Bon Appetit, Baby! The Breastfeeding Kit.

Bon Appetit, Baby! The Breastfeeding Kit

by Elaine Moran, Treasured Child Productions, 1999 831-728-1553

When I received my copy of Bon Appetit, Baby! The Breastfeeding Kit I was immediately impressed. The packaging it came in asked the question, "What do you say when you see a nursing baby?" Upon opening the package I found the answer on the cover of the book--Bon Appetit, Baby. The inviting design of the cover prompted me to open the spiral-bound, Velcro-closured book. Inside I was surprised to find a dual-colored pencil (attached with Velcro). Now I was really intrigued to continue investigating this journal.

After skimming through the reviews and the acknowledgments, I read Moran's Preface. She described her overwhelming experience with the birth of her first child. She had prepared for pregnancy and childbirth, but not for the immediate postpartum period and dealing with breastfeeding. At her infant's two-week visit, her pediatrician asked about wet and soiled diapers. She wrote, "Was I supposed to remember this, too?" She could only remember to ask her pediatrician about any foods she should avoid while nursing. His response was to keep a food diary.

The pediatrician's answer prompted Moran to not only keep a food journal, but to use it as a weight loss tool. As many new mothers do, Moran also charted her infant's eliminations. Eventually, her logs evolved into the Nurse-N-Track System[TM], which is an entire system for new mothers to use to record their nutrition, their baby's eliminations, and their baby's sleeping and wakeful states, as well as notes and questions for the baby's doctor.

Moran has divided the book up into four parts. Part one covers breastfeeding benefits, preparing for breastfeeding, words of support and encouragement for both moms and dads, physiology of milk production, adjusting to motherhood, common breastfeeding difficulties, expressing milk, and the learning period--a time when many mothers are tempted to give up.

In part two Moran provides information on nutrition and weight loss. She provides a useful equation for figuring out what a normal caloric intake should be for each individual. And, she then breaks that information down into portions of foods needed based on the food pyramid. Unfortunately, Moran does not discuss the nutritional needs of vegetarian or vegan mothers.

Part three contains a thorough explanation of using the Nurse-N-track System[TM], which includes the Nursing Wheel, the Diaper Wheel, and the Nursing Mother's Daily Nutrition Diary. Moran includes six-weeks' worth of forms for each part of her system. The wheels are designed for the mom to simply log baby's diapers and sleeping and wakeful states by marking off the time increments printed on the wheels. The nutrition diary lists necessary nutrients and gives moms a place to check off their daily intakes. This system also allows moms to track possible food allergies.

The spiral-bound format of the journal makes it easy to lay flat and allow a mother (who may only have one free hand) to make her entries. The dual-colored pencil that is included makes it simple to make notations.

Moran also includes New Mother's Journal pages, which contain encouraging quotes and spaces to write. Additionally, she includes a list of resources. Sadly, she didn't include ALACE, but she does mention birth and postpartum doulas.

While I was hoping for a few more practical tips for new moms and I disagreed with a few of her advisements, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this journal and wish I would have had one with my first child. However, the Nurse-N-track System[TM] may be even more useful for hectic moms with more than one child.

Annmarie G. Klyzub Kalmar, Editor, CLA