Dear Lana,  and an alternate way of looking at it. ...

Should you not tell someone they have cancer because they might get upset?
Should you not tell someone that cigarettes cause lung cancer because they
might feel guilty if they keep on smoking?

I would think that an alternate argument might be thought-provoking.  We
had better, as hcps, help mothers breastfeed and succeed at it, because if
we don't, we might make mothers feel guilty because their babies get
sicker....get lymphoma at 13, or diabetes, or heart disease.... so we 'd
better get on the stick and figure out about breastfeeding ourselves, work
through our own issues on breastfeeding so that we can give evidence based
care to our patients....recognize good latch from bad,...know when a baby
is eating well and when he is not...and for god's sakes, give the mother
some ongoing support both in house and after Discharge.

Guilt might be an issue here, but it certainly is not the mother's. A lot
of health care professionals feel guilt over their own bf "stuff," and
therefore, make up magical arguments about breastfeeding and guilt....and...

the fact is, that health care professionals have NO PROBLEM making mothers
feel guilty about a host of other issues, including immunization, (this is
not a discussion point, just an example), car seats, smoking around baby,
etc.

Kathleen

Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet
Independent Consultant
http://homepages.together.net/~kbruce/kbblact.html
LACTNET Archives http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/lactnet.html


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