Enjoying this thread!  Been a while since we had a discussion like this, with an illuminating discussion.  Judith, you argue your points well.  I am listening, and not yet convinced that IBCLC consults with all babies would be my first choice.  But I hear you!

Even here we are seeing more medicalization of birth and there is still no clear standpoint from Baby-Friendly on the impact of birth practices on breastfeeding, only on practice from birth onward.  Plenty of people who work with Baby-Friendly are more than savvy enough, it's the stated acknowledgment of how this makes our job more difficult I'm longing for.

Before, we didn't interfere much with birth but we separated mothers and babies for days afterwards, giving them very limited time together.  Now, we know they should be together but we do all manner of disturbing things to them before the birth so they have much poorer ability to make use of their togetherness.   I lament the abdication of midwives as the guarantors of normal birth, in exchange for a collaborative role in medicalizing it.  :-(

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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