I've enjoyed reading all the insightful responses to the "dumb remarks"
thread and decided to check my pediatric textbook from nursing school,
to see what "dumb" stuff I was originally taught about infant feeding.
I graduated in 1976 and here are a few passages from my textbook:

1) Under the heading of "Feeding the Newborn"...

Although the nurse should be able to provide information which the
mother may request, she should not encourage the mother strongly to feed
the infant by either breast or bottle on a rigid schedule or on a
self-demand schedule. If she does, she might arouse guilt feelings in
the mother if the mother does not or cannot cooperate. For instance, a
mother, because the nurse encouraged her to breast-feed her infant on a
self-demand schedule routine, tried to do so in order to follow orders.
The mother failed in her attempts and felt guilty about her inability to
be a "good" mother. Perhaps another mother might have refused to
cooperate with the nurse, leading that mother to feel guilty also. The
nurse should realize that the bodily contact a mother has with her child
in whatever feeding process is used is ultimately of greater importance
than the method of feeding.

2) First sentence under the heading of "Breast Feeding"...

Probably the psychologic and emotional factors are more important than
the physical factors in helping a mother decide to breast-feed her
infant, since satisfactory artificial feedings can be easily obtained.

3) First sentence under the heading of "Artificial Feeding"...

Artificial feeding is based on scientific principles of nutrition and
sterilization.


Need I say more? I'm now wondering what possessed me to breastfeed my
baby 14 years ago! Before I did so, I'd NEVER even seen a baby nurse; in
fact, I didn't even realize that breasts were for feeding until I was 16
years old and my neighbor mentioned she was breastfeeding to my mother.
What a shock that was! Thankfully, my son and I were right in sync with
each other and I never experienced one moment of breastfeeding
difficulty, went strictly on intuition and ignored the advice about
limiting feeding to 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, etc.
(However, I did require swimming lessons, Coach Smith. ;-) )

I'd love to hear from other nurses, doctors, and nutritionists about
what their textbooks say, both old and new. I think parents should be
diplomatically forewarned about the outdated information/attitudes they
might pick up from HCP's. I also feel they should be encouraged to
listen to their hearts, because even today's current advice may be
tommorrow's obsolete information... in my humble opinion.

Diana Dietz, RN, BSN
Atlanta, GA
Diana Designs - designs that celebrate mothers and breastfeeding
Http://pw2.netcom.com/~ddesign1/diana.htm