It is true that there is no one size fits all for all women. I know that my
local NMAA group is very middle class, meets in a church and is dominated by
married stay at home mums whose lives are very different from mums who do
not work. This excludes a lot of people from feeling comfortable there and
it's no criticism of NMAA at all. I'm a member of NMAA and a strong
supporter but I only ever attended a couple of meetings when I was
breastfeeding. When I did go I felt very out of place- I was a part-time PhD
student and the breastfeeding concerns I had were to do with child care,
pumping, travelling, dealing with empoyers etc, their concerns were getting
out of the house managing other children etc and the meetings were on during
the day when it was a great sacrifice for me to go. Going just made me feel
more isolated.
I've actually attended more meetings since my sisters in law started having
babies and I've taken them and it's no coincidence that the one who has
stayed with NMAA and is now a trainee counsellor is the one who is married,
stay at home and middle class. My other sisters in law who don't fit that
configuration, one is a working bar maid, the other not married with
non-middle class values have not stayed with NMAA. However, both have stayed
with breastfeeding and I am so proud of both of them because neither of them
come from families where *anyone* breastfeeds and the kids are now 2 and 1.
What can be done? I know that
NMAA does have groups in some places for working mothers and I imagine that
that is helpful for that group of women but how do you provide for all the
different situations that women experience. I really think that LLL and NMAA
could benefit from taking more advantage of the internet for providing
mother to mother support for specific groups of women who can't access or
who are not suited to the traditional face to face groups. Mother to mother
support via the internet can really be helpful. How many of you have
benefited from the support via Lactnet?

Karleen Gribble
Australia

 Linda Blum in "At
> the Breast: Ideologies of Breastfeeding And Mothering in the
> Contemporary United States" pointed out the degree to which LLL is a
> white, middle- to upper-middle-class, suburban phenomenon and the dearth
> of bfing support, LLL or otherwise, for any working-class and/or single
> mom, regardless of race or colour.
>

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