William Sears - The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning

D URING OUR MANY YEARS as pediatrician and nurse, weve noticed that there is something wonderfully unique about breastfeeding babies and their mothers. Breastfed babies are healthier. When they do get sick, breastfeeding infants recover faster. But whats more, as we have observed these nursing pairs, weve learned that breastfeeding is not just a method of delivering nutrition, its also a way of establishing a relationship. Breastfeeding requires a sensitive dialogue between mother and infant. Mother tunes in to baby, and baby tunes in to mother. They learn about each others face and mannerisms. Most important, they learn to trust each other and to feel confident of each others love. This is babys first relationship in life and one that sets the tone for how baby learns to view the world.

Breastfeeding also gives mothers a biochemical boost to help them through the trying times of baby tending. The same hormones that make milk make mothers more intuitive about their babies. Breastfeeding empowers mothers. It helps them become experts on their babies. Lessons learned during breastfeeding are the first steps toward becoming wise parents. Breastfeeding will make it easier to guide and discipline your child in the years to come.

Much of this book was researched on the job. In four decades of counseling breastfeeding parents, we have learned what works and what doesnt. As Bill has helped breastfeeding pairs get the right start after birth, or as Martha has counseled breastfeeding parents in our offices Breastfeeding Center, we have collected many practical tips for nursing mothers. We have also tried and tested many solutions to the problems that mothers experience with breastfeeding. What we have learned we have gathered into this book in the hope that it will help more mothers enjoy breastfeeding their babies.

The more we have learned about breastfeeding, the more passionate we have become about encouraging mothers to start breastfeeding and to continue breastfeeding for as long as possible. We know that when the mother of a newborn baby makes the commitment to give her baby her milk, she is offering her baby the best intellectual, physical, and emotional start in life.

Martha has happily logged eighteen years of breastfeeding our eight children through a variety of challenging circumstances. With our first three infants, she juggled breastfeeding and working. Jim and Bob (now pediatricians themselves) nursed for eight months eachconsidered a long time decades ago. And Peter (now practicing family medicine) was our first nursing toddlera laid-back little guy who weaned fairly easily at seventeen months. Our fourth infant, Haydenour high-need childhad the benefit of breastfeeding for four years. She (a mother of three now, all happily breastfed) taught us a lot and paved the way for her younger siblings Erin and Matthew to also enjoy extended breastfeeding. Stephen, our seventh child, was born with Down syndrome, yet for three and a half years Martha was able to give him the intellectual and developmental benefits that come with breastfeeding. For an encore, our eighth child, Lauren, came into our family as a newborn by adoption, and with a lot of support and a big dose of commitment Martha was able to breastfeed her for ten months, strengthening the bond between them. Martha cherishes the wonderful memories of babies at breast, knowing that she gave our children a gift that no one else in the whole world can give. Now we can sit back and enjoy the benefits, and Martha can pass on all she learned from her own breastfeeding years and from being both a La Leche League leader since 1980 and a student at the Lactation Institute in Encino, California, from 1984 to 1985. The work she has done in this field of health care has been the most rewarding of her career.