I think there is a danger point (so aptly described in Diane Wessinger's blog) in getting so focused on the "success" of breastfeeding - and defining that as producing x # of ml of breastmilk per day. Do we assign such things to males as in how much sperm they can produce? Only if there is perhaps a dysfunction, failure to conceive etc. But EVEN IF, that part of male function is compromised, we don't tell folks to forego all the other functions of sexuality. I find so many mothers that have "latched on" to the volume part that they forget about the emotional part of trusting their bodies and theirselves in the relationship. Maybe that's a result of our whole assessment mentality and COSMO questionnaire-driven society. Are you REALLY happy in your relatinoship? Here's a 10 question analysis to test that. And here's what to do. All prescriptions instead of trusting your partner and yourself. I know, I know, this is not scientific, but I too had a baby in the very early 70's and breastfed (and gave bottles of powdered milk and cereal when I was at school). And birthed all alone with my arms and legs strapped down (but no drugs). I didn't know how to latch and my baby did it any way without any help from me! My job is to give confidence as much as possible - and comfort - and sometimes condolences. Just a few more years and my job will be over. Sigh.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rachel Myr
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 5:06 PM
Subject: Evenflo and general musings on pump companies' relationship to the field of breastfeeding
I stand corrected on the corporate status of Evenflo. Have spent the day sitting at police station waiting to renew my visa and recovering from working two nights this weekend so have kind of fallen out of the conversation. Also, I understand and empathize with the reactions of those who worked to bring Evenflo into compliance and who have been affected by their change of tack. I didn't want to imply that my jaundiced view of business tactics should be everyone's view - it's just mine, part of who I am, for better or for worse.
I wasn't born yesterday, I wasn't even born in this millennium, and I don't have a lot of illusions about the need for alliances of various kinds. From within the US, especially if you have never lived anywhere else, such as a country with paid maternity leave for everyone, it is hard to believe that arrangement could ever become reality there. (Even Portugal has maternity leave and their national debt per capita is at the same level as the US, according to a news item my husband saw yesterday. Very few countries in
the world don't have maternity leave.) There is no getting around the fact
that pump companies benefit from breastfeeding mothers and babies being kept apart. If IBCLCs and anyone else working for breastfeeding continue to be financially dependent on pump companies, they will not be able to advocate as strongly for the right of mothers and babies to be together for the early months of breastfeeding.
Breast pumps have a place in helping mothers in certain situations ensure that their babies can get their milk. But in places with no pumps, or where women can not safely use a pump because they lack the facilities to clean them, there is a completely different imperative to focus on the breastfeeding, the condition of mother and baby engaging in a common activity that is something very different to removing milk from the breast and serving it to the child. In places where pumps are part of every family's essential gear for parenthood, lactation is in danger of being reduced to a matter of a nutritious liquid produced in one place and consumed in another. I think I would feel less antagonized by pump marketing if it were focused on the actual technical specs of the pumps, how easy they are to clean and assemble, how many gallons they can go before you need to do maintenance on them, and in which situations mothers must use some other means than a baby to remove milk from their breasts. I am not mainly concerned with how quiet the motor is or how fashionable the tote bag is so your colleague in the next cublicle doesn't have to know you are expressing and storing milk for your absent baby. For all I know there are cooler bags so you can store your milk without anyone else in your workplace saying ''eewwwww' if they find a bottle in the staff fridge when they get their lunch.
It should be clear from many of my past posts to Lactnet and from this that I am not criticizing mothers who pump milk for the babies who are unable to breastfeed, either due to problems or because they are somewhere else. I have nothing but admiration for the work they do to keep their babies fed on their milk and I hope I would have had the same degree of dedication if I had needed to rely on expression and alternative feeding methods. But I despair when people whose work involves helping mothers start breastfeeding, the group who ought to know what is needed to enable more mothers and babies to experience more than a symbolic breastfeeding relationship, won't allow themselves to imagine what things might look like if we dared to work for universal maternity leave for ALL mothers, long enough to establish a sustainable breastfeeding relationship and breastfeeding leave for those who chose to make use of it.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
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