I found Susan Weed after suffering with a painful breast cyst for over 6 months which painkillers did nothing for. Using Susan's herbal compresses I was back to normal after only one week and with no painkillers. It is wonderful to feel good again!

Thank you personally Susan Weed for helping me feel better!

WISE WOMAN HERBAL - Childbearing Year
Susun Weed
Ash Tree Publishing 1986
P.O. Box 64, Woodstock N.Y. 12498
PB 171
$9.95
ISBN # 0-9614620-0-0
Review by: Christina Francine

"Aren't herbs dangerous, especially during pregnancy?" a woman asks.

"I've heard they cause cancer," says another. "I can't imagine what they'd do to my unborn baby."

"Its witchery," adds a third, "and I'll stick to regular doctors, thank you."

These are still many women's view on using herbs, a mid-wife, or a holistic approach, pregnant or not. Vast numbers though, are looking into treating themselves, pursuing holistic doctors, and using midwives. They seek natural. In essence, women are going back to the skill they learned millions of years ago. They knew their bodies then and how to care for them. Then, along came those who wanted further power and named this skill witchery. Suddenly men knew women's bodies better than they did. Weed leads readers back to this natural skill and power. She provides preventative and healing remedies, herbal preparations, and points of safety, for before, during, and after pregnancy. Weed even added a chapter on newborns.

Book Contents Include:

-Foreword
-Introduction
-Using This Book
-Using Herbs Safely
-Before Pregnancy with sub-headings & categories
(pages 1-12)
-During Pregnancy with sub-headings & categories
(pages 17-49)
-Childbirth with sub-headings and categories (pages 55-74)
-After Pregnancy with sub-headings and categories
(pages 77-84)
-Your Infant with sub-headings and categories
(pages 95-114)
-Herbal Pharmacy with sub-headings and categories
(pages 121-139)
-Appendix 1 (Herbal sources of vitamins & minerals)
-Appendix 2
-Glossary
-Index

Regular doctors and conservative medicines have their place, but herbal doctors and medicines do as well. Just why are many women going back to treating themselves, visiting holistic doctors, and interested in natural? I believe deep down women know what works, what's safest, and what feels right. They're reacquainting themselves with nature, and listening to and taking responsibility for their own bodies.

`Childbearing Years' is for women wanting to take care their growing baby and of their bodies naturally. Weed's style of presenting, and authenticity of facts, is straightforward and easy to understand. Sketchings, alongside pages, are charming, as well as added notations. Everything about this book is comforting, nurturing, and encouraging. A valuable resource.

This is a wonderful book... it's concise and to the point... true, it doesn't go into a lot of detail about why things are or aren't good to take, but that info is easily researched... I like that it tells you what to do or not to do in short simple ways... makes it SOOOOOO much easier to find the information I want and need.

Throughout this pregnancy my blood pressure has been on the high side... after only a few days of following the cream of tartar protocol (pg 47) my blood pressure is now down to PERFECT!!! This book has greatly improved my health... I recommend it to EVERYONE!

I used this guide through two births, and I only wish I'd known about it for my first one. It proved invaluable for remedying problems during pregnancy, making childbirth much easier, and alleviating colic in newborns. Most of the herbs are easy to find for purchase and simple to prepare. I have lent it to friends who also found it wonderfully helpful.

I came to my midwifery career (see my memoir, BABY CATCHER, Scribner 2002) via the traditional route of nursing school, working in hospital delivery rooms and alternative birth centers, then going to midwifery school, graduating as a CNM. Nowhere along the way was I taught anything about herbs. When I found myself doing home births in Berkeley, CA, many of my clients assumed I was an herbalist. Although I never once claimed to have a knowledge base in that field, I learned enough from Wise Woman Herbal to talk intelligently on the subject. Many women who choose home birth shun not just hospitals but also traditional Western medications. Wise Woman Herbal was always the resource to which I turned when I needed to know if a particular herb a woman wanted to use was safe and/or efficacious in pregnancy. And eventually I carried and recommended certain ones with confidence, especially blue and black cohosh, ginger, and oil of evening primrose.
From me and from all midwives when they were new: Thank you, Susan Weed.