It was 13 years ago this July that I got my sixth edition copy of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding signed by all seven founders of La Leche League International, with my daughter, Virtue in tow (in a sling of course). That was a moment that can’t ever happen again because not all seven founders are alive today. I got to chat with each one during the book signing and they each exuded peace and motherliness which is rare in today’s world. Even though the organizers of the autographing event kept telling those of standing in line to be done, these kind old ladies obliged us autograph seekers as if they were queenly rock stars (which they are, to those of us in the LLL world) and stayed till the very last groupie was satisfied.

The eighth edition of the Womanly Art is coming out this July! It’s been completely rewritten to be more “hip” and “girlfriendy.” I am curious to see how this read. One of the authors is Diane Weissinger. I like everything she’s written that I’ve read so far. You can see her site at normalfed.com. I appreciate that the WAB was written by some of the founders because that gives it a patient, grandmotherly perspective from women who grew up in the prefeminist age. I know I gave the breastfeeding book So That’s What They’re For! five stars but I’ve been thinking I should change that to four.

It’s because that book is written from the postfeminist age perspective that having a baby and breastfeeding is something that you do alongside a career. It’s written from the perspective that mothering, fertility, and breastfeeding is something you turn on and off, according to the needs of your other nonmotherly career. The WAB has more of an old-fashioned perspective of yes, you can breastfeed and mother, it’s the natural thing for women to do from time immemorial.

When I asked one of the founders of La Leche League to sign my older edition of the WAB that I had brought to the conference, she refused. She said it had some stuff in there on birth control that she didn’t agree with. But the newer edition that was just being released that month of July 1997 was kosher to her. The newer edition mentioned LAM (lactational amenorrhea, which is breastfeeding in a way that causes your fertility to stop) as an effective form of birth control.

LAM, as well as breastfeeding, is one of the things that women of the past knew about. One of those “grandmother” things that young women of the day get pressured by commercial interests to downplay and not believe. Young women of today are persuaded to believe that science and technology are better than the wisdom of their bodies and nature.

Well, I hope the new WAB still contains the promotion of LAM. I think it will. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have the upcoming 8th edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (WAB) on the New York Times Best Seller list? Check out this page on the LLLI Web site to pre-order your copy from your favorite bookseller. http://www.llli.org/thewomanlyartofbreastfeeding Your order makes a difference and can help make the WAB be on that Best Seller list.

Only books pre-ordered & or purchased before July 18, 2010 will count towards our goal to make it on the New York Times Best Seller list. (Preorder by July 13th, purchase directly between July 13th and July 18th, Books purchased on or after July 19th will not be counted.)

So order your copy today. You may be past the time of breastfeeding but I bet you know someone, a neighbor, a ward member, someone you visit teach, a niece, a daughter, daughter-in-law or granddaughter or cousin who is expecting a baby or nursing. Each of these sisters would greatly benefit from the gift of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book. Let’s show the world that women of today are highly interested in preserving the womanly art of breastfeeding!