[.ca] Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense (ISBN 0923521518)

From Amazon.com:
Confused about feeding your baby or toddler? Child of Mine, by noted nutritionist Ellyn Satter, is an essential guide for every new parent concerned with nutrition and appetite. Satter's advice is thorough and straightforward: "You can't control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn't try. You also can't control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn't try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her." Child of Mine provides information on all aspects of feeding, from pregnancy through the toddler years. Satter begins with historical and social perspectives on infant feeding, describing how formula was developed and discussing the social movement that lead to accepting a child's input into his or her own development. Nutrition during pregnancy, infant feeding, introducing solid foods, building positive eating relationships, and avoiding eating disorders are all discussed. The sections on breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, and on the regulation of food intake (particularly the relationship between parental attitudes and children's eating habits) are especially recommended. Satter provides specific nutritional information (including charts, diagrams, and nutritional breakdowns) interspersed with a no-nonsense, experienced perspective that will help you establish good eating habits that your children will benefit from long after they're out of diapers. --Ericka Lutz

relax about your child's eating:
This book has been very helpful for my family. It has allowed us to be relaxed about our children's eating. It has good information about how to approach food from early on. It is almost a book about the philosophy of eating and feeding children.

Superfluous for gentle parents:
The main message of this book is that parents should not try to control and stress over their children's feeding practices. Babies (and toddlers) are pretty well regulated and know what and how much to eat. The parent's job is simply to provide a variety of healthy and nutritious foods and ensure a pleasant mealtime atmosphere. The rest is up to the child. I wholeheartedly agree with this premise--parents should not try to hoax babies into eating or to restrict a chubby toddler's diet. I think that most of the other nutritional advice in the book is valid as well--that we should not attempt to mold out children's bodies into a media-dictated "perfect" form, that eating meat and drinking whole milk is essential, and that the occasional piece of candy is not the end of the world. The reason I felt compelled to write this review is that to a lot of attachment parents this is superfluous information. They already know they should work with, rather than control their children. The division of responsibilities comes naturally to them. And, even though the book offers a very gentle, very child-let approach to feeding, it is far less understanding in other aspects of child rearing. For example, it highly recommends the Ferber technique of sleep training--reading through these pages might be painful for gentler parents. In short--the book offers valid information on feeding, but this information is superfluous to people who already practice an instinctive and gentle parenting.

Satter's Other Books are a Better Buy:
I bought this book after reading "How to Get Your Kid to Eat . .. But Not Too Much" and found this book to be redundant. The book itself is good, but if you read Satter's other books, you don't need this one. In addition, I found "How to Get Your Kid to Eat" to be more concise with basically the same information. Busy parents can get the same help with feeding their children in a much shorter book. This book focuses heavily on infant feeding, both breast and bottle, as well as starting solids. As a breastfeeding mom, I found the chapter on breastfeeding to be average. You're better off with a good breastfeeding book, as you'll need one anyway. The bottlefeeding information presented is very important, as it is tempting to try and control your child's eating when you use a bottle. This book helps you avoid that. There aren't many books on bottlefeeding. Again, though, the important facts about sharing control with your child while bottlefeeding are in her other books. I highly recommend Ellyn Satter, especially to parents with eating issues that they don't want to pass on to their children. One of her two other books is a better, more comprehensive read, though.

Correction on the Breastfeeding Moms Should Know Review:
This is a correction to what the person wrote in the review titled "Breastfeeding Moms Should Know". The reviewer claims that the author was exerting her recommendation of when to stop breastfeeding and thus a 2 star review. The reviewer is misguided on what weaning means. Weaning is the process of changing from one diet to another. In this case, this applies to "changing" from EXCLUSIVE breastfeeding/formula to adding complementary foods while continuing to use breastmilk/formula. If you read closely in the book, she talks about weaning from either formula and breastmilk. She does not mention stopping breastmilk completely. The key word is "wean" not "stop"-they are not the same. The reason why weaning is introduced in the chapters for 6 months to 12 months is because weaning from exclusive breastmilk or formula is typically done when complementary solid foods are introduced. Furthermore to clarify the recommendations given by the previous reviewer, the AAP and WHO both recommend exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months of age. In addition, WHO recommends use of breastmilk for up to 2 years of age while complementary foods are provided.

Check it out:
This book is a very good reference for maintaining child care, health care, and proper feeding. The advice on breastfeeding is practical and down-to-earth, unlike other books that insist on rigid meal plans and servings per day which are just not realistic in case of toddlers. The author emphasizes the loving relationship between a parent and a child, and discourages letting food become a battleground. This is the only child rearing book I keep reordering because I've given my copy to so many people. Another great book about healthy lifestyle is "Can We Live 150?" Check it out for yourself.