[.ca] Womanly Art Of Breastfeeding (ISBN 0452285801)

A Must Read for All Moms-to-Be:
I had a much older edition of this book when I was pregnant with my first child almost 10 years ago and I read it and countless other pregnancy, breastfeeding and parenting books. I passed along the older version to a pregnant friend after the birth of my youngest in 2002; I thought I knew all I needed to know after successfully breastfeeding my first and continuing to breastfeed my youngest. Some recent problems led me to borrow the new 7th Revised Edition from a LLL meeting and I wish I had a newer edition before my second son was born. I learned so much about recent scientific discoveries about breastfeeding and the healthful properties of human milk. I could have avoided alot of heartbreak and anxiety in the hospital if I'd known all this and read it prior to his birth. The hospital was not very friendly to breastfeeding and if I had not already had the positive experience with my first son, I probably would have let them convince me of the need for bottles. As it was, we had a very difficult time in the first few weeks, which could have been avoided with the knowledge and information contained in this book. I urge you to read it, especially if you are considering nursing. And even if you plan to feed your baby formula, it may change your mind! And bring it with you to the hospital to use as a resource and to back up your requests to nurses to NOT give your baby sugar water, formula or a pacifier. The scientific information and references provided should give you all the support you need.

A decent overview of breastfeeding, but lacking detail:
I was unsuccessful breastfeeding my first two children. Now that I am pregnant with my third, I decided to take this book out from the library to learn more about how I could do better this time. I found that The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding was a pretty good overview of breastfeeding, but it was a more simplified book than I was looking for. I wanted more concrete information than the book could offer. For example,I wanted to learn about specific herbs and foods that can help to increase the milk supply. The back of the book mentions it contains information on "how to increase your milk supply by using herbs and medications." But, the book does not say anything specific about which herbs you might take--it only vaguely mentions once or twice that it's possible to increase your milk supply by taking herbs. And on another page it mentions drinking herbal tea instead of coffee to reduce caffeine. That's it! Most of the book just covers basic techniques, common sense (stuff like "make sure you get enough rest and drink enough fluids") and lots of quotes from breastfeedings moms, most of whom were simply talking about how much they enjoyed breastfeeding. And a lot of the book also details the benefits of breastfeeding for mom and baby--information which is pretty common knowledge and which I didn't need to read about over and over again. So although I read this entire book, I don't feel that I really learned anything useful, which was a surprise because it is quite a thick book. But the text is large, and as I previously stated a lot of the information is just common sense sort of stuff. I was also annoyed by the number of times La Leche League promoted their own books within this one. At times it seemed like the entire book was an advertisement for other books, and for the products they endorse. On just about every other page the authors would say "If you want to learn more about this, read our other book, XYZ." This book may be useful for someone with no prior knowledge of breastfeeding who has no idea where to begin, but honestly I wasn't very impressed with it and I'm very glad I didn't spend my money on it. I'm sure there must be more detailed and less commercialized guides out there.