Feed Yourself, Feed Your Family, by La Leche League International

Feed Yourself Feed Your Family is an attractive La Leche League book packed with information and useful tips. The chapters are ordered chronologically, covering pregnancy, new parenthood/breastfeeding, starting solids, and feeding a family. Each chapter includes a selection of recipes considered appropriate for that particular chapter of your life.

I was concerned that a chapter on eating for breastfeeding would fall into the trap of implying that breastfeeding is demanding if you don’t eat special food, but in fact the book explicitly states that this is not the case (however it does mention the need for 350 extra calories, which is not supported by evidence). This section is brimming with suggestions for food you can eat with one hand, and food you can get other people to cook for you. I especially liked the comment that “you are passing on your culture through your milk,” (p68) and have quoted that in antenatal classes and see the parents nodding.

The book has a slightly american tone, although it’s clear that much of it has been ‘translated’ into British English. Some of the food standards given are american, though this doesn’t detract from the clear, factual approach. My biggest concern with the book was the amount of salt added to almost every recipe, some of which included salt in the cooking, again before tasting, and then a garnish of bacon. The Starting Solids section could have had more emphasis on baby-led weaning, good finger foods, and how to work family meals that baby can eat too.

LLL have created a family recipe book that is just that bit more. From sound advice on nutrition during pregnancy and whilst nursing, to how to handle a toddler's fussy eating habits.

This is a gentle and non-preachy book; it gives simple scientific reasoning within it's 5 topics and makes the mouth water with recipes such Roasted Prawns with Baby Plum Tomatoes and Courgette. Post-birth recipes are predominantly quick, easy and freezable. There is even advice on the best one-handed food to eat, although it comes with no guarantees that you won't still drop crumbs/sauce on your nursing baby's head. Then as your children grow, there are ideas for fun food to make and eat with them - UFO's are a favourite in this house.

LLL have once again created a book that doesn't glamorise, preach or view parenthood through rose-tinted spectacles. It is honest ("If you're like most post-partum mothers, we'll assume you're still feeling a little tender here and there, but it gets better and it gets easier"), it normalises (breastfeeding, lack of sleep), it comforts and it calls to most people's obsession with what they'd like to eat for dinner.

My only criticism is that it a little difficult to navigate. Tabs within the sections, or coloured corners, would have made it easier to flick to recipes without having to resort to the index.

The book is divided into five sections of about 50 pages each: pregnancy, the first few months post-partum, the new normality between 6 weeks and 6 months, starting solids, and family life with a toddler. It is a La Leche League book, which means it obviously takes into consideration the nutritional requirements of breastfeeding mothers, and is pro-breastfeeding throughout. Its premise seems to be that by breastfeeding your child you are giving them the best possible start in life, so once they start solids it makes sense to continue this by providing healthy meals and snacks, and demonstrating a healthy attitude towards food.

The book is very pretty: lots of pink and bright colours with many full-page photos of delicious-looking food and healthy happy families of various ethnicities. While the book might seem like an indulgent glossy-paged tome which only first-time mothers can find enough time to read, it does not forget the challenges of returning to work by including helpful tips on how to manage pumping and sorting out your lunch at the same time.

The chapters are full of common-sense reminders: rather than presenting parents with fixed guidelines regarding their child