas (do manufacturers forswear genetically modified ingredients, for example, or what is the prevalence of livestock-fed antibiotic residues in cows milk formulas). I mention this because it is this kind of detailed information that I had hoped to find in a resource billed as a bottlefeeding guide. If that's what you are looking for too, it isn't here. Lastly, the author devotes an entire chapter at the end of her book to a quiz: Breast or Bottle: Which is Best for You? I found this a ridiculous waste of paper in a book entitled When Breastfeeding Is Not an Option - for anyone who would truly need a book with such a title, your decision is already made for you when you find the book, and you are looking to get information to help in your situation. Buy the book if you are healthy, finding breastfeeding impossible, and tired of feeling isolated and invalidated because you don't know anyone else in your situation. This is otherwise not a very useful resource for bottlefeeding information.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a debate
Review: These reviews are not supposed to be a debate on feeding methods, but rather to honestly review the book. It is painfully obvious that many of the so-called reviews of this book were from people who did not even read it, but are just chanting the breastfeeding mantra. And it is precisely these reviews that prove Ms. Robin's point: bottle feeding is looked on as child abuse by some. I read the book, and found it to be well-written. The target audience, those who could not or would not breast feed, will be happy to see that they are not imagining the negative attitudes thrown at them. This book does deliver the reassurances to bottle feeding mothers that the title promises. If you are looking for a breast feeding guide, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a kindred spirit; a loving, bottle feeding mother, then you will enjoy the book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Support Resource
Review: This book has made a huge difference for me. I can't breastfeed due to an infectious disease which will spread to my baby via breastmilk. I just felt so terrible about not being able to breastfeed because I actually believed the propaganda that breastfeeding prevents all sorts of other disorders. I felt I was giving my baby a bad start. Reading this book made me realize that although breastmilk is best when possible, as I've always felt, formula is not the devil's toxic brew that some radical activists make it out to be.
The author clearly states that she is not a health professional. She clearly states that she is just a woman who found herself unable to breastfeed and totally alone and without support as a result. I found this to be true as well.
This book is the counterbalance that women need in this society where the mantra "breast is best" is drilled into our heads and the science is skewed to such a disgusting degree to make non-breastfeeding women feel guilty.
I know women with the same disease as I have who have breastfed because they were so controlled by the media and propanganda surrounding breastfeeding. They felt that breastmilk was the golden elixer and that their child would suffer without it. Now they have very ill children because they caught the disease from their breastmilk. Nice job!
Women need truth and education and free choice... not guilt-tripping and blown up BS research. The radicals have made a big mess and hurt many children in their quest to help them and they don't even see it.
My mother was La Leche League in the 70s and I and my four siblings were all breastfed. I know breastfeeding is the better option if your milk is safe and your baby is able to get enough milk from you, etc. I highly recommend this book to anyone who can't breastfeed or can't manage to breastfeed due to something in their life.
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