Customer Reviews

The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is less about weaning than it is about justifying the decision to nurse a child for as long as he/she wants, even 4, 5 or 6 years! Much of the book is discussion about how extended nursing is the norm most everywhere but here--we (Americans) are the ones who have tried to put limits on it. Unfortunately, not every mother is willing/able to nurse for that long and there is not a lot of practical weaning information for her. I was having a specific problem nursing my 15 mo. old and this book did not even address it. I really expected more from this book, since Kathleen Huggins' other book, The Nursing Mothers Companion, was so practical and helpful. The bottom line is, if you really want to wean your baby, don't bother with this book. If you want encouragement for extended breastfeeding, you'll find it here.

This book begins with a fascinating chapter on the history and sociology of Breastfeeding and Weaning [and the politics as well!]. I found that very interesting. More than 90 pages of the book are devoted to how to wean a baby who is less than 12 months old - which might be helpful to many moms, but is useless to anyone who is nursing a baby older than that. I found the book to be VERY honest and direct on both the pros and cons of weaning in each age category [0-4 mos, 5-12 mos, 1-2 yrs, 3 and older]. The author was very supportive of a mother's wish to wean [or not], regardless of her reasons and gave the facts about the benefits and costs of the decision in a very forthright and non-judgemental fashion. She included a huge number of practical tips on weaning in different situations and for different reasons. She offered information on every choice available without judgement - including some methods condemned by most Breastfeeding Advocates - such as weaning by "abandonment", applying disgusting or pain-inducing substances to the breast to traumatize the baby out of wanting to nurse, and weaning by frightening the baby. I didn't care for those methods, but she was certainly honest and thorough on ALL the options available. She gave many, many tips on methods that might be more healthy for the baby as well, and I felt the book was very complete.

Although The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning provides good information about the normalcy of extended breastfeeding, I felt there was too much emphasis on mother-led weaning, even including some rather harsh methods such as applying a foul-tasting substance to the breasts.

My two year old is a heavy nurser, and this book actually fueled my anxiety by suggesting that he should be breastfed after eating solids. The book does not give guidance for what (if anything) I should do when my son refuses solids and escalates his requests to nurse.

I would recommend Diane Bengson's How Weaning Happens for a more reassuring approach.

I bought and returned this book because it's not for me. I have been nursing my daughter for almost 10 months and bought it for guidance on balancing solids, breastmilk, and eventual weaning, but there was very little practical information. It contains interesting discussions of nursing and lots of refutations of potential reasons for weaning. While some are valid, the book spends a lot of time trying to talk women out of their feelings. I think a happy mother is as important to a toddler's development as time at a breast, so if a woman feels it's time to wean, I think she deserves support, not "here's why you shouldn't feel that way."

I had to wean my first daughter at 4 months because of a medical problem and I'm glad I hadn't read this book then; I had enough guilt. At present, I'm committed to giving my baby the "most beautiful, most natural, immunologically and nutritionally sound, etc." form of feeding during her infancy but I'm not sure that means I should still be nursing her four years from now. Enough with the pressure.

I picked up this book because I was looking for practical advice about weaning. Hey, with a title like "The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning," that's pretty much what you would expect, right? A "guide to weaning"? Apparently not. Instead I found page after page of guilt-inducing arguments as to why I should nurse, nurse, nurse my daughter until she was well into the preschool years, and that she would somehow be damaged if I did not. Even a full year of breastfeeding is far, far less than your child truly needs and deserves, this book implies. Look, I have impeccable breastfeeding credentials. I wound up exclusively nursing my first daughter for more than a year, until she weaned herself. We didn't even start solids until she wanted to, at 7.5 months. My second daughter is 6.5 months and has never had a drop of formula. I'm even pumping all the milk for her cereal. Like every mother I know, I'm doing the best I can for my kids. But if I make the difficult decision to wean, and decide to buy a book to help me through the process, why should the author try to talk me out of it? Why does she assume I haven't already put a great deal of time and thought into the decision? Perhaps a better title would have been, "If You're Thinking About Weaning." Then she'd probably do a better job of reaching what seems to be her intended audience: long-term breastfeeders who really don't want to wean but are feeling pressured to do so.

The rest of us who already know our own minds are likely to find this tract a bit grating. Enough guilt for now, please! This is the kind of stuff that gives the La Leche League a bad name.

I actually give this book 5 stars for historical and cultural/social perspective on nursing and weaning but 2 stars for the actual process of weaning.
I felt this book really tried to sway a Mom to not wean even at 2-3 years old! The actual weaning processes could have been written in 4 pages and disbursed as a pamphlet.
I really came away from this book with the same knowledge as I had when I started to read it.
So, if you are looking for a book to read to gather information on nursing in general as it relates to history and culture then this book is fantastic.
But if you are looking for just some good practical advice and support then this book will most likely not help you.

I absolutely loved Huggins' guide to breastfeeding, so I turned to her weaning book, hoping for some practical advice for weaning my 16-month old from her going-to-bed feedings (and to slowly start weaning her in the next 6 months or so). Not only was there almost no practical advice for either, but I was left feeling like I'm doing a horrible thing by wanting to wean my daughter before her 3rd or 4th birthday! Huggins would start a section that would imply she's about to give you some advice, but she would turn it around and end it by basically saying that she doesn't recommend any of these methods! In an ideal world, yes, I would love my daughter to wean herself when she's ready. But she wants to continue nursing to sleep and it's just not effective anymore (she gets frustrated at not falling asleep nursing, and I get resentful that she's staying up until midnight and I'm at the end of my rope). I'm going to try out "How Weaning Happens" at the recommendation of an ex-toddler-nursing girlfriend.

I cannot even begin to express my disappointment with this book. I had to wean my baby for medical reasons and was completely lost with how to even start. I waited anxiously for the arrival of this book, which I thought would be a tremendous help. When I first started to page through it, I almost began to cry. The entire book is propaganda to continue breastfeeding. The author repeats the same information over and over, explaining why there is no good reason to wean your child. The title should be changed, so other women who need help don't make the mistake of purchasing this book.

I though that Kathleen Huggin's book on breastfeeding was terrific, but this one is a bomb. Although some readers will probably think that the first chapter on the cultural and histroical aspects of nursing is a yawner, it was actually my favorite part of the book. (It didn't help me with my weaning concern; I just thought it was interesting.) Like other reviewers, I perceived the book to be more a list of reasons that you might be considering weaning (and ideas to help you get around whatever your reason is) and less information on the actual process of weaning. Personally, I am a proponent of breastfeeding past one year, but I figure if you're reading a book on weaning, it should be about weaning.

I was very dissappointed by this book, especially after reading Kathleen Huggins first book on breast feeding. Instead of offering the same kind of practicle advice on weaning, it was more arguments against weaning. Most of the book was written in this style..."if you are thinking of weaning because you've got this problem.. then try this instead", and the book then proceeded to para-phrase her first book. There was not much actual advice on weaning, just alot of talk on why society doesn't accept breastfeeding. This working mom found no help in this book, just more arguments for breastfeeding, which If I wasn't already indoctrinated to, this book added its own arguments for, making one feel guilty if you didn't continue feeding for three years. If you want to wean your baby, this isn't the book for you. If on the other hand you wish to continue feeding for longer than a year, this is the book to get for your critics!