Becoming a mother is never exactly as you had imagined it. For some women it is an ordeal, for others a delight. For many it is the most disturbing, challenging, and exciting experience of their lives. Whatever the birth was like, and however you feel about your baby, there will be unexpected problems, questions you want to ask, feelings you want to share. In The Year After Childbirth , Sheila Kitzinger gives the support every woman needs in this turbulent first year. There is no shortage of baby-care books, but this will be the only authoritative mother-care book on the market. It focuses on the women, on her physical and emotional experiences and her relationships during the often difficult transition to motherhood. Time and again women say that they felt prepared for the birth, but not for what happened afterwards. After all the anticipation and the attention that an expectant mother gets, she is often left to face this alone. In this remarkable new book, Sheila Kitzinger discusses every aspect of this roller-coaster year - elation and the exhaustion, achievements and the anxieties - and makes practical suggestions for ways of coping when things go wrong. * How your body changes - toning your muscles, moving freely, relaxation skills, massage, yoga, pelvic floor vitality * Breast feeding - pleasures and problems, how to succeed when it does not start well, finding the best positions, increasing the milk supply * Eating well - ideas for healthy fast food, vegetarian diets * Feelings about yourself - discovering a new you, coping with unhappiness, postnatal depression, developing self-confidence * Feelings about your baby - the baby's personality and stages of development, how to get to know your baby as a unique person, baby massage * Fatherhood - how your partner may feel, how a man can be an active father and you can both share parenthood * Changing relationships - understanding how relationships change, with your partner, your parents, your friends, and your older child - and how you can handle these changes