Customer Reviews

When You're Expecting Twins Triplets Or Quads 3rd Edition: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I didn't like this book at all. Nowhere did this book take a moderate ground, in both exercise and diet. Much of the information was provided in the form of anecdotal evidence from those experiencing difficult pregnancies, (usually made difficult through their own stupidty or otherwise). As a consequence of using these amazing examples of where things went wrong, the authors advocated that expectant mothers behave in the exact opposite way: the only thing an expectant mother of twins could do was sit in bed for 9 months, wrapped in cotton wool and fret about lifting a finger otherwise a premature birth could only be expected. (This indeed was an example of one mother's sure-fire way to give birth to healthy children: the result was that the mother's muscles were so atrophied she was unable to walk after the birth: this is not healthy behaviour, both physically or mentally) Secondly, I do not agree with the dietary advice provided in this book: it condones a high fat diet (40 % of calories derived from fat for example). One justification was that it was to ensure that mothers put on as much weight as possible early on in their pregnancy, (instead of simply eating properly throughout, as recommended by my own doctor) and moreover it appeared that the author didn't really understand the fact that fat cannot be substitued for amino acids (for protein synthesis) or carbohydrates (as an energy source for the brain). I question the author's basic dietary knowledge in this respect. THis book also didn't explain the differences for different types of fats essential for healthy development of the fetuses and lumped all fats in the same category and basically said go for it. I don't recommend this book for those who have a sensible outlook on life. (It might be ok for dills who simply cannot be convinced by their own doctor to moderate their behaviour to accomodate their multiple pregnancy.) I was thoroughly scared by some of the recommendations made in this book until hosed down by my doctor: he told me to burn it, saying that plenty of people had given birth to healthy twins at near full term and sitting in bed eating bacon and eggs all day long was not going to make much difference to whether the twins would be born prematurely or not as long as I behaved sensibly.

While I can understand some of the negative reviews given to this book regarding the nutritional advice offered, I don't think the majority of those reviews are completely warranted. First of all, while the book does suggest that one should not be afraid to eat high fat foods like ice cream, it in no way suggests that one should consist on such a diet alone. The book generally offers recommendations for eating a balanced diet rich in various nutrients and drawn from all of the food groups. The recipes supplied are also helpful and reinforce the fact that the book recommends eating a variety of healthful foods throughout pregnancy. For the women who bawled at being unable to "force feed" themselves based on the rather high caloric intake suggested, that is a shame. I think most people with common sense would taken the advice given in this book as just that: advice. The authors recommend eating two servings of red meat a day - as someone who eats red meat about once a week or less, this is unrealistic for me. However, I didn't discount the entire book because of that; I also don't think that my babies will be born unhealthy just because I don't follow that recommendation. I think the main message of the book is meant to counteract current obsessions with low-fat and low-carb diets, or diets in general. The authors want to hit home that pregnancy, especially pregnancy with multiples, is no time to limit your food intake and avoid all fat. I also take issue with a reviewer who gave the book 1 star and said that the authors make no distinction between good and bad fats and seem to recommend eating all fat, all the time. In the section on the Top 25 Superfoods, they make particular mention of the importance of ingesting omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish and flax seeds for example) and monounsaturated fats ("good" fats). Overall, I think that this book is a great practical resource for expectant parents of multiples and acquaints readers with the unique problems and requirements of a multiple pregnancy.

As an expectant mom of twins, I was delighted to find a book that bases its assertions on scientific inquiry, rather than anecdotal evidence. The book offers much useful data as well as some wonderful figures illustrating fetal development.

At the same time, I was frankly frightened by the conservative approach to carrying twins taken by the book's author. It was only after seeking my own physician's reassurance that I felt comforted NOT to view myself as a near-invalid at 22 weeks.

Prepare yourself to take the advice with a grain of salt, and enjoy what's useful within.

I read this book while pregnant with twins and found it to be so different than the other pregnany books on the market - and so much better. The nutrition section was excellent and I referred to it many times. My friends would laugh about how much weight I was gaining, but I followed her advice closely.

Unfortunately, I found the section on problems with a multiple pregnancy to be lacking some important information. For instance under incompetent cervix Dr. Luke only gives a very short section on this and indicates you may have this if you have bleeding. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that this can occur without bleeding of any kind. So, follow her advice, but do not think for a minute that her information about potential problems with a multiple pregnancy is complete.

I devoured this book within 2 days of finding out we were having twins. It certainly has answered questions my midwives don't or can't. Luke's recommendations for diet and rest are what my body craved anyway. I needed the research basis to justify doing them! Following her guidelines has also significantly lessened my extreme morning sickness (20 weeks and still going), and breathlessness from anemia. Lots of very practical and easy-to-apply information.
As a second-time mom (of a high-risk first singleton pregnancy), I found the emphasis on risk unnecessarily frightening. So overall - it's the best of what's out there, but it ain't perfect.

This book is an excellent resource, covering all the potential complications, medical care, and developmental phases in multiple pregnancies. In particular, the discussion of warning signs of preterm labor is critical, going into far more detail than your doctor likely will have time to. But, the authors tend to draw extreme conclusions from the worst case scenarios and apply them to all multiple pregnancies. This tendency is not helped by the fact that one of the authors, through a combination of bad luck and poor judgment, had a nightmarish twin pregnancy, which is related in excruciating detail. As a result, the book has an alarmist, "do what I say or else" tone.

