A good book about breastfeeding?

[LuckyC]

Can anyone recommend a good, factual book about breastfeeding for a first-timer? I am looking for good info on eg how to express, how to store breastmilk.

Thanks.

NCY Bf for beginners
NCT Book of Bf

Former is easier to manage in the early days, latter is more comprehensive.

You can also check out this American site which contains evidence based information on breastfeeding (and is free)

Hence the mention of Kellymom

Also, if you have time, a Bumps and Babes group is good (I know some people abhor the idea of mummy coffee klatsches) but actually seeing people breastfeeding is worth a million words. Some groups will have a trained bf supporter (altho the term is a bit elastic so worth checking out what qualifications they have and who trained them).

I also really liked "so that's what they're for"

the food of love by kate evans is a great book for a 1st timer.
it's funny, nicely illustrated, and answers almost all basic questions concisely, plus it stays open where you leave it - all good feature when you've got a newborn to wrestle with! I just lent a copy to my health visitor, and she's raving about it now

any more complex issues, kellymom is a wonderful resource, as is this forum!

I quite liked NCT BF for beginners.

Good pictures.

I think Kellymom, and asking for help here are probably better than books - which are often out of date, and sometimes have a bias towards what the author thinks is correct, rather than what is.

If you will need to express for work, then workandpump.com/ is great - it really normalised it for me when I didn't know anyone in rl who did it.

I really liked www.kellymom.com when I was having a few troubles. It seemed to know everything!

Thanks very much everybody for advice. Will be reading both books and will check out Kellymom now. Am last in my NCT group to give birth and so gfar everyone has battled to bf, so my eyes are firmly open.

Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding is fantastic. In some ways it is written for a US audience (with regard to breastfeeding and work) but I think it is such a great guide to how your body and breastfeeding works. I highly recommend it!

food of love by kate evans is very good as arolf mentions.
Not sure how much she goes into expressing though but for bf basics I think it's fantastic!
(I'm not her, in fact I think she came on a couple of yearsago and I was rude to her )

I second the posters who recommend getting help from people! Mumsnet, a supportive BF group, BF peer supporters and counsellors are all brilliant for quickly working out what's normal and what's not. Other BFing mums will also help to keep your motivation up, which is important since many of us have to put up with lots of cynicism and bad advice from friends, family, health visitors etc.

Also, I don't want to second-guess your reasons for wanting to know about expressing, but you should be aware that expressing in the early days can cause all sorts of problems if it's not a medical necessity. BF counsellors usually recommend steering clear of expressing until your supply is well established - at least 6 weeks if not later.

Good luck - it sounds like you are determined to succeed and that's half the battle!

Best feeding, adn the womanly art of breastfeeding have been 2 good books I read. Espec the first, as there are loads fo pics, and real casestudies. Sorry,m not sure author of bestfeeding, but other is la leche league

I have the 'Womanly art of Breastfeeding' by La Leche league. Found it really useful for both my DS's.
Learnt a lot from mumsnet, kellymom too. Went to a local BF cafe with my first DS and found that really useful too for hands on advice.

Another vote for the "Food of Love"