I am acting as a go between for another lactnut who would prefer not to get flamed, and who offers the following opinions anonymously.  Be assured, this is not me....I haven't read the books yet to form my own opinions.

The review:

"..... i just got vital touch from the library. so excited, after hearing such
rave reviews from others on lactnet. i started reading it with a tremendous
thrill of hearing all the right things said nd in such loving detail, even
though i recognize so many of the sources (that's okay). but some little
detail i couldn't find again rang a distant warning bell in the first part,
and when i got up to how colic is a major symptom of lack of touch problems
and couldn't be helped, just suffered through for three months, i began to get
suspicious. 

then along about pg 150 i started turning down page corners in earnest.
pacifiers and thumb sucking are necessary evils (this by implication at
first), then on pg 169  "of course, there's no harm in bottle feeding, if we
find this a more comfortable arrangement than nursing, or if we have no
choice. etc etc" wow i started getting royally pissed. then she has babies
causing pain and nipple damage by continuing to suckle "after the milk supply
is gone,'" (during a feeding). 

then i stopped turning down individual pages, because i felt that she couldn't
reconcile her respect for dr. brazelton with some of his obvious differences
from her basic theory, that of humans being a constant contact species and
what this implies. she is in the position of giving the most convincing
arguments for something, i.e., bf and co-sleeping to prevent sids, then pulls
her punches by saying, well, you really don't have to go quite that far. 

at some earlier point she seems to be saying that any kind of front carrier is
deficient compared to carrying your infant on your back, a la african style. i
know she is idealizing that image of the natl geographic mother with the baby
naked on her back, but i make slings and have used them a lot and i know that
you can carry a baby in front without pain.

i became curious and looked at the author description, her intro and forward
and acknowledgements, etc., and i don't see any mention of children. i began
wondering about this when she put a lot of emphasis on working away from your
baby and pumping milk so other people could substitute for the mother.  she
doesn't seem to have had that personal experience that might have made her a
little more savvy about this stuff, or else she didn't research the lactation
info enough. 

oh and here i marked a place where she says that letdown is influenced by
state of mind, and a tense or unhappy mother will have problems. but more in a
way that implies that you might lose your milk if you are a little depressed
this afternoon!

Additional comments by reviewer:

"If you think it would be good to post, go ahead, perhaps it would be less
controversial as an anonymous review, as i am pretty frank with my opinions!
(the vital touch info). i just saw another reference to it today on lactnet.

also someone defending susan love's breast book by saying she is bf friendly
even if her book shows a lack of knowledge. i have become rather infuriated by
this sort of thing these days. if it were a book about prostates, i wouldn't
expect the author to know beans about breasts, but if it is about BREASTS they darn sure ought to know. oh well. ranting again as usual! 

END