How refreshing it is to come across a book about breastfeeding with “solution” in the title. So often, discussions about breastfeeding are centred around guilt (for not doing it, or for not doing it for long enough), or problems.
Nancy Mohrbacher offers wisdom and tips on most of the issues that concern breastfeeding mothers, from latching techniques to how to deal with breast pain. The advice given is common sense, but backed up by the professional knowledge that the author has obtained being a breastfeeding consultant.
The benefits of breastfeeding are significant and well known. However, this book does not waste any time trying to convert the reader. She assumes that you have already decided to give it your best shot. Midwives in the United Kingdom and the United States are often accused of assuming that the mother will fail and not offering help when she tries to give up in favour of bottle feeding, which for a sleep deprived woman with very sore boobs might seem like an attractive option. A brief flick through Mohrbacher’s book, however, would assure such mothers that there is someone on your side, and that many other women have similar kinds of problems when they try to breast feed their babies.
What is this book’s biggest strength? Mohrbacher has a disarming realism that gets the reader on side immediately. If you have bought “Breastfeeding Solutions” to make breastfeeding easy and less time consuming, Mohrbacher argues, then you have missed the point. She is keen to explain to new parents that babies who breastfeed will wake every couple of hours to feed, because their stomachs are simply not big enough to sustain them for longer. Likewise, breastfeeding will not lend itself to a routine in the same way that bottle feeding might, because it is led by the baby and not the mother. Once you have accepted that, your new life as a breastfeeding mother will be a lot more bearable and your expectations more realistic!
Although new mothers (and fathers) rightly become obsessed with babies, they still need their interest in specialist topics like this stimulated and it could be argued that this book is rather straightforward in its delivery of the subject. The writer does not embellish the text with many “real life” stories. The effect is that in some places the book can be rather dry. Some readers might prefer more anecdotes to break up the scientific information.
On the other hand, if as a frazzled mum you just want a no nonsense quick reference guide with information clearly set out in tables and bullet points, then this is the perfect book for you! To return to the title of the book, Mohrbacher delivers exactly what she promises: simple solutions.