Women Open Up About the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding
Starred review from February 23, 2009
In this revealing collection of essays, 25 writers talk about their personal breastfeeding experiences. The beautifully written, heartbreaking first entry, “Breast-Laid Plans” by Heidi Raykeil is about how nursing her daughter for three and a half years helped her become whole again after the loss of her first-born child. In “Motherhood Made a Liar Out of Me,” Daryn Eller writes about feeling left out as the mother of an adopted, bottle-fed daughter and when asked in the playground if her child is weaned, she always answers “yes.” Dawn Porter's “In a Man's World” tackles the difficulties of pumping milk in the workplace, while Patricia Berry is clear on her decision in “Because I Don't Want To,” her husband and La Leche League be damned. The authors are all accomplished writers and their collected emotions and sentiments form a powerful and informative commentary on this most loaded of parenting topics that will especially resonate with anyone who has raised a child.