Kathy says, << I'll bet if you did a careful study of hospital vs. non-hospital, medicated vs. non-medicated, etc., you would find that most of it is due to medications and stress of being in the hospital. In most "traditional" cultures around the world, where mom is not medicated during labor/delivery, and where she gives birth in a safe, secure place surrounded by people she has known all her life, loves, and trusts, that you don't find this fogginess. >> One of the reasons I posed the question in the first place (r/t Reva Rubin's excellent studies and the relationship to medication) is that when I worked in the alternative birthing center, I don't remember seeing this sort of fogginess. Moms seemed to be able to "take hold" very quickly. They remembered instructions, and seemed to be quite together. Of course, there was no medication, no separation of mother and infant, and virtually one on one nursing staff to family ratio, though it might be one on two during the postpartum stay. And all our moms went home in less than 24 hours. How many of us working with mothers and babies today *consistently* work with mothers who have NO medication beyond a local to repair a minor laceration? Sure, those of us that see moms in the hospital see a few mothers that don't have meds, but as I posted to someone, I would betcha that at least 85% of the mothers I see have something in labor -- either Stadol, Nubain, or an epidural, or a combination thereof. I don't remember feeling foggy after my babies were born -- spinal with the first (breech), but no meds with either of the other two. And I still remember, 25 years later, a LOT of what went on postpartum (including some rather ugly comments by the OB), and the lack of teaching (after all, I was the instructor for maternity in the school of nursing!). So I still wonder if a lot of the inability to process information is at least in part due to the amount of medications most mothers get during labor. Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC Wheaton, Illinois www.bsccenter.org So many books, so little time! *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html