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The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Completely Revised and Updated 8th Edition by [LA LECHE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL, Diane Wiessinger, Diana West, Teresa Pitman]

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Diane Wiessinger

Diana West

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Completely Revised and Updated 8th Edition Kindle Edition

by LA LECHE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL (Author), Diane Wiessinger (Author), Diana West (Author), Format: Kindle Edition

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The long-awaited revised edition!

It’s no secret that breastfeeding is the normal, healthy way to nourish and nurture your baby. Dedicated to supporting nursing and expectant mothers, the internationally respected La Leche League has set the standard for educating and empowering mothers in this natural art for generations. Now their classic bestselling guide has been retooled, refocused, and updated for today’s mothers and lifestyles. Working mothers, stay-at-home moms, single moms, and mothers of multiples will all benefit from the book’s range of nursing advice, stories, and information—from preparing for breastfeeding during pregnancy to feeding cues, from nursing positions to expressing and storing breast milk. With all-new photos and illustrations, this ultimate support bible offers

• real-mom wisdom on breastfeeding comfortably—from avoiding sore nipples to simply enjoying the amazing bonding experience
• new insights into old approaches toward latching and attaching, ages and stages, and answers to the most-asked questions
• strategies for moms who choose to breastfeed for a short time or who plan to nurse for a year or more
• reassuring information on nursing after a C-section or delivery complications
• recent scientific data that highlight the many lifelong health benefits of breastfeeding
• helpful tips for building your support network—at home or when back at work
• nursing special-needs infants, premies, multiples, and how to thrive no matter what curveball life throws
• guidance on breast health issues, weight gain, day care, colic, postpartum depression, food allergies, and medications

Plus—Internet references for further information, including La Leche League support sites and groups.

Mothers bringing babies into a new world want sustainable, healthy, positive ways to help their children blossom and thrive. There is no better beginning for your baby than the womanly art of breastfeeding.

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578 pages
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Ballantine Books
Publication date

July 9, 2010
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Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

Nesting

"When I was two, my mother came home from the hospital cradling two mysterious bundles wrapped in soft blue blankets. One was my new baby brother. She handed me the other. Underneath the folds of that soft blanket was a beautiful doll, which my mother explained would be my special baby. My father followed her with a red wooden rocking chair that he placed near my mother's rocking chair. I vividly recall watching my mother breastfeed my brother, and I followed her every move to be sure that I was feeding my own baby properly, even though my breasts looked nothing like hers. My mother and baby brother gazed at each other adoringly during the feeding. I looked down at my own doll, whose eyes closed when she lay on her back. I wanted that lifeless doll to be real. I told myself, "I can't WAIT to grow up so I can feed my own baby!"

"Twenty--five years later I gave birth to my first child. The day I came home, I sat in our wooden rocking chair, and as I held my son close and nursed him, he opened his eyes to gaze at me. At once, an overpowering recollection of that early childhood memory returned, and tears began to flow as I realized, "THIS is what I have waited my whole life to do!" --Cathy, remembering 1981

WELCOME TO OUR "La Leche League meeting in a book"! At a real meeting, you'd see a mix of pregnant women, mothers with new babies, and moms with older babies or children. You'd hear questions from women at different stages of motherhood. Some of it would sound right to you, some of it would answer questions you didn't know you had, and some of it you'd shrug and leave behind. We hope you'll do the same with this book.

The cornerstone of La Leche League (LLL) meetings is addressing questions. While a book can never match sitting around with other mothers, we can address some of the typical questions at different stages, and tell you what mothers often share from their experience, along with the research behind it all.

This first chapter of our "meeting in a book" begins with the questions pregnant mothers often have about breastfeeding. Even if you've already had your baby, the answers to these questions should make you feel good about what you're doing and tell you more about why breastfeeding is such a great thing to do.

"The newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of [his] mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three."

--Grantly Dick--Read, MD, from Childbirth Without Fear, 1955

Is Breastfeeding Right for Me?

The closer you are to meeting your new baby, the more you're probably thinking about what comes after birth. You're "nesting"--gathering the things your baby will need and making a place for him in your home. Those outfits are so cute! That changing table is precious! But while you're out shopping, your body is quietly preparing the real "nest" your baby will need--your breasts. They'll be all he really needs at first--his go--to place for warmth, security, comfort, love, and, yes, food. As cute as the outfits and decor are, what your baby will care most about is the way you and your body protect and nurture him.

