Anktangle: Book Review and Giveaway: The Nursing Mother's Companion; Five Winners! {8/30, Worldwide} CLOSED

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Book Review and Giveaway: The Nursing Mother's Companion; Five Winners! {8/30, Worldwide} CLOSED

This giveaway is now CLOSED. Stay tuned to hear the winner announcement. Thank you all so much for entering!

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival!

This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com.

Today's post is about your favorite parenting books. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!

This is a joint giveaway cross-posted on Anktangle and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked “Win it!” for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.

The Harvard Common Press is offering five lucky readers a giveaway of a copy of The Nursing Mother's Companion, a value of $14.95 each. The Nursing Mother's Companion, 6th Edition, an accessible and informative guide to breastfeeding for new and expecting mothers.

The Nursing Mother's Companion, 6th Edition, written by Kathleen Huggins, RN, MS, is an excellent basic guide to all things breastfeeding. It provides both general information for the new mother (nutrition, hydration, the benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby) and more specific information regarding special circumstances (nursing multiples, moms with diabetes and other health challenges, babies with special needs). The "Survival Guide" portions of the book address common breastfeeding challenges specific to certain age ranges (the first week; the first two months; months two through six, and months six through twelve). There is an informative chapter which talks about nursing the toddler, and revisits the subject of weaning (having introduced it in a previous chapter), and there is a whole section on breast pumps and pumping. The appendices include plenty of breastfeeding-friendly resources, the WHO growth charts for breastfed babies, and also information about the safety of drugs during breastfeeding.

I found the information provided in The Nursing Mother's Companion to be research-based and accurate. For instance, one thing the book strongly recommends is on-cue feeding as opposed to a parent-directed feeding schedule, which we know can result in dehydration, low weight gain, and early weaning. The book addresses myths about co-sleeping and how to ensure you have a safe co-sleeping environment, citing Dr. James McKenna's extensive research on the topic. I particularly appreciated the section near the beginning (Planning for a Normal Birth) which discussed the impacts that the birth experience can have on the breastfeeding relationship. I also liked that the book tackled the breastmilk vs. formula debate right off the bat, explaining why breastmilk is the best food for human babies to consume. That said, I didn't experience the book to be particularly anti-formula feeding, especially when it came to the section on weaning the younger (non-toddler) baby.

Overall, I thought The Nursing Mother's Companion was really good. It was an easy read, and it provided a lot of information that would be particularly useful to the mother expecting her first child or the mother who has not breastfed a baby before. For a more experienced breastfeeding mother, some of the sections in the book might not be as helpful.

The one thing I didn't like about the book is that I noticed that there were some companies highlighted in the Resources for Nursing Mothers appendix that are not WHO Code compliant. I wish that the author had paid special attention to that, and only included companies in the resource list that choose to follow the WHO Code.

Other than that, I found this book to be a great resource for breastfeeding information, and it's easy to reference if you have a quick question about a breastfeeding challenge you're dealing with or a medication you might want to take while nursing. I love that The Nursing Mother's Companion is also available in a Spanish translation (El Libro Esencial para Madres Lactantes). This book would certainly make a great gift to give to any pregnant mother in your life!

BUY IT!

You can purchase your own copy of The Nursing Mother's Companion at Amazon for $8.95, with free Super Saver Shipping on qualifying orders over $25.

WIN IT!

For your own chance to win a copy of The Nursing Mother's Companion from The Harvard Common Press, enter in the comments below. Five lucky winners will receive a copy of The Nursing Mother's Companion.

Contest is open to WORLDWIDE mailing addresses.

MANDATORY ENTRY: Tell us why you want to win this book!

Leave a valid email address in your comments so we can contact you if you win.

This is a joint giveaway with Anktangle and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only, and we'll be recording IP addresses to ensure that there are no duplicate entries. That said, please do visit and enjoy both sites!

BONUS ENTRIES: Complete one or more of the following to increase your chance of winning after completing the mandatory entry above. Leave a separate comment for each so we can count them all.

Tell us who will enjoy your new copy of The Nursing Mother's Companion.
Subscribe to Anktangle in a reader or by email, or follow on Google Friend Connect (1 entry for each).
Subscribe to Natural Parents Network in a reader or by email (1 entry for each).
Leave a relevant comment on a non-giveaway article from Anktangle and tell us which post (comment on separate posts for up to 3 entries total).
Leave a relevant comment on a non-giveaway article at Natural Parents Network and tell us which post (comment on separate posts for up to 3 entries total).
Like Anktangle on Facebook.
Like Natural Parents Network on Facebook.
Like The Harvard Common Press on Facebook.
Post this giveaway on your Facebook page or wall and leave the link (1 entry). You can use this status update: Enter to win one of five copies of The Nursing Mother's Companion, 6th Edition, a must-have guide to all things breastfeeding from @Anktangle and @Natural Parents Network. Contest ends August 30th, and is open to Worldwide shipping addresses. http://anktangle.com/2011/07/giveaway-nursing-mothers-companion-830.html/
Follow @anktangle on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
Follow @NatParNet on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
Tweet about this giveaway (up to 5 times total, at least 24 hours apart). You can tweet this text: #Win one of five copies of The #Nursing Mother's Companion from an @anktangle & @NatParNet #giveaway! http://bit.ly/mY4KzJ {8/30; Worldwide}
Enter another giveaway at Anktangle (1 extra entry per giveaway — check back for more).
Enter another of the giveaways on Natural Parents Network (1 extra entry per giveaway — check back for more).
Put the Anktangle badge on your website or add http://anktangle.com/ to your text blogroll for 2 extra entries each. The HTML code for the badge is on the right sidebar. Leave your site URL in the comment.
Put the Natural Parents Network badge on your website or add http://NaturalParentsNetwork.com to your text blogroll for 2 extra entries each. The HTML code for the badge is on the right sidebar. Leave your site URL in the comment.

RULES

Contest open to Worldwide mailing addresses.
Contestants may enter at either Anktangle or Natural Parents Network but not both. Entries will be combined for the drawing of five winners.
Leave each entry as a separate comment so we can count them all.
For actions like following and subscribing, if you already follow or subscribe, just let us know in your comment.
For tasks that garner you multiple entries, you can copy and paste the comment with a #1, #2, etc.
You don't have to do any of the bonus entries, but you do have to complete the first mandatory one.
We will pick the winners through Random.org after the contest closes and send an email notification. Leave a valid email address as you comment so we can contact you if you win. If we can't reach a winner or don't hear back within a couple days, we'll draw a new name. Entries will be added together from both sites. If there are 50 entries from the non-NPN site and 65 entries from NPN, we will count the non-NPN entries as numbers 1-50 and the NPN entries as numbers 51-115.
After giveaway closes, a representative from NPN will contact the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond by email; otherwise, NPN will select another winner.
Any questions, let our giveaway editors know: ShannonR {at} NaturalParentsNetwork {dot} com and Amanda {at} NaturalParentsNetwork {dot} com

Contest closes August 30 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

Disclosure: Our reviewer received a sample product for review purposes.
Amazon links are affiliate links.
We try to seek out only products we think
you would find relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
If we don't like a product, we won't be recommending it to you.
See our full disclosure policy here.

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.