Is there any popular yet useful breasteeding books in normal shops ?

[BabiesEverywhere]

I went to Tesco today and whilst there flipped though the breastfeeding books to see what is readily on offer to Jo public.

1. Gina Ford book which I know is anti-demand feeding and expressing in a very tight timetable and that is not helpful to many breastfeeding mothers milk supply.

1. Baby Whisper who I have heard here is not very breastfeeding friendly, though I haven't read it.

1. Clare Byam-Cook Book which I did flip though. From the few lines I read, I understand that Clare thinks 'babies which fall asleep on the breast never get enough milk', 'feeds to be 3/4 hourly only on a schedule', 'babies have to have a bottle by 3 weeks or terrible things will happen'

What a shame that there wasn't a popular AND knowledgable book on breastfeeding. I know there are many good books around, but Jo Public will not have access to them.

I wonder if the situation is the same at Mothercare, Asda etc

No. I said to VVV the other day that I have looked in Waterstones, Borders and WH Smith and there are usually no bf books.

It'll be covered in a small section in other, more general books, but that's not very helpful, imo or ime - I didn't want to hold open a much thicker bible-type book to read the small (actually not very helpful) bit on bf.

Byam-Cook is an advisor to GF. Say no more, say no more

Mumsnet should do one, eh? [hint]

Maybe a topic for your blog Hunker...decent breastfeeding books to buy for your friends and which ones to avoid.

I was wondering if writing to a few places asking them to stock a particular book might help ? And if I did which book I should ask for ?

I heard Bestfeeding is meant to be good, it is on my books to read list.

Yep, Bestfeeding is a good one. I will start that thread on the blog - thank you.

I volunteer Hunker and Tiktok to write a breasteeding support book, Mumnet to print it and all us mums to sneak it onto shelves all over the UK...what do you think

i'd buy that one babieseverywhere!

i bought the dr sears one from ebay don't know if it is meant to be good or not? (haven't read it yet oops)

I liked Bestfeeding
have flicked through 'The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding' at babycafe too, and while mildly cringeworthy it at least seemed accurate. Is that the LLL one? [can't remember]

I like your ideas, ladies!

MrsB, yes, that's the LLL one. I used that A Lot when DS1 was born. Not sure it answered my questions, but I wanted to immerse myself in the words of "other people who breastfed" because I didn't know anybody near me in RL who did when he was first born.

oh pleeeeeeeeeeease tiktok and hunker - you really, really should!

until the mumsnet book is published, the la leche book, the womanly art of breastfeeding, is marvellous and i read it all in one long, lonely night in the labour ward waiting room!

Bestfeeding's good too. I've just leafed through my copy. I think I borrowed the LLL one from the library, so don't have it to hand to compare. It was comforting to me in the early days though, definitely.

the womanly art of breastfeeding is supposed to be good.

Oh, how apt. Mumsnet is publishing 6 new books, 4 titles have been decided upon and two be confirmed...wouldn't a breastfeeding book be a fab addition to the list ?

Thread here

Sorry to hijack this thread but just wondered if people could give me their opinion on my DS 10 days old. He is BF exclusively and seems to be regaining his birth weight (he was 9lbs 12 oz at birth) after one sleepless night when we got back from hospital he now sleeps for about 4-5 hours at night before waking for a feed. He feeds nearly every hour during the day but seems happy to let us sleep at night. Midwife coming today to weigh him again but jus wondered what everyone thought- am I just being paranoid everyone in my family keeps telling me Im very lucky that he's sleeping but I just wanted to make sure he's getting fed enough?
Thanks Sas

I loooovvvee "Breast is Best" by Dr Penelope Stanway. It covers everything and she offers heaps and heaps of different suggestions for various problems such as mastitis, cracked nipples etc. (kind of like Mumsnet in that way). I found it in an, admittedly very good, independent bookship.

Sassie23, congratulations and by sounds of it lucky you - enjoy your sleep, if baby is feeding very regularly during the day I don't think 4-5 hours is too long during the night, but probably by the time I've typed this someone with more knowledge than me will advise!

sassie23, No problem about hijacking this thread. However you'll get a ot more responses if you start your own thread...just click the 'Add New Thread' link at the top of the page.

I am just a mum, but from my point of view, if the baby is :-

: Healthy (not jaudiced or anything)
: Doing plenty of wet/dirty nappies
: Alert when awake

In that case I would be more than happy to let baby sleep 4/5 hours at night.

Is there anything you are particular worried about ?

I've read several, and the best for early days issues IMO is by far and away Bestfeeding, rarely seen in bookshops but always available from Amazon, LLL and NCT online.

Breast is Best very comprehensive, but I think suffers from the fact that it has no illustrations.

LLL I know many people rate but not my favourite.

Clare B-C : Personally I don't think that her "my way or the highway" tone is particularly helpful and the ".....what if you can't" in the title makes my skin crawl. It's the only one I routinely see for sale in Mothercare/Waterstones though so maybe I'm in a minority..

The trouble with Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is that it is not just about bf (although it is undeniably good on that), it is trying to push attachment parenting in general. I don't see why a breastfeeding book has to have a section on discipline fgs! (Have I remembered that right? I gave my copy away after dd was born.)

What a Mumsnet book would do well would be to deal with all the social/emotional things around bf in a way that shows that everyone's experience is different and just because you bf doesn't mean you have to be a particular type of person. It could be so funny - could have stuff on the 'AIBU not to want to bf in front of pervy FIL?' type questions, or 'Top retort when someone commented on you bf in public', or 'What's the weirdest place you have ever bf?'

I was reading the reviews on Amazon for 'Womanly Art of Breastfeeding', seems to have a very mix bag of reviews. I would love to read a copy if someone has one to hand, but I don't want to buy it.

I am reading Bestfeeding and I like it so far, I like the recap section at the very back (I always flip though non story books before I start to read )