Breastfeeding is far more than just a way to feed your baby. It's the way you're naturally designed to begin your mothering experience. So why doesn't it always come naturally? Some of your friends may have told you all about their tough experiences. Maybe your mother couldn't breastfeed and you wonder if you'll have trouble, too. The great news is that we've learned a lot since your mother tried. We've learned more about understanding and respecting the instincts that you and your baby both have. We've learned that the fewer interventions you have during birth, the easier these instincts will be to tap into. And La Leche League is always here to help you work through any issues that come up.

Maybe you want to breastfeed because you know it's best; science keeps finding new ways breastfeeding helps babies reach their potential and protect their mothers' health. Maybe you want to because it just feels right; every mother finds for herself all the little ways that breastfeeding brings her close to her children. Whether the urge comes from your head or your heart, breastfeeding is right for you. And it's definitely right for your baby.

How Important Is Breastfeeding, Really?

Extremely! There is almost nothing you can do for your child in his whole life that will affect him both emotionally and physically as profoundly as breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is also important to our own bodies. We can't think of an aspect of your baby's health that isn't affected by breastfeeding, and it affects a surprising number of your own health issues as well. This would be a much longer book if we described all the ways that breastfeeding is valuable for you, your baby, and your family, but here are a few highlights.

Your Milk Is Your Baby's Normal Food

There's no formula that comes even close to the milk your body creates. Your milk has every vitamin, mineral, and other nutritional element that your baby's body needs, including many that haven't been discovered or named yet, and it changes subtly through the meal, day, and year, to match subtle changes in his requirements. Living cells that are unique to your milk inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and viruses in his still--maturing system. And it's more than just living cells. For instance, interferon and interleukins are powerful anti--infectives. If you could buy them, they'd cost the moon. Your milk throws them in, free of charge. A squirt of your milk can even treat eye infections and speed the healing of skin problems!

Without his normal food, a baby is at higher risk of ear infections, intestinal upsets, and respiratory problems. Allergies and dental problems are more common. Vision, nerves, and intestines don't develop fully. Because of all these differences (and many others not listed here), a formula--fed baby has a different metabolism and a different development, and gains weight differently during his first year. His kidneys and liver work harder to process the waste products from formula. He needs more of any medication to get the same effect. His immune system's response to vaccinations is less effective. The risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome or crib death) and infant death from many other causes is higher if a baby isn't breastfed.

As an older child or adult, he is at a greater risk of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. He responds to stress more negatively and has higher blood pressure, both as an infant and in later life. There's a higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis in later years. There are numerous IQ studies showing deficits in children who didn't breastfeed, or who didn't breastfeed for long.

Colostrum, the milk you produce in small amounts in the first couple of days after your baby is born (and which you started producing during your pregnancy), has concentrated immunological properties that are your baby's first protection against all the germs he is suddenly exposed to. This "first milk" contains high concentrations of secretory immunoglobulin A, or SIgA, an anti--infective agent that coats his intestines to protect against the passage of germs and foreign proteins that could create allergic sensitivities. Scientists have also recently discovered a new ingredient in human milk called pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI), which protects and repairs the infant intestine. It's present in all human milk, but it's seven times higher in colostrum, providing extra protection to that delicate and vulnerable newborn intestine. Think of colostrum as a complex paint designed to seal those brand--new intestinal walls (which were, of course, designed to receive it).

Colostrum has an acid level that encourages a baby's intestines to welcome just the right mix of beneficial bacteria. And colostrum is a laxative that gets his intestines up and running and helps clean out all the tar--like stool called meconium that built up in his system before birth.

Mature milk, which phases in during the first two weeks, has a still--unknown number of ingredients that contribute to lifelong health. Along with the interferon, interleukins, white blood cells, and SIgA, the breastfed baby gains an immune system nearly as sturdy as his mother's. Human growth factor continues to develop those intestines, bones, and other organs. Insulin for digestion, long--chain fatty acids for a healthy heart, lactose for brain development--it's all there. And just as important, it's there in forms that are available to a baby. Iron is added to formulas in forms that the baby can't readily use and which can actually be harmful since it increases the risk of intestinal infection, intestinal bleeding, and anemia.

The mechanics of breastfeeding are important, too. When your baby breastfeeds, the muscles in his jaws are exercised and massaged in a way that causes the bones in his face and jaw to develop more fully. The jaw that results from bottle--feeding and pacifiers is narrower, with a higher palate that's more likely to restrict nose breathing. Babies who use pacifiers, instead of soothing themselves at the breast, are more likely to need speech therapy later. The child who breastfeeds for less than a year is much more likely to need orthodontia later on. Snoring and related breathing problems are more common as well.

