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Lactation Information and Discussion

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From:
michelle i scott <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Mar 1997 11:15:15 -0500
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I am a WIC Breastfeeding Coordinator and have been working for WIC since l983.  We have looked at many ways to try to increase our breastfeeding rates including using incentives.   Intuitively something in me resists blatent use of commercial techniques for what is a special relationship not just a method of feeding or lifestyle choice.   I have so much respect for women who choose breastfeeding when their lives are so crowded with advertising glut, and cultural pressures which are often promoting anything but the value of the mother/child/family relationship.   
Pumps can easily become just one more gadget and one more way to endorse separation of mother and baby in those early days when nurturing is so important.  So I would feel strongly that comparing mom's ability to pump out milk at WIC (a stressful environment to say the least), and encouraging these women to compete against each other, is probably not conducive to increasing the numbers of women breastfeeding.   
Why not use modeling, such as peer counselors or giving out slings (the flexible, over-the-shoulder type) which promote keeping the baby nearby while allowing us to do the many other jobs that women have.  I am amazed at how many poor women spend lots of money on baby swings, jumpers, plastic carriers that rock, roll, tweet, etc, when really they would have their hands free and would have a happy baby who could go most anywhere with them if they used a sling.  This is definitely the  influence of our gadget oriented society, and maybe a suble ABM supported thing.  (At least one ABM company makes these carriers...)
The goal of incentives should be to make breastfeeding the norm by making it routine.   We all accept feet as the best way to walk somewhere, but we know that big or wide, etc. is NOT better.   One more small thought:  Many WIC mothers are not filled with self confidence and if they thought someone was going to ask them to measure their ability to pump, it is just one more way they would see to fail.
EZZO ad nauseum...The first thing I would do is ask mom how she feels when her baby cries due to delayed feeds.   We know what 90%+   would say, and then I would point out the the anthopological connections. E.G.Humans as dependent  at birth for warmth, mobility, nurturing, and food.  Use Kangaroo Care data on stability of HR, BP, Temp, etc.for reference.    Further, I would mention  frequent feeds as related to interuption of menses and birth spacing.
Finally, I point out how the anxiety we feel when our baby cries is God's way of  making sure we don't neglect them!  Do we think God is asking us to sacrifice our baby's peacefulness for some rigid requirement created by a man's interpretation of the Word...   enough.
Michelle Scott, RD, IBCLC     [log in to unmask]

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