Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants

This is my new go-to book when a baby has me stumped.This book gives the lactation consultant an informed, effective way of observing, assessing,and supporting the infant's sucking skills.I am so grateful for the information in this book, but more importantly, so are my clients. This book has given me the tools to work with even the most challenging little breastfeeders.

After working with mothers and babies for over 35 years, it is rare when I find a book on breastfeeding that really excites me or teaches me something new. This book is both challenging and thought provoking. My colleagues and I have already had discussions about re-examining how we evaluate a baby's sucking skills. I wish I could afford to give this book to every pediatrician, ENT, and speech therapist who has told me that a baby didn't have any problems suckling or wasn't tongue tied. Hopefully this book will help shift the knowledge paradigm about infant suck and a babies ability to breastfeed. It should be required reading for anyone who works with babies. Peg Merrill, BS, IBCLC, RLC Baltimore, Md.

Catherine Watson-Genna's wealth of experience and knowledge in the area of breastfeeding, and more specifically, the feeding of babies with various anatomical anomolies, makes for a priceless resource for lactation consultants and doctors. In my opinion, this book should be read and referred to often by any health care provider who routinely deals with breastfeeding infants and/or their mothers.

Bursting with hard-to-find information, this book features some of the finest minds in the world offering cutting-edge insights on challenges that lactation consultants and other health-care professionals face every day. In her own chapters, editor Catherine Watson Genna addresses tongue tie, sensory integration problems, neurological issues and other topics. Chapter authors include international luminaries such as Nils Bergman, Christina Smillie, Rebecca Glover, Diane Wiessinger, Linda Smith, and Kerstin Nyqvist. This book is a must-have for anyone working with breastfeeding families, including occupational therapists and speech-and-language pathologists, whose training is often based primarily on bottle-feeding norms.

This book is perfect for many individuals; whether you are a medical professional, lactation consultant, or a new mom seeking the most up to date information in the field of lactation, this book covers all the bases. Although this is a medical text(which more often than not are dry as toast,) Ms. Watson Genna's writing is absorbing and insightful. It provides answers that many pracitioners need in a clear, concise manner. Anyone working with breastfeeding mothers, either prenatally or post partum, should have this book in their library. Bravo! C. deBrauwere BA IBCLC