Unbuttoned: Women Open Up About the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding [Paperback]

Maureen Connolly (Author), Dana Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2009

With breastfeeding at a 20-year high in the United States, the essays in this book are sure to resonate with millions of nursing mothers. Penned by 25 distinguished writers, these personal stories are by turns happy, funny, poignant, wry, determined, exhausted, and elated-in short, all of the emotions that breastfeeding evokes. This anthology makes a perfect shower or new-baby gift!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this revealing collection of essays, 25 writers talk about their personal breastfeeding experiences. The beautifully written, heartbreaking first entry, Breast-Laid Plans by Heidi Raykeil is about how nursing her daughter for three and a half years helped her become whole again after the loss of her first-born child. In Motherhood Made a Liar Out of Me, Daryn Eller writes about feeling left out as the mother of an adopted, bottle-fed daughter and when asked in the playground if her child is weaned, she always answers yes. Dawn Porter's In a Man's World tackles the difficulties of pumping milk in the workplace, while Patricia Berry is clear on her decision in Because I Don't Want To, her husband and La Leche League be damned. The authors are all accomplished writers and their collected emotions and sentiments form a powerful and informative commentary on this most loaded of parenting topics that will especially resonate with anyone who has raised a child. (Apr.)
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Review

In this revealing collection of essays, 25 writers talk about their personal breastfeeding experiences. The beautifully written, heartbreaking... entry, Breast-Laid Plans by Heidi Raykeil is about how nursing her daughter for three and a half years helped her become whole again after the loss of her first-born child. In Motherhood Made a Liar Out of Me, Daryn Eller writes about feeling left out as the mother of an adopted, bottle-fed daughter and when asked in the playground if her child is weaned, she always answers yes. Dawn Porter's In a Man's World tackles the difficulties of pumping milk in the workplace, while Patricia Berry is clear on her decision in Because I Don't Want To, her husband and La Leche League be damned. The authors are all accomplished writers and their collected emotions and sentiments form a powerful and informative commentary on this most loaded of parenting topics that will especially resonate with anyone who has raised a child. --Publishers Weekly Starred Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (March 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155832397X
• ISBN-13: 978-1558323971
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart, October 15, 2009

By 

Penny in TX (Magnolia, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unbuttoned: Women Open Up About the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding (Paperback)

While clearly this book has appeal to a certain audience, I have to disagree with the reviewers who felt it would be beneficial to "any" breastfeeding mother. First, the mothers depicted in the book represent a pretty narrow cultural and social spectrum--the upper middle-class, highly-educated cultural creatives. Working class mothers, "earth mothers," mothers from traditional religious backgrounds, and disadvantaged mothers won't hear their voices echoed here.

Secondly, what some reviewers have called "realism" seems skewed quite definitely to the negative in most cases. Breastfeeding is never a bed of roses, but too many of the writers see it as a bed of nails. Indeed, most of the authors seem to see mothering in general as a bed of nails; I felt that a number of the critiques made against breastfeeding were more honestly critiques of mothering.

I was also concerned about misinformation about breastfeeding in some of the selections and the risk of expectant mothers coming away with inaccurate ideas about matters like antidepressant use while breastfeeding (usually *not* a need to wean) or the physical discomforts of breastfeeding (it can indeed be painful in the early postpartum but such problems are usually resolved after a few weeks, thank goodness).

Downright ugly was some authors' use of phrases like "Nipple Nazis" and "Nipple Gestapo" to characterize breastfeeding counselors. Of course, these comments always came associated with pleas for understanding and acceptance of the authors' choices. Hypocrisy much? And after all, if one consults a breastfeeding counselor or lactation consultant, one will be given information that time, research, and many mothers' experiences have shown to be important to being able to breastfeed successfully--otherwise would represent malpractice. It is the mother's decision to take such information, assess its relevance to her situation and its viability in her life, and implement it or not. I doubt that the authors who were critical on this point truly want someone else to decide to pre-filter information based on assumptions about them and restrict the freedom of mothers to make their own informed choices.

In conclusion, I wouldn't recommend the book widely--if you're a magazine editor in her mid-30s to mid-40s, this book will probably seem excellent to you. Enjoy. Many other mothers will prefer to check it out from a local library and skip the stories that grate.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories from the breast!, January 30, 2010

By 

cc "cc" (Doing my thing!) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unbuttoned: Women Open Up About the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding (Paperback)

The stories in Unbuttoned are wonderful for breastfeeding mothers. It depicts the loves and pains of bf'ing very well and it helps with getting into the grove with baby. It helps you feel more normal and that all the goofy issues you have as a new mom bf'ing, are normal! I loved the read and recommend it to any new breastfeeding mom.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Series of Essays, September 1, 2009

By 

lydiadeetz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unbuttoned: Women Open Up About the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding (Paperback)

I just got done reading this after recently weaning my 15 month old. Wow! What a great book. I don't normally love essays but I just wanted to keep reading the next one and the next one and the next one. I will admit that there were 2 or 3 essays that I didn't particularly care for, but they were all pretty quick reads, so I wouldn't consider them a waste of time.

With any series of essays by different authors, you will have differing styles and differing opinions, so I figure there's bound to be a few that you can't relate to at all. I'm sure another reader will find the essays that I didn't like to be his/her favorites!

The authors of these essays were able to put into words the feelings that I had as I went through the process of learning how to nurse, dealing with the pain, dealing with infections, and finally weaning.

I am not a writer AT ALL, so it was wonderful to read how these women were able to capture the emotional highs and lows that women go through during this period - whether they nurse/supplement/formula feed. There is definitely something in this book for everyone.

Again, you might not like all the essays, but I can almost guarantee that if you're a mom, there will be one or two that you will relate to.