Customer Reviews

When Breastfeeding Is Not an Option : A Reassuring Guide for Loving Parents

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Review of When Breastfeeding is Not an Option

If you are a woman who is otherwise healthy and has had serious logistical problems that made breastfeeding difficult or impossible to continue, this book is a good source of validation and emotional support. The author describes the anti-bottlefeeding climate, the lack of resources for parents who must bottlefeed, and the backlash and pervasive, persecutorial attitude towards those who choose to bottlefeed in our society today.

Unfortunately, she doesn't provide much in the way of specific bottlefeeding resources and information, she spends most of the book merely complaining about the lack of them.

If you are in the category of women who CANNOT breastfeed because of maternal illness, etc., and are looking for very detailed information about bottlefeeding and possibly emotional support for the specific grief and guilt under the circumstances, this is not a particularly good resource. If you, like me, want concrete information with solid medical references, you will find this book almost useless.

The first half of the book is entirely devoted to describing the anti-bottlefeeding climate, and the difficulties of women who found bottlefeeding logistically difficult or impossible. The author primarily demonstrates her points with quotes from individual interviews and online chat sources.

The author does make an effort to list the reasons that women cannot bottlefeed, but she doesn't address their specific concerns. A basic question for a woman who knows she will not be able to breastfeed, for instance, is what to feed the newborn in the first few days. For breastfeeders, the colostrum produced in the first few days is different than the breastmilk that follows - what is the best bottlefeeding equivalent? Some hospitals give newborns sugar water - is this because of the similarity to syrupy colostrum, or because it's easier to get the baby to take sugary water than plain water? How advisable and safe is the sugar, and how does the option of sterilized water stack up against sugar water or even formula from day one? What are the baby's nutritional and hydration needs in the first few days? Should a mother who has researched her options be prepared with her own bottles and supplies when she goes to the hospital to deliver? This book doesn't even touch on basic questions like these.

What to Expect When You're Expecting, for example, devotes some space to discussing the emotional and medical concerns of women with the most common chronic illnesses impacting pregnancy; I had hoped this book might pick up with specific information about bottlefeeding for such women, but it doesn't.

For example, the author points out that for some women with certain diseases - e.g., viruses -illness impacts the quality of their milk, and that these women cannot breastfeed and are largely ignored in La Leche League literature. The author then fails to provide any practical advice for these women herself: she could have (but didn't) discuss the pros, cons, availability and safety of using banked breast milk for children who may have been exposed to their mother's illnesses in utero, or who may otherwise have special need for the immune factors provided in breastmilk. Is formula a good option, because, (to name a possible reason) it can be made under sterile conditions and provided reliably to the infant? No such discussion in this book. The author points out that women who have to take certain medications may not be able to breastfeed; but then the book never touches on solutions as simple as why and how to use acidophilus with formula if the mother has had to have antibiotics during pregnancy or breastfeeding, for example.

When I bought When Breastfeeding is Not an Option, I was expecting solid information, a review of reassuring studies to counter the negative, scary messages about formula and bottlefeeding found in so many otherwise good publications, like the Sears' Baby Book, sources that don't seem to consider that some women CANNOT breastfeed and still want to do their level best for their babies. Unfortunately, the author of this book does little more than provide hypothetical arguments against certain conclusions about breastfeeding versus bottlefeeding (to studies she admits she hasn't even read herself). As much as I want to believe the author, I personally needed good, convincing information and solid references rather than speculation and hearsay to buy her reassurances.

The author does give some advice about bottle and nipple types, and a few accessories, but the information wasn't too specific; I found product books like Baby Bargains more helpful in that regard. For bottlefeeding logistical advice without the formula guilt trip, I personally preferred the bottlefeeding information in Penelope Leach's book, Your Infant and Child.

When Breastfeeding is Not an Option does not provide any information on the safety of various materials in bottlefeeding equipment, such as plasticizers, nor does it examine any specific topics such as the quality of the ingredients in popular formulas (do manufacturers forswear genetically modified ingredients, for example, or what is the prevalence of livestock-fed antibiotic residues in cows milk formulas). I mention this because it is this kind of detailed information that I had hoped to find in a resource billed as a bottlefeeding guide. If that's what you are looking for too, it isn't here.

Lastly, the author devotes an entire chapter at the end of her book to a quiz: Breast or Bottle: Which is Best for You? I found this a ridiculous waste of paper in a book entitled When Breastfeeding Is Not an Option - for anyone who would truly need a book with such a title, your decision is already made for you when you find the book, and you are looking to get information to help in your situation.

Buy the book if you are healthy, finding breastfeeding impossible, and tired of feeling isolated and invalidated because you don't know anyone else in your situation. This is otherwise not a very useful resource for bottlefeeding information.

I picked up this book with high hopes. As a bottlefeeding mom, I looked forward to recieving some helpful tips and affrimation. What a rude shock! Rather than support moms who either need or choose formula, the author spends over two thirds of the book harshly critisizing everything from stay at home moms to cloth diaper users and of course those "evil breastfeeding cultists." This book made me ashamed to admit to using bottles. It's no wonder people make all kinds of assumptions about bottlefeeding moms (being selfish, stupid, etc.). If this is the only book in our defense, who wouldn't reach the same conclusion? This piece of hateful trash is the last thing any mother needs to read.

