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THE NURSING MOTHER'S COMPANION by Kathleen Huggins

THE NURSING MOTHER'S COMPANION

By

Pub Date: Feb. 15th, 1986
Publisher: Harvard Common Press--dist. by Kampmann (9 East 40th St., New York, NY 10016)

A practical guide to breast-feeding for mothers, written in a simple, methodical, understandable manner, with illustrations. Huggins believes that there is no greater reward than watching the child grow, first in the womb, then at the breast, and this feeling comes through in this warmly written guidebook. From planning the first few weeks from the mother's point of view--and then baby's--to the first month's learning period to traveling with baby to going back to work to family planning, Huggins presents an all-inclusive aid to the nursing mother. Along the way, she addresses such subjects as colostrum, ""the perfect food for babies, being high in protein, low in fat,"" to the difference in breast-fed babies' bowel movements (7-8 per day with greenish hue is normal), to positioning at the breast, to demand feeding, i.e., as baby needs it. Fatigue and depression are discussed, as well as fussy babies, underfeeding, and reassuring advice on weight loss (guaranteed to panic any mother, especially first-timers). Huggins often quotes other people's work rather than her own clinical experience. Some of her information is incomplete, e.g., the family-planning section, which fails to even mention the Billings' method of Natural Family Planning. Two appendixes cover drags and their side-effects and provide resource information. All in all, very useful and long overdue.