cover image Breastfeeding Your Baby

Breastfeeding Your Baby

Sheila Kitzinger. Alfred A. Knopf, $20 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-679-72433-9

Readers will not be persuaded that a natural, commonplace activity like breastfeeding warrants an illustrated how-to guide, even if, as Kitzinger asserts, ``women often lack confidence,'' and, hence, cause themselves unnecessary difficulties because of nervousness and anxiety. With a simple, short explanatory text and some 200 photographs (approximately 100 in color) of nursing mothers, the author of The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Child birth sets out to dispel fears about breastfeeding and conveys practical advice about positioning the baby, interpreting the baby's sucking rhythms, maternal nutrition and breast care. The most valuable parts of the book, however, are not on honing ``technical skills'' but those that treat aspects of the intimate communication between mother and baby--during breastfeeding and beyond. Kitzinger encourages the mother to involve the father in the burdens of infant care--as well as the rewards of nurturing--and to link up to a supportive network of women with children who can share both her positive and negative experiences and help her to maintain perspective during the emotional first months of a baby's life. (Sept.)