The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning

by Kathleen Huggins and Linda Zeidrich

This book is full of information on historical aspects of breastfeeding, weaning practices in other cultures, why formula could be bad for your baby, various reasons you'd want to wean at different ages, solutions to breastfeeding difficulties and how to juggle nursing with work. The focus seems to be more on continuing breastfeeding as long as possible, with brief instructions on how to wean "if you must" (as the tone implies). Each section discusses a different age group: when your child is younger than four months old, between four and twelve months, one to two years, and over three years old. The first actual weaning instruction isn't until page 73 (halfway through the book) and total pages on that subject only comprise 44 of the total book. If I hadn't happened to read this book before I was ready to wean my daughter, I think I would have found it very frustrating. It's very useful if you need practical information on breastfeeding, especially in regards to the benefits, nutrition, your child's behavior and common setbacks. But if you really want to wean you child, The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning is more apt to make you change your mind, or feel guilty about it. I wish it had a different title, so I could give it a better recommendation! Because I did like reading it, and found it to be well-written, but the title felt misleading.

Rating: 2/5                 196 pages, 1994