Last night there was a benefit for our county senior citizen's group at  
Chicago's Brookfield Zoo...  Cocktails were available in the Dolphin  Exhibit.  
There was a sign up about the baby dolphin that was born last  year, and an 
explanation that the mother dolphin has two nipples in the folds of  her skin.  
The baby dolphin nurses "dozens" of times in 24 hours for a few  seconds at a 
time for 1 to 3 years.  It went on to laud the "richness" of  dolphin milk.  My 
comment to Bob was that American women (for the most  part) wouldn't stand for 
that. 
 
Fast forward to dinner.  Table for 10 where we didn't know anyone --  well, 
Bob knew one other man that was on the board (where he serves as  well).  
Toward the end of dinner, someone asked me what I did.  When I  said I was a 
lactation consultant, the woman next to me went into  raptures.  "I can't believe 
anyone DOESN'T breastfeed," she said.  "I  think it is amazing.  Absolutely the 
best thing.... I LOVED nursing my  babies."  I brought up what I had read in 
the dolphin exhibit and my  comment about American women.  She said that's 
because we haven't learned  how to "lactambulate" yet.  I said it was because we 
make such a huge  production out of breastfeeding that each feed becomes a long 
drawn out process  -- right chair, right pillows, TV remote, snack -- making 
sure the "nursing  nook" had all the right accoutrements for breastfeeding, 
taking off the shirt,  unhooking the bra, making sure the hydrogels were 
nearby....etc etc.  
 
Perhaps if more women figured out how to "lactambulate" like they do in  many 
cultures, we'd have more women nursing for longer periods of time, and we'd  
stop worrying so much about how many times the baby/child is nursing in 24  
hours.
 
And it turned out that I know the daughter of the other couple at the table  
-- she's a Bradley instructor and a doula.  Small world!!  
 
All this for the senior citizens of DuPage County!!  
 
Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC

_Lactation Education  Consultants_ 
(http://www.lactationeducationconsultants.com/)  






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