In a message dated 2/26/2006 6:58:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

So I guess I  am asking why it matters whether or not breastfeeding is 
"medicalized" as long  as the outcome is an exclusively nursing baby.


Dear Friends:
    Medicalized breastfeeding is run by fear and  schedules. Medicalized 
breastfeeding is manifested in the mothers who are sent  home fighting with their 
babies: fighting to make them fed every 2 hours (this  includes setting and 
alarm and waking up to wake up a sleeping baby), fighting  to make the baby 
latch by pushing the baby's head onto the breast and/or ramming  the breast into 
the baby's mouth, and strictly following some rules. 
    Mothers have been told they 'must' drink 2 glasses  of water at every 
feed. They must nurse X number of minutes on this breast  and X number of minutes 
on the other. They 'must' nurse both breasts every  feeding. They 'must' use 
a variety of positions for breastfeeding. These are all  parts of medicalized 
breastfeeding.
    Just as medicalized childbirth says that a mother  'must' dilate X 
centimeters every Y amount of time, medicalized breastfeeding is  full of musts. And 
if the musts are not followed, then the mother is doing it  wrong and feels 
bad.
    Medicalization takes the power away from the mother  and baby and keeps 
it in the hand of the person giving the rules, the  musts.
    Of course, this approach does wonders for my  private practice...........
    warmly,

 
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct  Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human  Lactation
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com

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