Susan, Kristen, and Fleur,  you're right of course!  I'm afraid I dashed off a note  too quickly so I'm checking back in.

I was taken aback by the first caller commenting on her experience 12 years ago , “I bought into that whole notion that breast milk was important for an entire year, I don't know that I'd do it today but back then I  was there.”  Jill quotes others saying, “I'm so unhappy I spent my child's infancy pumping and I look back on it and I have regrets about it and I wonder why it was I was so convinced that pumping was the right solution for me.”

On my first hearing I was shocked to hear mothers dismissing the importance of their own breastfeeding and pumping experiences.  Listening again today, I can hear that this was more about finding new and better solutions. 

I agree with Jill's suggestion we have a “diminished set of expectations ... about what's possible within the women's movement.”   We're asking for a closet with a chair and a sink but what we really need is a year's paid leave with our newborn children or on-site daycare.

Since Jill Lepore teaches American History at Harvard I like to think that a number of students, future parents, future movers and shakers, are absorbing some of this thinking.  I just caught a 15 minute interview but others are in a position to catch a whole lot more in a university setting.

Glad I gave a second listen, hope most heard more than I did the first time.  Like you, Kristen, I'm thinking twice about how to offer support and leadership for moms in the crosshairs.

Susan 


      

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