Well, a new Borders Bookstore opened here yesterday and I was in there
browsing around when I noticed that _The Girlfriend's Guide to
Pregnancy_ (gag me) now has a sequel: _The Girlfriend's Guide to the
First Year_. I don't know if any of you have seen the first book, but it
is supposed to be a funny, conversational-style discussion ("things your
OB won't tell you") about pregnancy and birth, etc. This woman named
Vicki Iovine wrote it (she has 4 children). It has become a huge
bestseller and she now has a column in Parenting magazine. Anyway, it
was a really awful book and now she is advising *new* mothers in the new
book. The section on "feeding choices" is , bar none, the worst
information on breastfeeding that I have ever read in a
large-scale-audience book (worse in many ways than Ezzo, who at least
advises in favor of breastfeeding, albeit on a wierd schedule). Because
this woman is just dispensing her own, supposedly witty opinions, very
little that she says has any basis in fact. However, in reading the
book, new mothers will be swayed by her knowing, confident tone. The
considerations she advises using in deciding between breast and bottle
include things like: "Are you ready for your love toys to be turned into
udders for the next few months?" and "How much sleep do you really
need?". ARRRGGHHH!!! She also makes anyone who takes this decision too
seriously out to be an uptight, nosy, do-gooder. I can tell from the way
these books are selling and the way they are being discussed on my own
pregnancy due date list that they are having a wide impact nationally.

Katie Allison Granju
Knoxville, TN