I think that the only way to get the message across is gradually, sharing
our stories, and treating others with respect at the same time. I'm sure I
have written about this before, but over a decade ago I began working in
child welfare. At that time I had four children including my very
recently-weaned five-year-old. I was told we could decorate our offices
however we liked, so I put up some of the INFACT posters. Certainly
initiated lots of discussion!

Child welfare, because it is low-paying, tends to employ lots of young
social workers fresh out of school. Many of them have babies while working
there. When I started, nobody had breastfed a baby, except one social worker
who struggled with sore, bleeding nipples for several weeks and then gave
up. I also found their generally negative attitude towards babies and
children pretty concerning.

It seems to me that it is often less threatening to someone to just share
personal stories and experiences, rather than saying "well, the research
says..." So when that one mother started to talk about her bleeding nipples,
I would say "I know how awful that is, I had sore nipples at first, too.
What helped me was that a LLL Leader showed me how to latch the baby on
better and the pain stopped right away. I got her to help when my other
children were born, and it's amazing what a difference it made for me."  Not
telling her,  you should have done this, but that it helped me.

I talked about things like breastfeeding, nursing older children, family
bed, slings, all the "radical" things I did, and gradually it began to
change. By the time I left, nine  years later, ALL the babies born in the
last eight years were breastfed, most of them longer than a year. The
mothers on maternity leave would bring their babies in to visit and sit
around breastfeeding them in the common areas. (After the INFACT posters,
nobody was offended.) At my going-away party, a group of the mothers gave me
a photo album of their babies - more than 20 of them - to thank me for the
help I had given them with breastfeeding support. I really cherish that
gift! And it had become routine at that agency to recommend to mothers
adopting babies that they consider breastfeeding them.

The whole culture and attitude had changed.

I love research and believe it is very important. But most people are more
influenced in their behaviour by less rational factors. I think that sharing
our own experiences - without criticizing or negating the experiences of
others - is one helpful way to open the door.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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