Customer Reviews

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Sixth Revised Edition

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This book was expected Dec. 14th, 2011, but arrived Dec. 27th (purchased on Nov.25th). The pages had a big stain on them, but it did not affect anything else besides looks. Other than that, the book was in pretty decent shape (I bought used), and it IS the holiday month - so a delay in shipment should be expected or at bare minimum be forgiven. The supplier was wonderful to deal with & made up for my frustrations in receiving it late.

What a horrible book. I was already nervous about breastfeeding; this book just pissed me off. I really feel for those women who tried to breastfeed and couldn't but this book makes it seem like they didn't try hard enough or just didn't care. And if you want to work or enjoy a weekend away from your breastfeeding child, you are a selfish and uncaring mother. Not to mention if you wanted information about weaning this is not the place to find it. Horrible...would not recommend this book to anyone who has not had the "natural" experience of breastfeeding.
As if new parents don't have enough guilt and worry about the decision they are making for their children.

This is the best book I've read on breastfeeding, also a really good chapter on starting solid foods. The benefits of breastfeeding are explained in detail too.

I thought this book was great.

When reading the negative reviews I was sadden that so many mothers feel that they have something to be guilty about. Maybe there is something to that and why they didn't like the book.

It really helped me see that the way I wanted to raise my daughter was okay and not strange. Being a real mom and everything that goes along with it.

Read the book, check out your local Leche League.

This is a must-have, no-nonsense reference guide for the breastfeeding woman. It was invaluable to me when all the questions arose with my first breastfeeding experience, as well as packed with lots of interesting information that made me understand my body much better.

The only use I got out of this book was as a doorstop. In the case of difficulties it makes it seem like all you need is determination. It preaches the 'evils' of supplementing and tries to be scientific but fails.

Quoting research from the 1920s an 30s does nothing except try to instill the fear of your baby dying. I found much better information and non-judgemental support from my OBs office and my ped.

This book was horrible! It didn't offer any useful advice on common breastfeeding problems like Mastitis .. at least nothing useful.

The Womanly Art has been considered the ultimate guide for the breastfeeding mother since the 1950s. In those days there was little medical research, most data was anecdotal and there were only a few mothers, and very few medical professionals who knew what breastfeeding was really like. The breastfeeding rates in the USA at that point were abysmal (As was infant health,) and LLL and this book changed all that. Breastfeeding rates rose and continue to rise in the USA and Europe, babies became healthier and breastfeeding became the norm, as it should be, this book and LLL are responsible.

If the information in this book wasn't working and hadn't worked, breastfeeding wouldn't be as workable as it is for so many women for more than a generation, and have the record numbers of women now doing what is BEST for themselves and their babies. This book WORKS!

This book is comprehensive. It covers most aspects of breastfeeding, BUT it pulls NO punches. Having a baby is in no way a convenience, and caring for that baby properly is not convenient either. Breastfeeding is not always simple, but this book makes it direct, and gives you the power and knowlege on how to be successful. Some may be offended by this book's frankness, it's dedication to the fact that BABIES are what this is all about (not convenience) and some are threatened by the facts which prove the absoluteness that breastfeeding has no peer in infant feeding and there is simply NO substitute for Human Milk. But this book is honest, it gives the needed answers and it has thousands, if not milllions, of women and babies to vouch for it. The 2004 Edition (soon to be released) has even more medical benefits (including 47 studies on reduction of breast cancer and the most important IQ studies,) as well as even more information for women who choose to return to the workplace and require expressing milk for their babies while they are gone. (Wait for the new book, it is great!)

Parenting is not for the weak, the complaining, or the excuse makers. That goes double for breastfeeding parents. Breastfeeding CAN be done, and this book ELIMINATES the excuses and leaves the reader with ONE choice, that breastfeeding can be done and should be done. Through it's gentle manner, interesting case studies and medical fact, excuses why "I couldn't breastfeed...." are explained, dealt with and then eliminated by this book. That might makes it *difficult* for some to read. But that is the reason why it is the BEST book on the market for parents. You can do this, and the Womanly Art will give you the ability to do so, if you are willing.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." The same can be said for making one feel "Guilty." No one can make an other feel guilty, one can only tell the truth, which is what this book does.

Read this book, and perhaps speak with a local La Leche League leader, and you WILL be able to breastfeed. It may take some courage, but that is what parenting is all about.

I bought this book at my local LLL meeting. I've read several breastfeeding books and this one was by far the least helpful. I found it to be very negative towards moms who want to return to work, yet this is a group who needs a lot of support to continue breastfeeding! It is also not a good problem solving book. I've been nursing my son for nearly five months now and whenever I've hit stumbing blocks along the way, this book has been of no help. I feel that if you don't have the LLL's ideal arrangement, you might not get the best help from this book.

There is some good information in this book, however not enough for its size. The good information it does have is also contained in pretty much all of the other books I've read on this subject, so if you are on a tight budget, you might get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

Books I found more helpful and more supportive include "Nursing Mother Working Mother" by Gale Pryor and "Breastfeeding: A Mother's Gift" by Pamela Wiggins and Katherine Dettwyler.

Now in its seventh revised and updated edition, The Womanly Art Of Breastfeeding is a straightforward and thoroughly dependable 480-page reference filled from cover to cover with everything new mothers need to know about breastfeeding. From coping with obstacles to breast feeding; to the advantages human milk has for babies; to suggested positioning techniques, and so much more, The Womanly Art Of Breastfeeding is an excellent, "user friendly" instructional and reference resource which has been skillfully and knowledgeably compiled by the La Leche League, an organization which has served to educate mothers for more than 50 years.

The title just about says it all ... There are many more useful breastfeeding books out there. This book was much too anecdotal and not actually informative. I don't feel like I know anything more about breastfeeding because I read it.