Winnie wrote:
> Is this
primarily a US or US/European attitude?

In New Zealand a lot of parenting trends seem to stem froma chap called
Truby King, who was a psychiatrist who somehow became involved with child
health and welfare.
This was about 1920's-30's.
Infant mortality was still high, and Truby King developed a formula for
"humanising" cow's milk ie boiling it and adding water and sugar.
Dairy technology was really going ahead then, and a lot of the ideas gained
from that were used by him, in the care of babies - ie 4hrly feeding because
that's how long calves stomach's took to digest milk (but they have 4!).He
formed an infant welfare group with trained nurses, called the Plunket
society, whcih still does most of the well-child care here.

Anyway, it is a fascinating story, but one of his most enduring legacies is
that mothers must not cosset or cuddle the babies too much, for fear of
spoiling them, esp boys. This was so that they would grow strong and brave
for the mother country (England) and be able to fight off "advancing Asian
hordes".
Bizarre in our current thinking but I guess it seemed reasonable then.
That attitude has continued, but I think woman are more selfish now than
ever before, or else have too many roles to play - mother, wife, perfect
employee, lover, sportsperson, entertainer... whatever.
The baby's needs are just way down the list.

sometimes when they have recovered from the birth and can actually
concentrate on the baby they realise how much love both have to gain from
each other, but sometimes the bf has finished by then...
sorry, rather rambling, but this is not a US phenomenom

Fiona Hermann

mother of 3, not a Plunket user, but I do take bf education classes for them!

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