Yesterday I spoke on culture and breastfeeding at the first La Leche League of Oregon Area Conference in several years. Discussion was lively and many thoughtful questions were asked. It was good to see so many people interested in culture, the process of developing cultural competence, and the role that culture plays in breastfeeding. At one point near the end, a young session participant (my almost-six-year-old daughter) raised her hand to ask a question about breastfeeding. I answered it as I would have answered if anyone of any age had asked it. That "simple" act made such an impression--perhaps more so than anything else I did or said in my presentation. People commented that this was "respecting diversity in action right here" and that our society's culture is such that there are few conferences outside of La Leche League in which the presence and participation of babies and children would be welcome. And that there are many, many speakers in the world who would be so distracted by the presence of little ones that they would be unable to present their session. How wonderful that such an environment does exist at La Leche League conferences and how sad that there is anything remarkable about it. 

Cynthia

Cyntha Good Mojab, MS, IBCLC
Ammawell
Email: [log in to unmask] 
Web site: http://home.attbi.com/~ammawell 

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