Heather writes:

What is  worse, though, than books, is the lack of support many mothers get 
when they  ask their HCPs about what their babies 'should' be doing.  It 
is, after  all, part of their job to know about normal infant behaviour and  
development.

~~~ Aye, there's the rub...If the most used definition of "normal" is  
simply a reflection of what we see, or are told we are seeing, then babies who  
are overfed and/or ignored til they shut down and sleep unusually long  
amounts of time at a very young age, becomes normal and the expected  norm. The 
studies most used, and the babies most seen reflect back this  abnormal 
norm.  I tell moms, using this way of thinking, obesity is normal,  because it 
is so common it is becoming the new norm. Doesn't make it healthy or  normal 
in terms of humans, only in current culture. Re-educating doctors about  the 
actual normal nourishment/eating/interactive/sleep patterns is a HUGE task. 
 The language used is so key: if babies "demand" more attention they are  
"irritable". Let's call them "curious" , let's call them "learning", "making  
connections", "competent", working on being "independent", anything but 
"fussy"  and "irritable".... oops now I'm ranting...:) But yes this is one of 
the most  difficult parts of the issue, the lack of support moms get when 
they tell the  doctor "my baby is crying" and instead of figuring out "oh is 
this because they  are normal and seeking something we do want them to have, 
like nourishment" or  "oh perhaps we need to look at them to see what's going 
on" moms get this  blanket response
"just let them cry, just give a pacifier, just give a  bottle". That was 
the one thing that irritated ( yes I AM irritable about  this...:) me about 
one the articles about this study: the midwife in the UK who  said if a baby 
is fussy and breastfeeding the solution is switching to a bottle  because 
"both mom and baby should be thriving on breastfeeding". ... hmm why not  
actually figure out WHY this baby is behaving whatever way, and then come up  
with an answer....Ok rant over.

Peace,
Judy

Judy LeVan  Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL
Brooklyn, NY,  USA
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