Hannah,

I talked with my mil.  Had to wait for my husband to wake up----still jet
lagged.  My Vietnamese is terrible and her English is not that great, so I
needed my husband to translate.  I didn't want to have any misunderstanding.
 I've discussed bf before with my mil, but I know I was not clear on
everything she said.  I had to make a deal with my husband---blackmail more
like it!  He would help with the translation, but I have to brush up on my
Vietnamese.

I will relay what I learned.  I think her explanations may help you with the
moms you are trying to help.  I found it very interesting how our differing
backgrounds come to the same understanding of breastfeeding.  Initially, my
breastfeeding education came from books than experience and more books.  My
mil's experience is entirely from culture and experience.  I think you'll
understand my point as you read on.

My mil nursed her children immediately as did everyone else in her village.
 She has heard of those who believe that the colostrum is bad milk.  She is
not sure why and assumes that these moms would have someone else nurse the
babies until the mature milk comes in.

The birth of the first child is very important.  The mom returns to her
family to give birth.  They care for her.  For 1 month postpartum, the mom
must stay inside---no showers (no plumbing anyway).  Just nurse baby and let
family care for you.  When the baby is 1 month, there is a big celebration.
 If mom is fortunate, she will have this care for all births!

The Vietnamese word for colostrum translates to alive, raw milk.  My mil says
that it is important to clean the baby's stomach and system out since the
womb was unclean and baby swallowed fluids; hence,  during the first three
days of nursing---colostrum will clean baby out.  (Don't we tell moms that
colostrum helps the meconium to pass easily?)  After 3 days postpartum, the
family applies warm compresses to the mom's breasts.  This consists of a
mixture of papaya leaves, potato leaves and another leaf that mil couldn't
remember.  This is applied and massaged into breasts 3X day for 3 days.
 Compress is changed when it cools.  Mil says that this is very, very
painful---so painful, she couldn't eat.  They believe that this brings in the
"good" milk (mature milk) and makes it very thick and healthy.  My husband
informed me that my milk is very runny.

For 100 days mom does not do any strenuous work.  Also for 100 days, dad can
only make visits to mom and baby----these are not conjugal visits!  If mom
returns to working outside in the hot sun, family will care for baby.  If
baby needs milk while mom is gone, a neighbor is asked to nurse baby.  Mil
said that there was always someone available to nurse.  When mom returned
from working, she expressed her milk and dumped it.  The sun was thought to
make the milk sour and cause diarrhea in baby.  After some expressing and
dumping, baby is then nursed.  (Hasn't there been research done showing
changes in breastmilk after a woman has been exercising?)

Sometime after the baby is 1 year old, it is believed that the milk is no
longer good.  Mom is now working harder in the fields out in the sun, so it
is believed that the milk is sour.  Weaning is usually abrupt.  Mil put
bitter tasting food on breasts so baby would not want to nurse.  Then she
suffered for about 1 week with pain and fever.  She did this 8 times.

I believe that my mil's explanation about how the colostrum cleans the baby
out might help these moms understand the need to nurse the baby
immediately----more so than talking about immunity being passed to baby, etc.

Hope this helps.

Aloha,
Gloria Thai  LLLLeader Hawai'i