Steiner - Spilled milk: breastfeeding adventures and advice from less-than-perfect moms

Like a rollicking conversation with your best girlfriendshonest, intimate, and hilariousAndy Steiners down-to-earth guide to breastfeeding is a refreshing blend of straight talk and practical wisdom.

Karen Olson, editor, Utne magazine

If youre having a baby, do yourself a favorditch some of the mommy manuals and read this instead.

Monika Bauerlein, senior editor, Mother Jones

Andy Steiner is the woman to turn to for all the nursing issues that get glossed over. In the weirdly political world of breastfeeding, Steiner stands out as a sympathetic compadre. She knows the difficulties, the rewards, and the judgments that come with infant feeding.

Jennifer Niesslein and Stephanie Wilkinson, editors, Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers

In this spirited mamafesto, Andy Steiner boldly and wisely challenges myths not only about the process and protocol of breastfeeding itself, but about what our culture expectsoften unfairlyof its mothers. Steiner and her fellow breastfeeders share their stories of both the joys and the, well, letdowns of lactation in voices that are so blunt, sassy, and loving youll want to keep them around even after the breast pumps and nursing bras are packed away.

Andi Zeisler, editor, Bitch magazine

This is not your mothers how-to book about breastfeeding! Andy Steiner is a fresh voice: lively, informative, sassy, personal. The result is a book that will empower and comfort women who are breastfeeding, or thinking about it, and will even engage and inform those who arent.

Mollie Hoben, founding publisher, Minnesota Womens Press

Andy Steiners brave and honest book is a helpful companion during the tenuous process of learning to nurse, and learning to accept the social awkwardness about exposing our breasts that ironically pervades our culture. I smiled in recognition and was heartened by her attitude and suggestions.

Nanci Olesen, producer and host, MOMbo, a radio resource for moms

This is a wonderfully wide-ranging book. Women who love breastfeeding, those who find it incredibly difficult, strange, or painful; and those who dont yet know what they will decide or experience, will all feel welcome in Spilled Milk.... If youve ever breastfed, or thought you might, this is a book youll want to read.

Faulkner Fox, author, Dispatches from a Not-So-Perfect Life

Instead of guilting moms with best for baby moralizing, Steiner serves up a warm chat-fest of real-life mama experiences that help readers make fully-informed choices. And because of its big-picture look at breastfeedings impact on sex, love, and life in general, this book provides an engaging preview of life during Babytime that any would-be mom will prize.

Helen Cordes, editor, Daughters magazine

I loved this book. Its humorous, honest, and empowering without being unrealistic. It paints a very full, complex, and real picture of what its like to breastfeedand thats exactly what moms need.

Nancy Gruver, founder and publisher, New Moon Magazine

Spilled Milk is filled with the voices of the wise and witty girlfriends I wish I had had when my first baby was born and I was struggling to keep the milk bar open round the clock. Its warm, compassionate, funny, and just the thing for a late-night nurse-a-thon.

Beth Hawkins, senior editor, City Pages (Minneapolis)

Wise, witty, deliciously reassuring. The perfect pick-me-up for mothers convinced that theyre the only ones on the planet who are doing it wrongwhich is pretty much all of us.

Barbara Graham, author, Women Who Run with the Poodles

A deliciously important book. Myth-busting and empowering, this is the real deal about nursing from real moms.

Ariel Gore, editor, Hip Mama

Notice

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health and the health of your baby. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you or your baby has a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2005 by Andy Steiner

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Excerpt reprinted with permission of La Leche League International.

Book design by Christina Gaugler

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Steiner, Andy.

Spilled milk : breastfeeding adventures and advice from less-than-perfect moms / Andy Steiner.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13 9781594860409 paperback

ISBN-10 1594860408 paperback

ISBN-9781623362294 ebook

1. BreastfeedingPopular works. I. Title.

RJ216.S83 2005

649'.33dc22

2005009989

To my mother

I still remember when I decided to write this book. It was in the middle of a dark, cold February night, and I was up nursing my oldest girl. Ive always felt miserable being awake when the rest of the world is asleep, but over the years Ive come to realize that those quiet hours with a warm baby can be the source of many a good idea.

The list of people who helped move this book from middle-of-the-night musing to the reality you now hold in your hands is long. First of all, Id like to thank the scores of mothers who shared their breastfeeding stories with me. Many are named in the book, but there were countless others I didnt have space to include. Even if their names arent mentioned, their stories and voices add flavor and authenticity. This book would not exist without them.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who told others about this project, including Dorie Lanni, Sharis Ingram, Deborah Martin, Wendy Manning, Sasha Aslanian, Laura Coleman, Karin Bultman, Christina Hayward, Lisa Jervis, Anne La Fave, Rachel McGarry, Mary Johnson, Monika Bauerlein, Betsy Lawson, Maja Beckstrom, Amy Nelson, Berry Steiner, Laine Bergeson, Betsy Carpenter, Kara Lubin, Becky Sun, Miriam Karmel, and Julie Lund. The fact that I was able to speak with so many amazing mamas is testament to the power of womens friendships as much as it is to the Internet. My original e-mail request for interviews was passed from friend to friend around the United States and the world. The response was overwhelmingand heartening.