Your baby can design his own meal to suit his needs. If he's thirsty, he nurses for a shorter amount of time and gets a lower fat milk. Still thirsty? He asks to switch sides sooner and gets another thirstquencher from the other side. Extra hungry? He stays longer on the first side or nurses more vigorously, to pull down more highercalorie fat globules. Going through a growth spurt? If your baby takes more milk than usual, he'll have more milk available the very next time he nurses. If he drinks less than usual, your milk production scales back. Is he moving into toddlerhood and nursing less often? There will be more immune factors in your milk to keep him covered. Did he pick up some germs from the grocery cart handle? He communicates those germs to your breast at his next nursing, and it starts cranking out specialized antibodies. In a whole lot of different ways, your breast is Health Central for your baby.

Breastfeeding Helps Keep You Healthy, Too

Breastfeeding is the natural next step in the reproduction sequence: pregnancy ' birth ' lactation. When your newborn takes your breast soon after delivery, your uterus contracts and bleeding slows. Hemorrhage is a greater risk with formula--feeding, and your belly stays larger longer.

If you breastfeed exclusively (without giving water, solids, or formula) and your baby nurses often, including at least once during the night, then your periods most likely won't come back for at least six months. Your chances of getting pregnant again will be extremely low during that time, too (see Chapter 8 for details).

Breastfeeding helps many (not all) women lose weight readily. Nature gave you some of that pregnancy weight just for the purpose of making milk in the first few months. The natural design is for it to melt away by the time your baby is well started on solids.

Women who haven't breastfed are at greater risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that makes heart disease and diabetes more likely. If you already have insulin--dependent diabetes, you're likely to need less insulin while you're a nursing mother.

Breastfeeding is also an insurance policy against breast, uterine, and cervical cancer. (It may be that the lower estrogen level of lactation provides the protection; the longer you breastfeed, the stronger your insurance.) This doesn't mean it's impossible for you to get these cancers if you breastfeed, but you are less susceptible to them. Osteoporosis and fractures are also more common in women who didn't breastfeed.

A formula--feeding mother's blood pressure is likely to be higher, probably because her neurological and endocrine responses are more pronounced than those of a nursing mother. Her overall physical and mental health take a hit as well, and in later years she remains at an increased risk of developing such autoimmune diseases as rheumatoid arthritis.

"I didn't realize what immeasurable joy breastfeeding could give ME. I thought it was supposed to be about giving to the baby, not to the mother. Those hormones just poured into me and I was in a blissed--out, euphoric state when I was breastfeeding. And, I have to say, it gave this very un--confident mom something I could finally feel confident and proud of myself for." --Samantha

How Reliable Is Breastfeeding Research?

You've probably heard that breastfeeding reduces the risk of infection and a bunch of childhood and adult illnesses and diseases, that it reduces the risk of allergy, and that it even raises IQ. But (are you sitting down?) none of it is true!

Here's why: Let's say we're testing a new drug. We focus on the people who get the drug, with a group of ordinary people to compare them with. That's how we know what the drug did. It made things better or worse than normal. Accurate science focuses on the experiment, not the normal thing. Now think about most of the research on breastfeeding. Exactly--it's research on breastfeeding! And that means that virtually all our recent research was done backward, evaluating what's normal (breastfeeding) instead of evaluating the experiment (formula). It makes the high rates of formula--fed illness seem like normal baby health and breastfeeding seem like bonus points.

Breastfeeding doesn't reduce the risk of infection, illness, and disease. It doesn't add IQ points. Breastfeeding results in normal good health and normal IQ. When babies aren't breastfed--and this is using the same information from the same studies, just shifting the focus to the true experimental group--they are at increased risk for all those short--term and long--term illnesses and diseases.

Researchers have inadvertently hidden formula problems from us by focusing on the apparently fabulous "benefits" of human milk and breastfeeding, almost as if breastfeeding is a nice but unnecessary "extra." That's starting to change. More and more research articles are using the normal breastfed baby as the starting point, as good science requires, and are looking at what happens to babies when their normal system is altered. It can be a scary way for the public to look at infant feeding--to see a list of risks instead of a list of "benefits." But it's a more honest, accurate approach, and it's the one we've used.

Breastfeeding doesn't give you brownie points. It's simply the normal way to raise a baby.