Many other reviewers have focused on the nutritional advice given in this book. While peoples' experiences may vary, I found the recommended diet to be excessively high in calories and unnecessary to achieve sufficient weight gain. Eating the recommended seven times a day made me feel ill. I felt much better when my doctor told me to cut back, and I still managed to gain lots of weight. What is especially ironic is that the authors bash lots of doctors for giving dietary advice contrary to patients' common sense understanding of what their bodies require. And yet the book is filled with anecdotes of patients reluctantly forcing down extra food in order to comply with this diet. Apparently, common sense is only supposed to apply when it comes to someone else's advice.

I also thought the book understated the importance of moderate exercise. Even on bed rest, there are exercises you can do that will improve your mental and physical health. While the book advises against strenuous exercise, it doesn't have more than a cursory discussion of what kind of exercise you should be doing.

In my opinion, the best advice this book offers is to consult a maternal-fetal specialist. This will ensure you get the close monitoring your multiple pregnancy requires. That monitoring is likely to be the most important factor in a successful outcome.

In short, read this book for a better understanding of the potential complications of multiple pregnancies and what medical care might be required if you should develop them. For day-to-day management of your pregnancy, rely on your doctor and your own common sense.

While Barbara Luke's book provides a good deal of valuable information on twin & supertwin (triplets, quads, etc) pregnancy, I have to agree with a previous reviewer that the dietary instructions can be at best, excessive, and at worst, irresponsible.

While excepting those who are vegetarians for religious reasons, all other vegetarians are told, in so many words, to get over it & start eating meat, especially red meat, several times a day.

It's amazing to me that a vegetarian diet is still subject to such vilification, and that a woman who reports that she often followed two McDonald's Sausage Biscuits for breakfast with a Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese entree as a mid-morning snack, is held up as an example of good nutrition.

For the record:

One McDonald's Sausage biscuit has 410 calories, 28 grams of fat (8 grams saturated), and 930 mg of sodium. A suggested one-cup serving (225 grams) of Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese will sock you with 340 calories, 18 grams of fat (8 grams saturated), 30 milligrams of cholesterol and 980 milligrams of sodium... nevermind that Luke would have you consume two biscuits, and chase it with the entire two-serving mac & cheese entree.

The chapters on breastfeeding and postnatal care is informative, so I will keep this book -- taking the nutrition advice with a grain of salt (no pun intended)...

I wrote a review of this book back in January of 2001. At the time, there were only a few of us who had read and reviewed it. In reading over the subsequent reviews written after this date, I found most people were pleased with the information and advice Dr. Luke provides. For the most part, I was too. However, there were a few readers who, like me, critiqued the book for its slightly alarmist slant and unreasonable dietary recommendations. Now that my fraternal twin boys are 15 months old, I wanted to follow up on my review and offer a retrospective critique.

I still rate the book with three stars for the same reasons I gave in my previous review. As a vegetarian, one of the real drawbacks of the book was lack of any advice (other than one paragraph exhorting the expectant mother to switch to a red meat based diet on page 68)on a vegetarian pregnancy. Also the sheer volume of food recommended was unmanageable for me. (I broke down and cried thinking that I had been doing everything wrong!)I also do not think the approval of burgers, fries, ice cream, and other junk food to maintain caloric intake, if even if just on occassion, is sound advice. Based on most of the reviews, I realize I'm in the minority in my views, but for those of you coming away from this book feeling more anxious than comforted, take heart! I remained vegetarian throughout my pregnancy (I did eat dairy and eggs) and ate when my body told me it needed food. I did drink lots of water. Pre-term labor, my biggest fear, never came true. I got to 39 weeks and my twins were 7.2 and 8.5! Even I was astonished. Was I merely lucky? My doctor didn't think so. What was more, within two months after giving birth, I was within five pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight since I hadn't consumed any empty or unnecessary calories. (I gained about 50 pounds total). I would again emphasize that there is a lot of good advice in this book, BUT read other things AND listen to your doctor. If you are a slightly more anxious expectant mother (I was!), one of the best things you can also do is join a Mothers of Multiples club in your area (you can join even before giving birth) and talk to some real Mommies who can give you a variety of perspectives, otherwise it is so easy to feel overwhelmed and at times overly worried.

This book has some good information, but also some very questionable advice. For example, the author supports eating fast food (burgers, fries and breakfast biscuits) to achieve required caloric intake. I don't agree with this--fast food is full of empty calories with low nutritional value. My experience is that growing healthy babies requires eating a well balanced diet that includes whole milk dairy products, whole grains, meats, fruits and vegetables (preferably organic).

I read other books about being pregnant with multiples prior to this book. I was fairly confident in everything I was doing until I read this book. It really disturbed me! I felt like I wasn't eating enough and my babies would be sickly, emaciated little things. How far from the truth! In every ultrasound they have measured bigger than their actual age and all body parts and organs are healthy.
The book does have a lot of good information in chapters 7 - 10. I would not put all of your eggs in one basket with this book. Buy another for some variety and your own sanity.