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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Recommend me a book please.

21 replies

JiltedJohnsJulie · 11/12/2011 11:10

DGodD is pregnant, she will be about 4 months as Christmas and I want to buy her a book. We come from a family where most ff, so want to give her some gentle encouragement regarding bfing.

Give me your recommendations please .

Oh and for those that don't know me, I like my books evidence based and written by someone who has at least had a baby and I won't be buying any books from this list .

OP posts:

organiccarrotcake · 11/12/2011 11:57

I adore "The Food of Love" It's comprehensive, detailed yet beautifully accessible and readable. It covers breastfeeding and baby care. It's attachment-parenty styled, but with a realistic overtone. For instance, it discussed the beauty and wonderfulness of bed sharing (and details on how to do it safely) which is then followed by a brilliant couple of pages about why bed sharing can be absolutely horrible! So, it's giving both sides and lots of info to help parents to make their own choice - but introducing gentle parenting techniques to those who may not have come across them in a reasonable, not crunchy or holier-than-thou kind of way.

organiccarrotcake · 11/12/2011 12:00

Another one is "Saggy Boobs and other Breastfeeding Myths". It's a short, coffee-table book (all of which is covered in Food of Love) but may be a nice addition to help her to share with her family, if they're all FFers. It's a good one to grab when someone comes up with a classic "breastfeeding bingo" comment.

Both of these are worth the money.

lou4791 · 11/12/2011 12:05

Another vote for 'The Food of Love'.

Original poster

JiltedJohnsJulie · 11/12/2011 13:14

Thanks very much for your suggestions organic and lou. Sort of fell into bfing with my DC and have never really read on books on it .

The fact that Food of Love contains information on babycare too does sound good.

Will wander off to amazon while I wait for more suggestions .

OP posts:

QueenOfFlamingEverything · 11/12/2011 13:16

Food Of Love without a doubt

emilyarm · 11/12/2011 13:30

Food of Love is great.

hohohEauRouge · 11/12/2011 14:03

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is my favourite, really comprehensive but written in a conversational kind of way and it's easy to read in chunks so you don't need loads of spare time to get into it.

Original poster

JiltedJohnsJulie · 11/12/2011 20:17

All these are fab and thank you so much everyone for posting.

Can you think of any books where the main topic isn't bfing that I could give her but fits in with this style of parenting. As I'm the only one who's bf both of my children in a very large family, I'm often seen as the lentil weaving weirdo .

If I gave her the Food of Love it would be great and she'd probably love it but don't think it would do my reputation on good!

OP posts:

mrsalwaysawake · 11/12/2011 21:15

Wow, I didn't realise the baby whisperer was controversial!
I BF on demand (DS now 4.5 months), but was going a bit loopy in the early days when I couldn't tell if he wanted food or sleep or what, and the baby whisperer helped us to get into a vague routine and have a go at recognising the different cries/demands. I did ignore the bits I didn't like, and I guess we know each other a lot better now, but it was very helpful.

QueenOfFlamingEverything · 11/12/2011 21:31

There's always My Mother Wears Combat Boots which doesn't have BF as the main subject, but I suspect it'd be even worse for your reputation (it is a fab book though)

lilham · 11/12/2011 21:59

mrsalwaysasleep I found the baby whisperer useless because it tells you to ignore reading your baby's sign if she isn't EASY. I worried about the activity bit so much in the early days. DD was a sleep eat sleep eat baby. She didn't do anything until maybe 2mo. And once she's started to be aware of things, she's feeding on both waking from nap and feeding to sleep.

mrsalwaysawake · 11/12/2011 22:08

Does it? Like I said, I ignored the bits I didn't like, and haven't touched it for over a month. Maybe I'm lucky that it kind of suited us.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 11/12/2011 22:15

Dr Sears from birth to two book is a great childcare manual with a bit on breastfeeding.

Original poster

JiltedJohnsJulie · 12/12/2011 12:34

Thanks MrsSalway but like I said will be going for a book that was at least written by someone who has had children . Think that you were lucky, lots of new Mums don't seem to have your confidence to ignore the bits that don't suit and feel that her routines have to be followed to the letter. The bits on bfing aren't exactly evidence based either!

That Dr Sears book looks good, thanks ItsAll.

What does everyone think of this one, then maybe get the Dr Sears one or The Food of Love for her birthday early next year?

OP posts:

Firsttimer1007 · 12/12/2011 12:49

What to expect when you're breastfeeding, and what if you can't, by Claire byam cook is quite good

crikeybadger · 12/12/2011 13:06

I like Food of Love, WAOB, and Ina May Gaskin's book of breastfeeding is good too. I also found Janet Balaska's Active Birth book invaluable for birth (it has a small bfing section).

CBC is not very well thought of around here - that said, I haven't read the book, I'm just going on some of her comments about breastfeeding.

You could also pass on some links too JJJ- kellymom and dr jack newman might be a good place to start?

hohohEauRouge · 12/12/2011 13:31

How about 'What Mothers Do', that's a nice one for first time mothers.

DazedDazzledandConfused · 12/12/2011 15:58

The food of love. It's such an easy read.

hazchem · 12/12/2011 18:07

i second What mothers do.

I'm reading it now and am just loving it. It's a great confidence booster. I've borrowed it but am thinking i might need my own copy.

Original poster

JiltedJohnsJulie · 12/12/2011 19:43

Firsttimer think I will be avoiding CBC and telling DGD to avoid her too. Like crikey I haven't read the books but was told recently by a friend who had just had her baby that the advice on engorgement was to "not feed baby or express to teach the breasts that the milk isn't required, even if this means getting masititis". Was very , sent the Mum some links to Kellymom and engorgement when I got home and she phoned me to say that she had put the CBC book in the bin.

OP posts:

smilingcl · 12/12/2011 19:53

I've just given up reading the baby whisperer, she writes for an American audience and comes up with all sorts of useless poop about british people in general and caring for babies. I read Contented Baby and thought it made scientific sense but none of it works on my lo! My favourite book by far has been Your Baby week by week. It's brilliant for me as it offers short balanced guidance of the sort of things you can expect each week and ideas to address common issues. You can read it cover to cover, or use it as a quick reference. Or both. I'd buy her that and then recommend mumsnet and babycentre.co.uk on the inside cover! Both of which have been between invaluable for me in the early weeks of parenthood. Between those 3 sources I've found answer to everything.

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