"Breastfeeding is a 'safety net' against the worst effects of poverty..." --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Since 1955, when La Leche League started in the Chicago suburbs with seven women intent on spreading information about the benefits of breastfeeding, it has grown into the leading breastfeeding advocacy organization in the world. La Leche League International regularly holds seminars and workshops for health-care professionals and parents, and publishes more than twenty books on child care. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0036S4COI
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books; Revised, Updated edition (July 9, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 9, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4473 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 578 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #132,934 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9 in Breastfeeding
- #57 in Pregnancy & Childbirth (Kindle Store)
- #337 in Pregnancy & Childbirth (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3,297 ratings

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Diane Wiessinger
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Diana West
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Diana West is an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) in private practice in New Jersey and a retired La Leche League Leader. She is the co-author of “Making More Milk,” “Sweet Sleep: Nighttime an Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family,” the 8th edition of La Leche League International’s “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding,” the clinical monograph “Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures,” and ILCA’s popular “Clinician’s Breastfeeding Triage Tool.” She is the sole author of “Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After Breast Reduction Surgery.” She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is in graduate school for her Master's, while also offering customer service for PumpinPal. She has three grown sons and lives in the picturesque mountains of western New Jersey in the United States. Visit her speaker page at http://dianawest.com.
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cbrice

Judgmental and unhelpful

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book spends so much time going on tangents about things that are not breastfeeding (sleeping, swaddling, drugs, natural childbirth) and it's really hard to find the information you need. I found the dense text impenetrable while sleep deprived. I needed more pictures, more troubleshooting techniques and a lot less, "breastfeeding is the best relationship you'll have..." and "if you had anything but a natural birth, well, no wonder you're suffering now from a bad latch, low supply, a colicky baby, you name it." As someone who was ultimately unable to go natural after over 40 hours of natural labor, it made me feel really attacked at a time when I just could not handle criticism. Months later I don't really care. I got a lactation consultant and figured it out and my hormones aren't making me feel like every little decision is the end of the world. In the moment, though, it made me feel desperate and like a failure.

156 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ericaoncape

Not for everyone

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

I had high expectations for this book, based on the reviews, but I was honestly very disappointed. I found this book to be very judgemental. There was a lot of judgement around anything but a 100% drug free vaginal birth. I ended up with a premie (delivered by emergency c-section under general anesthesia) who needed intestinal surgery the day after birth. LO was on IV nutrition for 2 weeks, so when we finally got to try nursing, it was not the typical experience. There is practically nothing in this huge book to help someone under those circumstances, and in fact much of it and the stance of the writers made me feel angry and not at all understood. I'm sure lots of people have the type of experience that makes them receptive to the advice and viewpoints in this book, but not everyone and certainly not me.

118 people found this helpful

Helpful

Judgement, not advice. Do not buy.

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

I couldn’t even finish this book due to its judgmental tone. Honestly, I’m not even sure where to begin with this review. I’d hoped to learn about breastfeeding. Instead I got page after page on why I need to ditch my friends and anyone else in my life who didn’t breastfeed (unless I want to keep them around as an example of what not to do). For a group of people who set out to destigmatize breastfeeding, they certainly have a lot of criticism for people who don’t do exactly what they do.

I had to stop reading during the birth section (why there is even a birth section in a breastfeeding book, I’ll never know). It was SO incredibly preachy and judgmental about anything but a non-medicated birth, and it was not backed up by science. (In fact, studies have shown that induced birth at 39 weeks for older mothers correlates to a lower incidence of c-section.) Once I read the line that birth “is pain of effort not pain of injury” I had to put it down. Seriously, it’s awful.

Because of this book, I will never be involved in La Leche Leage. It’s shameful that they’d ever publish this screed.

54 people found this helpful

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Doxielover

Would not reccomend.

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Before I gave birth I read through this book like it was a bible. I had always planned to breastfeed and was determined to make it work. After giving birth to my daughter at 36 weeks, I desperately searched this book for answers as to why my supply wasn't coming in etc.

As a previous reviewer said, this book will leave you high and dry if you are having problems breastfeeding in the days following birth. The mantra seems to be that it is so easy any mother can do it, and if you can't, you're not trying hard enough.

83 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Richards

I highly recommend as a pediatrician

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

I am a pediatrician and cannot recommend this book enough. It got my baby and I through the roughest part of establishing breast feeding. My baby is now 5 months old and still has never had formula (some of that is her though and not liking it, can't say I never ever tried). It took a good month to get over sore breasts and nipples, and a few weeks into it I almost gave up. I had so much advice to put her on a schedule, only let her feed every 2 and a half to three hours, etc, and she wanted to feed every hour for the first couple months of life. I thought I was going crazy. But this book advises differently, to not even watch the clock and just let your baby decide when to feed. That helped a lot, took a lot of pressure off me. And that advice makes a lot of sense, because more frequent feeds mean more let downs and higher levels of hormones. Not only that, this book answers so many questions about pumping and storing milk and things that I would have never thought to ask. I was always pro-breast feeding, but now I am passionate about it. Breast feeding my infant has become one of the best experiences of my whole life. Now I can help other moms who are struggling with establishing breast feeding and answer all their questions. I have recommended this book to many new moms as well. Thank you so much for this book!

