Kathleen asks,
<< I wonder if any of you can help me.
 I have heard that some women who are well educated, preofessional women =
 can tend to have problems with breastfeeding because they are used to =
 having control of their lives and the adjustment to 'going with the =
 flow' so to speak is difficult for them. Has anyone else ever heard =
 this? Anyone have any idea where I might find something written about =
 this? >>


As Pat says, this has indeed been discussed many times.  However, I think
it's bunk.

I do not know any evidence to support it.   In the United States, at least
according to the Ross statistics, mothers who are older, professional, and
highly educated are all MORE likely to initiate bf and MORE likely to be
nursing at 6 months.

The only sources I have ever heard for this idea about the difficulty of
relinquishing control have been the "experience and intuition" of women who
do not lead this kind of life and who are IMO making judgments on those who
do.

Again, I think this derives in part from the poor fit between **some*** LLL
groups (don't flame me folks, we've been through this discussion several
times) and some professional mothers.   The fact that professional moms may
not choose to organize their bf relationships the same was as the SAHM does
can be perceived as the cause of their troubles, but that is NOT evidence
based -- to the contrary.

I'm NOT saying that these moms have zero troubles bf, or that control may not
be an issue for some of them -- only that even IF this is true, statistically
it seems to be less of a problem than the alternatives.  Focusing on it is
distortive and is IMO part of a larger cultural discouragement to women to do
other productive work in conjunction with their childrearing work.   I, for
one, wouldn't want the bf advocacy movement to be part of that trend.

ESU
professional mom,  bf'er, and lobbyist in favor of remembering that there are
many cultural models for bf success.

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