I wanted to start out by introducing myself as a new member of the list. I
am not a doctor or lactation specialist, but a mom, who works as an
engineer. My reason for joining the list was to read more about solutions
to breastfeeding problems. I was unable to nurse my first child due to
what was probably primary lacation failure (but I of course could never get
a straight answer out of anyone at the time). This was devastating and
very emotionally difficult for me to bear. Part of my pain was the
feeling that I was some kind of "freak" because after all, "every woman can
breastfeed". As I looked for an answer, I came across repeated phrases
like "95% of women can breastfeed", "5% of women suffer from lactation
failure", and "primary lactation is VERY VERY rare". In fact, I have seen
these phrases in the lactnet archives. Well, from an engineering
perspective, 5% is what? 5 out of 100, that's 1 in 20. To me that is NOT
at all VERY RARE and it definatley does not support the statement that
every woman can breastfeed. Putting this into perspective, in the modestly-
sized hospital where my baby was born, based on the 5% statistic, each and
every day, on average, 2 moms go home that cannot breastfeed. To me this
is an epidemic.
I wish there were more information on this topic. It makes me sad that
this has not been researched very well at all.... and I hope that the day
will come when lactation research is funded well and someone figures this
out better. I hope that my future breastfeeding experiences will be more
pleasant - I am certainly better educated about it now.
I won't bother your technical and professional list with my layman's posts,
but look forward to reading it and learning more. I just wanted to share
this thought with you all, since to me it seems like lactation failure is a
bigger issue than it is made out to be.
Thank you all for the wonderful work you do.
Oh, by the way, I'm located in the East Bay Area in northern California.
If you know of any experienced lactation professionals in the area, please
let me know. I'm expecting my second child in October and want to prepare
better this time!
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