Clare Byam-Cook - What To Expect When Youre Breast-feeding... And What If You Cant?

How to feed and settle your baby
and have a life of your own

Clare Byam-Cook

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Text copyright Clare Byam-Cook 2001

Clare Byam-Cook has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

First published in the United Kingdom in 2001 by Vermilion an imprint of Ebury Press Random Rouse, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA

Random House Australia (Pty) Limited 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney, New South Wales 2061, Australia

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 0 09 185674 4

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Contents

Clare Byam-Cook trained as a nurse at Westminster Hospital and qualifed in 1976. After going on to do a midwifery course at Pembury Hospital in Kent and qualifying as a midwife in 1979, she then worked for four years at Queen Charlottes Hospital in London until the birth of her first baby. In 1989 Clare was approached by antenatal teacher Christine Hill to join Hills Chiswick practice as her breast-feeding specialist and she has been there ever since.

During her years working with Christine Hill, Clare has gained invaluable experience in everything to do with breast-feeding, bottle-feeding, crying babies (and crying mothers!), and everything else associated with the day-to-day care of newborn babies. In addition to teaching at the antenatal classes, she makes home visits to any mother who asks for her help, and says she has learnt more about babies and feeding problems from doing these home visits than in all her years as a hospital midwife.

Clare feels that there is no better experience to be gained than by being in a position to see the same problems time and time again. As a result, most of the advice she gives in this book is based on the knowledge she has gained during the many years she has been doing these home visits. It is not based solely on textbook theories.

This book should be handed out with the first contraction. Clare is a true baby whisperer who will save you and your baby hours of torment. Her kind, common-sense and amazingly informed advice was as essential to me as breastpads and chocolate. Buy this book!

Kate Beckinsale

After having been exposed to much contradictory and confusing counsel from midwives and doctors following childbirth, Clare Byam-Cooks straightforward advice on many matters, particularly how to latch on properly and how to deal with engorged breasts, restored my confidence to breast-feed my baby successfully.

Lady David Dundas

Whenever I refer patients to Clare I am confident that, if the problem can be solved, she will solve it. Her expertise and calm, confident manner has provided help and reassurance to countless mothers over the years I am sure this book will prove invaluable to countless new mothers.

Dr Tim Evans MBBS MRCGP DRCOG DA

There is so much bollocks talked to new mothers about breast-feeding everyone has an opinion and most of them seem to conflict. Clare Byam-Cook is a great solution she takes away the old wives tales, the nonsense and the guilt, and makes the whole process work as it is meant to.

Emma Freud

Clare has a down-to-earth approach to feeding ones baby. She promotes breast-feeding but eliminates any feelings of guilt or inadequacy which are often felt when we are unable to manage it.

The Rt Hon Countess of Guilford

The ultimate bible by a true authority on this most fundamental yet elusive of subjects. Clares wisdom and experience will hold the hand of many a vulnerable new mother. It is greatly welcomed.

Patricia Hodge

Acknowledgements

My thanks to:

My son Richard without whose help this book would never have been written. Richard taught me from scratch how to use a computer and then put up with endless tantrums (from me!) every time the computer went wrong. To have such a tolerant teenager makes me very proud!

My daughter Susan who dealt with my computer disasters whenever Richard was unavailable. She deserves a medal for being so kind to her mother!

My husband David who has provided support and encouragement throughout our married life. In particular I want to thank him for being prepared to listen to absolutely endless (and for him, extremely boring!) discussions on all aspects of this book not many men would have tolerated it.

Christine Hill for giving me so much help in the writing of this book. Her advice and expertise has been invaluable.

And finally, I would like to thank all the doctors, paediatricians and new mothers who took the time to read the manuscript and give me their constructive feedback.

Authors note

The main purpose in writing this book is to help mothers who are experiencing breast-feeding problems. These are the women I see day in, day out (mothers without problems do not ring me!) and these are the women who I feel will benefit most from this book. I have therefore written the book as a step-by-step problem-solving guide, on the premise that it will mainly be read by mothers who are having problems, rather than those who are not.

Im assuming that most women will not want to read this book from cover to cover before their baby is born, but will instead only refer to it if they are actually having a feeding problem. For this reason, I have tried to cover each problem in its entirety without having too many cross-references. As a result, some of my advice is repeated several times throughout the book.

To avoid confusion between the mother who is female and her baby who could be either sex, I have referred to the baby throughout as being male.

Finally, for ease of writing, and to avoid endless references to the father of the baby as partner, other half or husband, I have decided to opt for husband. This does not mean that I assume everyone is married.

Introduction

This may sound obvious, but when it comes to feeding your baby, the most important thing to remember is that you are trying to give him food! Breast milk is the ideal milk, as it is specifically designed for a newborn baby. However, formula milks are excellent too, so dont feel a failure if breast-feeding doesnt work for you and you need to change over to bottle-feeding.