Pamela says,

> If
> I told them nursing 100 times a day is normal and left it at that they
> would
> give up breastfeeding in a second.

I agree with you -- moms here won't do it either.  I suspect in cultures
where there is bf 60 to 100 times a day it is (a) warm, (b) moms don't wear
bras or blouses and (c) they DO wear their babies.  They have a job in which
the baby is worn on their backs or on their fronts, and where all the other
women in the village are wearing their babies too.   No one suggests to them
that the baby will be spoiled by being carried too much.  I don't think the
"S" word is part of their vocabulary.

All that said, I suspect one of the reasons babies in western cultures tend
to cry so much is that we inadvertently *teach* them to cry for what they
need.  We often wait until they cry before we feed them, we pick them up when
they are crying and we put them down, away from us, when they are "good."  We
make them sleep in their own beds, away from us.  We put them in car seats
and leave them there for much of the day -- car seats should, IMNSHO, be used
in the CAR.  Babies should be held -- in arms, or in a sling -- most of the
rest of the day.

I make a mental note of the number of mothers coming to my door for a pump or
an appointment that actually carry their babies in arms.  I'd say I'm lucky
if it is one of 10.  How many babies do you see in the mall that are being
carried?  No, they start out at home in the car seat, they are strapped into
the car in the car seat, and then the seat is taken out of the car and
strapped into the fancy stroller where they stay until the shopping is done,
whereupon the reverse happens.  I often wonder how much of the time the baby
is in the car seat in the house because it is such a convenience for the mom.

I think what we need to be teaching moms is that they could eliminate a LOT
of crying and colicky behavior by carrying their babies in a sling at least
3x as much as they have them in the car seat.

I think I'm rather grateful that the car seats I had for my children were
just that -- car seats.

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC, RLC
Lactation Education Consultants
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com

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