I breastfed my first daughter exclusively in 1978 for 5 months, when she got
a bit of banana, didn't like it, and nursed exclusively another month.  All
my 'hippie' friends breastfed and were enthusiastic members of the natural
childbirth movement.  When I moved to Texas, all my LLL friends were having
home births, and with their support and encouragement, I went on to have two
lovely home birthed babies.  I believe there was a lot of support for gentle
birth and breastfeeding then.  What has changed now is there are many more
women with young children in the workforce.  There also is more enthusiastic
support in medical circles for breastfeeding.  Birth practices are another
story, but hopefully there will be a re-exploration of the impact of birth
upon infants, upon maternal infant bonding, and upon breastfeeding.  There
certainly seems to be a flurry of new activity around this issue.  Linda
Smith has a new book our about this, and the Alliance for Transforming the
Lives of Children (aTLC) holds meetings that bring together organizations
and individuals that serve perinatal populations to discuss more humane
practices.  The next conf. is on Bonding and Attachment in the Family,
Addressing the Root Causes of Social Problems at the Earliest Stages of
Life, in Washington DC on Aug 29.  I think it is wonderful to see this issue
getting new life.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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