Highly recommend breastfeeding/baby books.........please share

[Dozeyland]

The Food Of Love - Kate Evans

Saggy Boobs and Other Breastfeeding Myths - Valerie Finigan

the womanly art of breastfeeding - la leche league.

unrecommending Clare Byam Cook's 'how to breastfeed...and what to do if you can't'

awful, negative misleading and annoying. my MIL turned up with a copy that she'd borrowed for me and i read it out of curiosity. avoid!

'the politics of breastfeeding' was very interesting.

The Politics of Breastfeeding
Gabrielle Palmer

A lifechanging read and a reminder of the power of a woman and her body.

Here

Thirding The Politics of Breastfeeding.

Food of Love for pratical advice and Politics of Bf for all round amazing inspiration. Just about to read it for the third time- have lent it to everyone, it really is that good!

Dl, how come you are starting all these threads?

Loved Food of Love for it's practical help and advice, was also very funny.

Politics of breastfeeding, I've read it over and over again.

Out of interest, how come?

Sorry to disagree with jaggythistle but I'm recommending Clare Byam-Cook's book, which is actually called "What to Expect When You're Breastfeeding... And What If You Can't?"

I found that it had really good, practical advice which helped me to keep some meagre supply (due to hypoplasia, not lack of knowledge/support/trying hard enough/caring enough) going and to combo feed to 6 months.

I deeply appreciated Cook's assertion that genuinely insurmountable supply issues, while still rare, are not "extremely rare" as many bf advocates claim. Reading that book helped me to come to terms with my physiological limitations as a mother and to feel significantly less like a freak and a failure during a very emotional time.

The Food of Love is excellent for practical advice as lots of people have already said. The Politics of Breastfeeding is indeed a fantastic read and really opened my eyes to a lot of things I was completely unaware of, despite nearly 2 years breastfeeding my first child.

I haven't come across Clare Byram-Cook's book, so can't comment on that.

Saggy boobs and other bf myths is a lovely little coffee table book, I thought about donating a copy to my gp's waiting room as it's quick to read or dip into but covers some key issues. Not so much for the serious breastfeeder but doubtful mils or dads with short attention spans. Ante natal groups should have copies too.

Not so much bf related but good baby book if you have a crier/colicky baby - Harvey Karp's the Happiest Baby. Lots of interesting facts and theories, found it very helpful and informative. Plus the 5 S's have transformed my DD's sleeping - at 9 weeks is now going 9 till 7 at night.
Great thread to start Dozey, there are so many useless yet expensive books out there!

www.amazon.co.uk/Things-Now-That-Youre-Mum/dp/1846012643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293706774&sr=8-1

this is a lovely book too

Not bf related, but "What every parent needs to know" Margot Sunderland, (also published as "The Science of Parentint" I think). Great for the science behind childcare and how parenting effects the brain. Politics of breastfeeding is brilliant too, yes.

ach well cloudydays, we'll have to agree to disagree.

i guess you have come across people who think that anyone can bf if they try hard enough, that doesn't include me.

i felt that for your average person with no medical issues, it could make you think you have supply problems where you don't and dent your confidence in feeding on cue for example. also getting people to feed a bottle to the baby then 'empty' the breasts to see what they are getting is just misleading as not everyone can express that much even if baby is getting plenty.

glad you found it helpful for your situation, it just went against a lot of stuff i have learned here and on Kellymom.

Fair enough jaggy , I can see where the info in that book is contradictory to a lot of what I've read elsewhere as well. I did a lot of reading as I had high hopes of ebf but sadly it wasn't to be. I found Kellymom quite helpful as well, but that "...what if you can't?" aspect of Cook's book was a godsend, just because it acknowledged explicitly that sometimes "can't" really does mean "can't".

Thanks for taking the time to clarify that you're not among the "If I can, anyone can" chorus that can really make moms like me feel so rotten and defensive.

I agree that reading "it is quite possible that you have real supply problems" could be a disaster if you don't, and are struggling with perfectly normal and surmountable issues like growth spurts or nursing strikes. Equally, reading "Often, mothers think that their milk supply is low when it really isn't" can be a disaster when you desperately want to believe that your baby really must be getting enough at the breast, and are grasping at straws even as the weight drops off and the diapers dry up :(

Anyway, I don't want to derail this very useful thread! Thanks again Jaggy for replying back, and I didn't mean to be argumentative re: your un-recommendation. I just wouldn't want someone to miss out on that book if they could benefit from it as I did.

Clare Byam Cook made some really unfounded comments when called to discuss the book Breastfeeding Older Children on TV. There was a long thread of enraged viewers under the video as she presented her opinions as facts.

She hasn't practised for years, I'm told.

I'd recommend NCT books and La Leche League. La Leche League international has a great website with lots of topics, so has Kellymom. The NCT has a page on bottlefeeding too on their site, and they mention formula as alternative.

There is also a book called bestfeeding, which is about all types of feeding.

The breastfeeding book from Practical Parenting is quite good and inexpensive.

Just to clarify, Clare hasn't been practising as a midwife for years... She works in private practice.

Clare is a qualified nurse and midwife, who retired from midwifery after the birth of her second child in 1985. Since that time she has worked in private practice in London seeing mothers with feeding problems

The Politics of Breastfeeding
Gabrielle Palmer

The Politics of Breastfeeding
Dream Babies puts the whole baby care thing into perspective with 300 years of childcare history
So That's What They Are For is also quite good
Jack Newman's Breastfeeding Answer Book

CBC's book has its uses. Mainly as a door stop.

I love "The Food of Love" by Kate Evans and "The Politics of Bfing" by Gabrielle Palmer.