And we can't dismiss the "fogginess" of the baby at and following birth!
I've said it before, but I'm going to keep saying it wherever and whenever I
get the chance: these babies that are born not knowing how to nurse, with
that particular "fogginess" persisting for days and weeks ARE NOT NORMAL.

IT IS NOT NORMAL FOR NEWBORNS TO ACT LIKE THIS. It's an artifact of whatever
medications they've been exposed to. Now, I'll grant that some babies are
more adept at nursing than others, even with totally natural births, but it
is not in the interest of the survival of the species to have the numbers of
fogged-up little critters born that we see with the epidurals, intrathecals,
etc. And we know that the behaviour of the newborn affects the mother's
response - so with an affected mother who gives birth to a baby who's also
affected, it seems very clear and totally logical to me that both the
biology and the experience of the situation are skewed. (Or screwed...)

Do I think that these glitches getting started can be overcome? Yes, of
course. Do I think that it affects our own venturing into motherhood, in
ways that we really don't know about yet? Yes. Does it mean that the
mother-child bond is damaged forever? Probably not, in *most cases* - but
probably so, in some cases. I don't mean any of these things in airy-fairy,
vague, mystical ways - I think that the answers are in the biology and the
chemistry of birth. I'm no biochemist; I'm not a very
scientifically-oriented person, but I'm pretty sure that someday we'll know
more about these questions, and the answers. (And in the meantime, we
shouldn't mess around with stuff the way we do!)

Cathy Bargar RN IBCLC Ithaca NY

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