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Sun, 7 Aug 2005 15:09:45 -0400 |
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me again everyone! ;)
whenever i have difficulty with a parenting "issue" or decision, i
like to do a little exercise i call "going back to the village". now
i am aware that there are practices in remote cultures that are *not*
good for babies - but most of them are well intentioned, like us.
but still this village helps me to eliminate some of the head stuff
that sometimes prevents us from seeing things in a holistic way.
this conversation is so interesting. and as a still fairly new mom
(just under 2yrs) and very new CLC (just under *1* year), i know
there is really still much for me to learn. and have very thankfully
done lots of that in my short time here on lactnet.
but, back to the village - i am very curious to know how these
parents in remote societies decide what's best for baby. like do
they realise that more babies perish when left sleeping on their
tummies vs. their backs ??? or do they just let the baby sleep right
beside and on them like one of our budding anthropologists mused
(sorry i forget who). the problem i think i have is that it *is* so
- how should i say? - that-way-or-the-highway-ish.
Pam you made a good point about how people still chose the wrong or
unsafe way even though they know the alternative. like with
breastfeeding. but i still say that allowing a baby to sleep on his
tummy *some*times is - for lack of a better word - a CALCULATED
risk. what i mean is, to decide to allow a baby to sleep on his
tummy and be close by with a watchful eye cannot be equated with
driving down a highway with a toddler standing in the back seat of
one's car. or even choosing to feed ABM instead of breastfeeding.
no one can forsee whether or not the car will be involved in a
collision; or whether the ABM fed infant will infact be obese, have
diabetes etc. but if a mother decides to allow her baby to sleep on
his tummy and she sits beside him as he sleeps she *can* monitor if
anything happens to him. see what i'm saying?
i am not in any way shape or form questioning the research behind
back to sleep. i would be quite foolish to even think to know more
than all those bodies of research and what they show. but i do think
- as Melissa said - now parents are afraid to let their babies OFF
their backs. in all things there must be a balance - yes? no?
i wonder how many children in "the village" have bald patches in the
backs of their heads? :)
in the position of "the thinker",
cian sawyer, CLC
nassau, bahamas
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