Pregnancy and Birth Books

This would make me very unhappy and guilt ridden, had I gotten it when my baby was new. Among the unrealistic quotes:

...as soon as the milk "comes in" under the irresistible force of oxytocin and a second hormone called prolactic, mother love usually assaults us with a force that can be surprising, and we have no way of resisting it. (Right. You've never met a mother too exhausted to care?)

Nearly every pregnant woman becomes more supersitious than normal. (HUH?)


Female bodies are well-designed for giving birth; the soft tissues of the birth passage open so that the baby is gently squeezed out. (Surely no comment necessary.)



I could go on but I'd rather not.

I was dismayed by all the misinformation in this book. Most of the breastfeeding information is about 10 years out of date. I have the 1987 edition and was surprised by how little they revised the book when they re-released it.

On top of that, the theme of the book seems to be that breastfeeding and working is hard, you probably won't be able to really do it so don't try very hard and don't feel guilty when you fail. I don't need to read a book to get that attitude; I can just talk to my relatives!

The one helpful part of the book was the case studies of how different women handled different work situations especially unusual situation. It's a shame the rest of the book goes out of it's way to emphasize the negative and downplay anything positive about the choice to continue to breastfeed after going back to work.

This book has a lot of names, but no pronunciations to help you along. I would not order it again.

This woman has never (to my knowledge) suffered a miscarriage. She is a hypnotherapist who treats miscarriage sufferers. If you have any experience at all with meditation, yoga or other relaxation techniques, this book will be a total waste for you.

Basic, Basic, some good advice: was not to feel guilty about wanting time in the beginning for just you, your partner and your babies, some family members can be pushy and this is your time to bond...the family and friend can help with chores around the house that is the best help.

I'm a yoga teacher, about to teach a prenatal class. I bought this book because Judith Lasater is an excellent teacher and I hoped to get some ideas for my class. The 23 pages of this book devoted to prenatal yoga were quite helpful. I just expected more. This is billed as a Rodmell Press "Yoga Shorts" and it is. The book would probably be most helpful for a pregnant woman who is new to yoga. She would learn 6 poses, 3 of them supported. For everyone else, I'd recommend going with Lasater's RELAX AND RENEW.

This book is slightly informative if you plan on giving birth in the 1950's-60's. The whole tone of the book makes you feel like you are a child (who doesn't deserve to have a choice in any matters) being told to listen to your doctor and don't question anything he/she ever says or does. I picked this book up along with some others while deciding how and where I wanted to have my baby - It was so condescending and made it sound like having a baby was a serious sickness to be dealt with by a hazmat team only. I would not recommend this book to anyone exploring their options and wanting to make an informed decision on how to bring your baby into this world.

CERPS from IBLCE are no longer available for these modules. Please check with Jones and Bartlett Publishers for more information.

CERPS from IBLCE are no longer available for these modules. Please check with Jones and Bartlett Publishers for more information.

I bought this book used. I gave it one star because it's not unique, it doesn't appeal to a large audience, and the names are rather dull. Save your money and find something better. There are plenty of other naming books that will be more helpful than this dud.

This book is nothing special as far as baby name books are concerned. Very typical information, nothing new presented. Spend your money elsewhere.

Hyde and Forsyth try very hard to present an even and unbiased view on teenagers and sex, but unfortunately seem unable to report the facts without coming across very heavy handed. It is clear that these women both feel that teenagers should not be having sex at all, and they perpetuate gender stereotypes in regards to teenagers and sexual activity. They present several different scenarios of girls being pressured into sex, sexually abused, or damaged in some way physically and emotionally due to a sexual encounter, whereas the boys in each scenario escape relatively unscathed. And while the authors clearly do not support abstinence only education, and do encourage teens to talk to an adult to learn about safe sex, they use a book full of scare tactics to encourage teens to avoid all sexual activity. There is not one example, in a book full of possible scenarios, of a loving young couple enjoying safe sex (of any type) without consequence. The authors never impart their own judgment in their own words, but we see scenario after scenario of young women feeling "guilty and ashamed" (page 55) of themselves because of their sexual encounters and the consequences.

While a large portion of the book is a discussion of sex and abstinence and safe sex practices, the other major section of the book is a more factual display of information about reproduction, sexually transmitted diseases, and contraception. Unfortunately, this section is riddled with inaccuracies and limited information. The term STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) is continually used throughout, while the more current term STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) is not once used or explained. The term STI is the term used by leading sexual health organizations, and the term that teenagers will find in many of the materials and websites that this book refers them to. On page 51, the authors use the term PID to explain a symptom of Chlamydia in the middle of a chart of information. However nowhere in the book do they explain that PID stands for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, nor can the term PID or Pelvic Inflammatory Disease be found in the Glossary or the Index. AIDS is referred to as a "death sentence" on page 43, in a quotation, without further explanation of HIV, AIDS, and how it may or may not lead to death. This same quotation links teen pregnancy to AIDS, again with no further explanation. On page 77 we learn that "a girl is considered a virgin if her hymen has not been stretched or torn by sexual intercourse". While trying to show that virginity is not affected when the hymen is torn in other ways, this is not an entirely accurate sentence as a girl's hymen has nothing to do with whether or not she is a virgin. On page 90 the reader gets the branch name for the Transdermal Patch (Ortho Evra), but on page 89 there is no similar name given for the Vaginal Ring (NuvaRing). And lastly, on page 95, the reader learns that Emergency Contraception is available only by prescription, making it difficult to obtain. In California (and some other states), Emergency Contraception is available at many pharamacies (including Walgreens) without a prescription.

For a book that does so much to discourage teenaged sexual activity (and especially unsafe sexual activity), there's an unfortunate lack of vital information. Early in the book teens are told that they "will not become a parent" and they "will not get a sexually transmitted disease" if they choose abstinence. It is not, however, until many many pages later that the authors explain that abstinence includes abstinence from ALL sexual activity, and that oral sex, anal sex, and certain touching can, in fact, spread some disease and infection. A teenager who skims through this book, or only reads to a certain point to find certain information, could walk away with some dangerous ideas about how to protect his or her sexual health.

Far too many pages spent discussing abstinence. Remember "Just say 'No' to drugs?" Yeah, that didn't work either. And there are three sentences on abortion that are not really informative. There are plenty of resources that are NOT this book where people can get free, accurate, non-biased, non-judgmental information about sex.