In DON’T KILL YOUR BABY, Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in
the 19th and 20th Centuries, Jacqueline Wolf uses historical records from
the Chicago, IL, USA area, including the letters and diaries of mothers.  I
recall being surprised to read that even in the era when breastfeeding was
common, and I’d thought learned by a child at her mother’s knees, women were
nervous about the adequacy of their milk and at least one writer was
ignorant of what a normal stool would be like.  Perhaps the overwhelming
desire to do right by their precious infant has always left women feeling
inadequate to the task and in search of aid.  Doctors developed formula for
the sake of motherless infants and were amazed, frequently appalled, when
mothers sought to relieve their insecurities with the products of
white-coated wise men.

The social sciences were in their infancy or didn't exist at all back then.
No one knew they needed to study the practices of mothers to determine which
correlated with success and healthy children.  Now, mothers have the
incalcuable benefit and comfort of some 13,000 research studies, showing
their is nothing superior to what they alone can provide their babies.

Alice Martino Roddy, Mom, LLLL, IBCLC
"I did the best I knew at the time and, if I'd known better, I'd have done
better." Ruth Alderman Tait

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html