Book Review: Breastfeeding Made Simple

Every once in a while I get really amped up about breastfeeding and here I am in that space.  Who gets to benefit?  You!  Onward!

The most helpful book I've found on breastfeeding has been The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, the epic classic put out by La Leche League.  I read this during my third trimester and I felt it really prepared me for breastfeeding Elijah.  However, it is a tome, with the latest version coming in at almost 600 pages, and if all things pregnancy- and birth-related don't make you as ecstatic as they do me, if may be a *bit* more book for your buck than you are looking for.

I've been wanting a book that has equally good information but in a more condensed form that I could recommend to people wanting to read something without having to sacrifice their social life.  Additionally, there's a lot of misinformation out there so it was important to me that the book be solid.  I was at a doula conference recently and ran into a tableful of IBCLCs (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants - the cream of the crop, usually).  I asked them what they recommended, and Breastfeeding Made Simple was it.  I picked up a copy (not the most recent edition but close enough) and thought I'd review it here.  I'm going to go chapter-by-chapter and summarize the high points and add any thoughts I might have.  I'm not sure how quickly I get through the book, but I've read enough so far to feel comfortable recommending it to you if you're in the market for a good breastfeeding book.

Today I'll just share a little bit from the forward, written by Dr. Jack Newman, a Canadian pediatrician who has extensive knowledge on breastfeeding.  Note that this is not always, or even usually, the case; many peds, L&D nurses, ob/gyns, etc... do not have much formal training in breastfeeding.  If you hear yourself being told "a little formula never hurt" or "you can't breastfeed with those breasts" or "you don't make enough milk, s/he's starving!" realize that you already know more about breastfeeding than that person, and get out of there.  Many a breastfeeding relationship has been challenged, complicated, or ended by remarks such as these with no alternative information available.  I am convinced that the biggest benefit to a breastfeeding relationship is support, support, support!  I needed it, my friends have needed, so many women whose stories I've read have needed it.

Back to that forward.  Dr Newman opens with this:

"How did breastfeeding become so unnecessarily complicated?  As the years go by, I am often astounded by how we manage to add new wrinkles of complexity to something that should be so easy, natural, and uncomplicated.  Of course, breastfeeding itself has not become more complex than it was, say, 200 years ago.  Rather, it is the way we think about breastfeeding that has changed." 

 Dr Newman goes on to talk about working in Africa during the 1980s where hardly any breastfeeding problems existed.  There were no rules, like you should feed every X amount of hours for X amount of time.  Some babies nursed six times a day and others 14 times.  Newman notes that when problems did occur that woman was surrounded by many other women who had breastfed and could troubleshoot.  In America, where only 13.3% of babies are exclusively breastfed until six months of age (and the few generations before us were "formula babies"), it isn't surprising that this community support is not a given but instead a rare privilege for a new mom to encounter.

To be continued...