Breastfeeding Doesn't Need to Suck: How to Nurture Your Baby and Your Mental Health

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett

jun 2022 · American Psychological Association

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2023 Prose Award Finalist

Breastfeeding Doesn’t Need to Suck shows mothers how to navigate their breastfeeding journey while also caring for their mental health. 

Breastfeeding Doesn’t Need to Suck contains information that you will not find in other breastfeeding books, such as a thorough discussion of breastfeeding’s impact on sleep, safe (and unsafe) bedsharing, and how where babies sleep impacts their mothers’ mental health. This book describes what effective help looks like and gives specific suggestions for partners, grandmothers, and friends who want to help. Mothers will also learn how to navigate healthcare systems that can often undermine breastfeeding and mental health.

Postpartum is hard, no matter how you feed your baby. Yet formula companies tell mothers that all of their problems will be solved if only they would switch. It’s not true; these issues will still be there even if mothers stop breastfeeding.  These are the five “I”s of new motherhood: idleness, isolation, incompetence, identity, and intensity. If mothers are unprepared for these feelings, they can undermine both her breastfeeding and her mental health.

Breastfeeding Doesn’t Need to Suck provides information on common breastfeeding problems, such as nipple pain and low milk supply, while also keeping mothers’ mental health in mind. Breastfeeding, when it’s going well, protects mothers’ mental health. Conversely, breastfeeding problems increase the risk of depression and anxiety. Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett is both a psychologist and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, with more than 30 years’ experience in both lactation and mental health. Breastfeeding Doesn’t Need to Suck is an evidence-based guide full of practical advice with the goal of helping mothers and babies navigate postpartum and come through it happy, healthy, and securely attached.

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Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC, FAPA, is a health psychologist and international board-certified lactation consultant. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association in health and trauma psychology. She has been an accredited La Leche League leader for 26 years and served in many board and leadership positions. She was the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Clinical Lactation and is currently editor-in-chief of Psychological Trauma. Dr. Kendall-Tackett has authored 490 articles and is the author or editor of 40 books including the bestselling Breastfeeding Made Simple (with Nancy Mohrbacher) and the Clinical Lactation Monograph Series. Visit kathleenkendall-tackett.com and follow @UptySciChick.