Dear Lactnetters - The question of child gender and breastfeeding has always
interested me. Many years ago while leading a La Leche meeting we started a
conversation about sex and breastfeeding - a discussion that went from
hilarious at times, to thought provoking. In the midst of it all a new
mother piped up and said that all her pregnancy she prayed that she would
have a girl as she didn't know how she would breastfeed a boy. (obviously
before the days of songrams). Before I could gather my thoughts and say
something wise and reflective - the mother sitting next to me ( mother of
two boys) said that she wasn't quite sure that she would be comfortable
breastfeeding a girl. I then did some serious searching in the library and
found some references to length of time breastfed and gender , or sex of
child and how the mother holds the baby, facing her or away, but nothing
about child gender and breastfeeding choices.  In this framework (La Leche
meeting) I had no maternal history or any knowledge of factors in these
mothers that might contribute to thinking of child gender in relation to
breastfeeding - it had never occurred to me to even think of this before. I
wonder if there is a percentage of lactation failure due to the sex of the
child being the "wrong" one.  I now also wonder how prenatal knowledge of
child gender influences breastfeeding choices.
          Sincerely, Toby Gish RN, LLL, IBCLC

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