Barbara Behrmann’s book, The Breastfeeding Café, is a gift to mothers. What could be better than sitting down with a cup of tea and reading a collection of stories? That alone would have been a wonderful book, but Behrmann has created an even better soup: she gives you endless savory stories about nursing mothers and at the same time, in prose that feels as if she’s your sister sitting at your kitchen table, she adds a meaty history of breastfeeding, birth and the joys and challenges women have faced when trying to nurse.

Behrmann tells her readers that nothing can replace face-to-face support, but The Breastfeeding Café can provide the next best thing – a community of nursing women you can visit whenever you are in need of comfort and support.” To me, it’s an essential book for every mother to read during those first 6 weeks after having a baby when a nursing mother spends many hours feeding her baby and often, in industrialized cultures, isolated from many people. Make the effort to balance the book on your leg while you breastfeed – this book is worth it.

In her explanation of the dramatic cultural transformation in the United States from a culture that did not breastfeed (1930s-1970s) to one that did (1970s – 1990s) to one that currently breastfeeds less and less, Behrmann provides fascinating facts and points out, “The introduction of infant formula, of course, was a huge factor. But this alone doesn’t explain the degree to which women abandoned nursing…”

I know what you must be thinking now: oh no, not another book that makes mothers who didn’t nurse feel guilty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Behrmann, who had a nightmare initial 8 weeks breastfeeding her first daughter, makes it clear how important she feels it is to breastfeed, but her book manages to include ALL mothers’ stories of breastfeeding which means there are stories of mothers who tried and failed. Support, she insists, is critical and it’s exactly what many mothers today, who are used to leading independent lives, don’t have.

But what I found so exciting and cutting-edge about The Breastfeeding Café is how well she addressed the birthing-breastfeeding connection. Many of the stories she heard from women, she says, “revealed how our ability to get breastfeeding off to a good start is influenced by the kind of birth experience we have…”

I first learned about the birth-breastfeeding connection from a good friend of mine and midwife Mary Kroeger who, along with Linda Smith, wrote a book for health care professionals called Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding. This was one of the first books to blow the top on this subject. Thankfully Behrmann goes right in there and takes this on. She clearly states, “before we can talk about breastfeeding we must first talk about birth.” Hallelujah! Yes!

Behrmann points out that American medical and nursing students do not receive the knowledge, training and experience to help nursing mothers. Furthermore, she connects that using drugs during labor can often affect the baby’s breathing, sucking and swallowing. Put this together with common hospital procedures that remove the baby to clean them up right after birth , about the same time most infants will instinctively search for the breast on their own if left undisturbed, and you can easily see how birth and breastfeeding are intimately connected.

The Breastfeeding Café is a powerful, fearless book that combines storytelling, history and an uplifting mothering adventure with the potential to heal. What better way to honor Mothers Day this month?!

For more breastfeeding inspiration visit The Breastfeeding Café website: click HERE

To join the BOLD Book Club click HERE.