Valerie makes some important points about the sad statistics -- esp. with
regard to regional issues and with regard to duration of bfg.  However, I
don't think the point that was being made by those of us who wrote to
describe breastfed exclusively in the 70's and 80's was to suggest that
things were perfect then.  Just to remind folks that there was a healthy bfg
support and advocacy community during those years.  I believe the orginal
post that started this conversation seemed to suggest that there were very
few women bfg in those years.  I lived in the South (Austin) and this place
was a hotbed of LLL and natural childbirth advocacy.  That is not to deny
the low initiation rates in the South in the 20th century. Just to say:
please don't dismiss our experiences and work some of us have been doing for
the past 20-30 years. Ours was the cohort that went on to found IBLCE, WABA,
NABA, attended the big international labor and women's conf. to make sure
bfg was on the agenda,  began systematically lobbying for bfg legislation in
the US and elsewhere to protect the rights of women.  We worked to develop
most of the educational materials and courses that are training the next
generation of bfg adovacts.  All our work was built upon the work of the
pioneers of the generation before US!  Mavis Gunther, the LLL Founders,
Niles Newton, and others made it possible for us to carry it on a bit
further.  And I know that all THOSE people would have been influenced by
others before them.  We are all like waves breaking on the shore.  One wave
at a time, we errode the rocks of resistance. A backwards nod is not an
attempt at revisionism, but a token of respect.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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