Elise said,
"I said the baby is probably born expecting that 
Toba pattern, and has to make a pretty big adjustment when s/he gets 
American parents!"

I just wonder what it is about mothers from more "civilized" societies that
makes us think we get everything wrong and that the way a more primitive
society does a particular (natural) thing must be the right way and we have
somehow tainted it with our civilized ways.  I believed that for a few years
when we all heard about the Kung tribe (sorry I can't get the computer to do
the accent mark for this) and their nursing behaviors, but I don't buy it
across the board any more.  I have seen too many babies happily go 2 hours
between most feeds from very early on to think that they have all been
socialized by their mothers to do this.  And once mom's milk comes in, how
many babies start going a little longer between feeds?!  You will not often
see a babe at one week of age nursing 5 times per hour, even with a mother
who is willing to accommodate her baby's needs whatever they are.  I think
it is just as likely that more nomadic -and less structured-societies  may
indeed feed this way since babies are carried in arms almost constantly with
few mechanical barriers to the breast and thus they adapt to this ease of
access and feeding.  Likewise a baby born into a different culture such as
ours can and does rather easily -most of the time- adjust to more concise
feedings.  Again, my recurrent theme seems to be that babies are adaptable
to circumstances.  That doesn't make one right and the other wrong.  Of
course, some babies don't make this adaptation as completely or, more
accurately, individual needs can dictate that some babies NEED to feed more
often and others less often, as Hartmann's research proposed with its
information on individual breast capacity.

I realize I'm out on a limb here because I am neither an anthropologist nor
a researcher, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that
milk composition and the precise fine points on optimum feeding patterns
might vary from one society and location to the next and that all are
"normal".  Does this make sense to anyone else?  Am I the only one who
thinks it is a bit of tunnel vision to think that what is seen in one
culture -or one lab- at one point in time is applicable to all of humanity
everywhere across the millennia -at least as far as breastfeeding is
concerned?

Just my musings on the need to be careful of what we tell parents as it is
really just our 21st century interpretation of what is currently known or
what we *believe* to be true...and that always has a way of changing!

Marsha, who is preparing to get *a little* sun at the track Sunday in
Indiana!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~John S. C. Abbot~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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