I have a lot of sympathy for the author and understand why she wrote the book. It's truly unfortunate that she encountered inadequate breastfeeding help and overbearing breastfeeding advocates who criticized her for bottlefeeding. However... although I felt the information in the book on how to bottlefeed was useful, it could be found elsewhere without spending your money for a book that is half diatribe against the breastfeeding community. The author unfortunately lashed out at not only LLL, but many other groups as well, including but not limited to natural birth advocates, attachment parenting advocates, and the VBAC movement! This is extremely unfortunate as these groups have nothing to do with breastfeeding, and the author has trashed all of these other groups in one fell swoop by claiming they are a cult. She has done a real disservice here to many different advocates. For example, she criticizes what she calls the "anti-cesarean" movement, without even stopping to ask what the many benefits of VBAC are, or to collect any information about cesarean prevention, or without any awareness that this subject is not even related to breastfeeding. I would caution moms to avoid the book; you can get good info about bottlefeeding elsewhere and avoid the propaganda.

There is a real need to provide emotional and practical supportfor the few mothers who must bottlefeed. Unfortunately, this bookisn't it. Robin's "research" seems to have consisted primarily of hanging out on the Internet. It seems she believed everything that bottlefeeding moms said, and nothing breastfeeding moms said. It's surprising and disappointing that the publisher did not insist on running a book of this nature by a medical advisor, since Robin has no medical qualifications. Any medical expert would have spotted a number of factual errors in the book, such as the claim that weaning from the breast is necessary to treat diarrhea and vomitting (in fact, frequent breastfeeding is helpful under such circumstances, reducing the danger of dehydration). Furthermore, she attacks attachment parenting, vegetarianism, and numerous other parenting decisions which are separate from breastfeeding. What about the attachment parenting, vegetarian mom who is not able to breastfeed? She won't find support here, only insults...

If this isn't the biggest book of misinformation, I don't know what is. A very misleading title for "Bottlefeeding Without Guilt" This book is by no means a book to support mothers who have to bottlefeed, its the rantings of an angry mother who was unsuccessful in her nursing experience. The paranoid ideas of the "anti-bottle camp" the author has are bizarre! This book contains the biggest load of breastfeeding fallacies I've ever seen and misrepresents the LLL, breastfeeding advocates and even average nursing families. The "facts" in this book are really fiction as this woman truly is uneducated in breastfeeding and lactation. The author suggests "formula milkshakes"or to get the baby to drink formula, give them a bag of chips, that will make them thirsty. This book discourages breastfeeding, good parenting and common sense. She'd do better to write a book aimed to educate mothers since 3-5 percent of all new moms cannot breastfeed and many adopted babies or orphaned children might need to be bottlefed. Why not provide true information rather than outright lies? Most "zealots" as the author calls breastfeeding mothers, are aware of instances where one must bottlefeed, but are not so bitter as to write a book of lies and mockery. Perhaps a book by an expert would suit a mom-to-be's needs rather than this all out attack on SAHM's, LLL members, LC's, cloth diaper users and anyone else who doesn't feel formula is just fabulous. I hope no mom to be takes any advice from this book. I do find the book comedic though, the author truly believes her paranoid assumption that nursing mothers belong to a "Militant Breastfeeding Cult" This book is a mass of sweeping generalizations based on questionable instances, the lumping together of breastfeeders as a group of anti-abortion, anti -working anti-male cult is laughable. In short, this book should be titled "A lame attempt to justify a choice I regret but instead blame the world for" or "Bashing Breastfeeding, a childish attack on nursing mothers" I'd recommend Dr. Sears, Sheila Kitzinger, Janet Tamaro or even Dr Seuss over this book. It's books like these that do a disservice to new moms.

I just hope anyone considering this book knows that it used to be titled "Bottlefeeding Without Guilt," which should tell you something about the author's real motivation here.

I agree with some of the other reviewers....save your money and try something else if you really need support. Perhaps your doctor can refer you to a group or something else that could be helpful to you.

The author here is just content to rant about how some people believe that breastfeeding should become the recommended form of feeding infants (which incidentally seems supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization) and that makes some mothers who can't (or who don't want to) breastfeed feel guilty.

I honestly feel sorry for mothers who CAN'T breastfeed....a group that the author seeks to make larger for some strange reason......but why attack those who do? There is no reason to feel guilty if you feel confident about your choice.

As a mother who has both bottle and breastfed, I find this book disturbing. You can get better information with the packets in the hospital. This book is filled with wrong information, and if you didn't know you should feel guilty about bottle feeding you will when you read this!

Reading this book feels like drinking acid. The irrational anger of the author toward breastfeeding mothers and advocates is absolutely overpowering. This is not a reassuring guide for anyone. Whether you are bottlefeeding or breastfeeding or just trying to decide, I suggest you just leave this book off your shelf. No one needs to inject this kind of negativity into her life!

Rehash of her 1995 book. An all-out assault on breastfeeding advocacy by a mother whose breastfeeding experience was sabotaged by bad medical advice. Instead of directing her anger at the doctors who destroyed her breastfeeding relationship, she rants and rails at breastfeeding advocates and calls them "cultists" Full of harmful misinformation.

The author spends more time attacking breastfeeding mothers than positively supporting mothers who choose not to breastfeed. I'm not sure where all those militant breastfeeders are -- I know that everywhere I go (the mall, playground, restaurants, etc.) I rarely see women breastfeeding, but I see lots of babies with bottles in their mouths. And while I've never heard of a bottle feeding mother being told that she can't feed her baby in public, there are plenty of cases of breastfeeders being told that.

So I think the author has a little bit of a persecution complex which prevents her from really doing what the book claims to do: support bottle feeding mothers. Rather, she tries to convince us all that the breastfeeders are out to get us, and by the end of the book I almost believed it and wanted to start a bottle feeding support group! Truthfully, I think her tactics are more akin to cult tactics than anything she describes in the book -- subtle, insidious, and dangerous. I would seriously advise anyone considering whether they should bottle feed to just buy a regular, mainstream baby book -- What to Expect When You're Expecting, for example. There, the pros and cons of different feeding choices are more objectively presented, the feeding information is accurate and you don't get poisoned with vitriol.