183 people found this helpful

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Donna

Eh it’s a little too “crunchy” for me

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

Okay so here’s the thing about this book - it’s from La Leche League so obviously there’s some significant bias towards breastfeeding being the best (read: only) way to feed your child. I found it very off-putting and mom-shaming honestly, especially the part about giving birth which reads that if you don’t have a 100% “natural” birth you started your breastfeeding journey off in a terrible way and are basically doomed and that if you used an epidural or had pain medication that you are hurting your baby and delaying their breastfeeding bond with you (cue eye roll). I also don’t appreciate the section about co-sleeping saying it’s the preferred way to sleep with your baby, considering that the American Academy of Pediatrics specifically recommends against that since it can literally kill a child. AAP guidelines state a baby under 1 year of age should sleep in the same ROOM as their parents but not the same bed, should be flat on their back, and not have any loose bedding around them. Anyway, this book has some great information about breastfeeding, holds, ways to move through rough patches, etc. but I would rather something more practical and down to earth rather than a preachy book about their way being the “right” and only way.

60 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

ErikaS

Unbalanced. Fills you with guilt if you don't breastfeed 100%

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

I wish I didn't read this book at all. It's way too extremist in terms of what to do when giving birth and breastfeeding. Everything else than a 100% natural birth or 100% breastfeeding is bad.
I wish I just followed my instincts from day 1 and supplement with formula instead of panicking that I am going to ruin the baby's intestinal flora and compromise her immunity if I give her anything else than breast milk.

The idea that EVERY woman can breastfeed is just wrong. I threw everything at it: willpower, private breastfeeding consultant, books, food supplements, you name it, it was just not possible for me to make enough milk for the baby. And I am far from being the only one in this situation.

I ended up topping up with formula and it would have been better if I did so from week one, without reserves and without feeling guilty.

Go with your instincts and common sense, if the baby cries, breastfeed her. Recognise early and admit if you don't have enough milk and feed her formula. Signs the baby needs more milk: crying and pink-orange marks in the nappy. You see those, feed the baby more. Again, breastmilk and/or formula. As simple as that, you don't need a book. It's going to save you lots of energy and keep you sane when you need it the most.

32 people found this helpful

EBM

Best book on breastfeeding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is the best book, overall, for everything one needs to know before and during their breastfeeding journey. It is well-indexed so that you can dip in to find something specific whenever you need. Great for first-time parents to prepare for their baby and get breastfeeding off to a great start. How to overcome whatever special circumstances that might occur during or after birth and how to overcome any early difficulties that are commonly experienced. There are sections on every stage of babyhood and beyond. Something for everyone. I recommend this book above all others.

One person found this helpful

J. Meikle

A modern parents support network in book form

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

Keep an open mind with this old fashioned title. This amazing book will help solidify an optimal relationship between mother and baby/child. It helps to understand how our basic biology works, your infants perspective and how modern life interventions can interrupt this.

I’d highly recommend La Leche league’s Sweet sleep first. Sleep is paramount to the new born relationship. We often come at it from a warped behaviourist model. Remembering humans are the most vulnerable mammals helps to understand that fighting against our instincts can cause post natal angst. These two books will keep you on track, or find your back to where we should be. In the process you might be introduced to very supportive network that is the La Leche League.

Highly recommended x

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Preachy and badly written.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is very preachy and made me feel pretty terrible about my breastfeeding journey. I bought it after a rocky start looking for advice and some answers but really didn’t find the help and support I was looking for or would expect from a breastfeeding self help book. I would not recommend buying this book, there are much more helpful, easy to read, evidence based & positive books on breastfeeding to be found.

5 people found this helpful

Ann Margaret

Alright, nothing special.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended so many times to me that when I started breastfeeding and it didn't start out the best I decided to buy it. It's alright but the info in the book you can get online on numerous websites. Nothing unique in it. I read some of it but found common sense and my own mothering instinct best for me to follow. Patience, time, calmness, dedication are what is needed to get breastfeeding established well.

9 people found this helpful

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