The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk

The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk

This book grew out of Diana West’s previous book, Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After
Breast Reduction Surgery. The sections in that book on strategies for increasing your milk supply
were widely used by mothers and breastfeeding counsellors to help all mothers with low milk
supply and not just those who had undergone breast reduction surgery.
Making More Milk is aimed primarily at mothers who have a low milk supply for whatever reason.
It gives them the tools to be their own detective and to work through possible causes for their low
supply, as well as suggesting strategies to tackle the problem. This book will also be useful for
Leaders and health professionals who are working with mothers who have a low milk supply in
spite of seemingly doing all the right things, like frequent feeding.
The largest section in the book is the one which investigates the possible causes of low milk supply
, and this asks, is it something your baby is doing, is it something you are doing, is it something
about your breasts, is it your hormones, or is it in your mind?
Of course there are also sections on improving breastfeeding management, on supplementing,
and on increasing your milk through the use of various aids such as galactogogues –
pharmaceutical, herbal and homeopathic, and lactogenic foods. Making more milk if you return to
work or study, or in special situations such as prem babies, multiple births, relactation and induced
lactation are also covered.
There are extensive references and a good index but relatively few photographs or diagrams.
There are frequent mentions of useful websites for further information, (including that of the
authors www.lowmilksupply.org), so the book is even more useful if the reader has ready access
to the internet.

Original review, printed in Aroha Volume 11 Number 1

The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk
By Diana West and Lisa Marasco
McGraw-Hill, New York, USA, 2008
Reviewed by Rosemary Gordon, LLLNZ

Continue ReadingThe Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk

Breastfeeding an Adopted Baby and Relactation

This would be a good initial book for women to read if they are thinking about breastfeeding an
adopted baby, if only to help them decide whether or not induced lactation is for them. The
author doesn’t pretend that adoptive breastfeeding is easy, nor that there is any guarantee of
success. She counsels that it is better to want to do it for the skin-to-skin contact, better hand-eye
coordination and good facial and jaw development than for the best nutrition, prevention of
allergies, the simplicity of breastfeeding, or as the only way to bond with an adopted baby. While
there are reported instances of women in developing countries building up a full supply of breast
milk for their adopted babies, this is rarer in developed countries – or maybe in countries where
breastfeeding is still not the cultural norm.
The book covers topics such as how lactation works, preparing for adoptive breastfeeding, the
effectiveness or otherwise of various galactagogues, supplementing, special situations (such as
breastfeeding adopted multiples, tandem nursing and breastfeeding a foster baby), and where to
get support for adoptive breastfeeding.
As this is an English edition of a German book, published by LLLI, many of the resources are US
ones, in particular the list of milk banks (there are currently no milk banks in New Zealand),
although the other resources do include web pages which are accessible to all.

Original review, printed in Aroha Volume 9 Number 3

Breastfeeding an Adopted Baby and Relactation
By Elizabeth Hormann
La Leche League International, USA, 2006
Reviewed by Rosemary Gordon, LLLNZ

Continue ReadingBreastfeeding an Adopted Baby and Relactation