Dear Friends:
When I worked in a grant-funded program, I got to know many teens. There
was such a bias against breastfeeding. "She can't breastfeed, she's a teen."
Well, she got pregnant didn't she? So why assume she can't breastfeed?
Most of the teens I worked with breastfed very, very well. If they could
get past the first few days, they usually kept going for at least 6 months.
They quickly figured out how to talk on the telephone and breastfeed, and how to
sleep and breastfeed, which are two vital activities for teens! There were
all kinds of great stories, with young fathers bringing the baby to school at
lunch so mom could nurse; many of these mothers would pump in the nurse's
office, and taught everyone around them.
Teens loved that their babies smiled at them, because often the
grandmothers were minding the babies during the day. Breastfeeding reinforced their
sense of maternity.
I did a little research with the breastfeeding teens, and got to call
some of them as much as 4 years after their babies were born. None of them got
pregnant again unless they deliberately chose to. (This was amazing because the
repeat pregnancy rate was so high in all the other programs in the City!). And
they all went back to school, some to higher education as well.
Very exciting and wonderful group to work with.
warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CCE, craniosacral therapy
Adjunct faculty, Union Institute and University, Maternal and Child Health:
Lactation Consulting
Supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative
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