I try to take care about being specific in my postings since CT is a
small sate and everyone knows which hospitals are "Baby-Friendly". I
was actually on the committee that wrote the breastfeeding policy that
enabled the hospital in which I worked (for about 60 hours per week
during much of that time, including being on-call for 24 hours a day, 7
days a week) to become "BF". I do not post about things I know nothing
about. One of the issues we went round and round on for hours on end in
meeting after meeting (meetings that included docs, nurses and other
staff) was the fact that there was no accountability and that this
would mean that our policy had no teeth. I am very aware of all aspects
of the politics, of the medicalization that interferes no matter how
much some nurses try to support families, and on and on. But, in the
end, we all knew that we would not change practices very much just b/c
we were "BF", even though most wanted to very much.
While "BF" may be the best we have, I do not consider this an excuse to
decide that it is good enough as it is. It is not disrespectful of all
of the hard work that has gone into "BF" to recognize that it can
indeed work against itself, when, like so many other good ideas, it has
no accountability. I would not have spent so much time on it myself if
I didn't think it could be a powerful tool for the benefit of families
(I was the only person in all of those meetings not paid for my time
there). I still believe that it could work, but that does not mean that
it is playing out that way. This is what mothers tell me many times--"I
expected that because I was in a "BF" hospital and I saw an IBCLC that
I had done everything I could to make bf work". Why wouldn't a mom
rightfully think that? I do that we as parents are resposible for our
decisions, but you don't know what you don't know. IMO, all hospital
practices should be designed as if the experience of the human infant
is real and matters very much, because it does. I do not know how we
can even use the term "BF" if we do not mean much more than enabling
breastfeeding, b/c we now have so much more information about the
nature and needs of human infants, and we are in no way friendly to
them.
Someone recently posted about the study done in Italy about 7 or 8
eight years ago about the migration of stem cells from the fetus to the
brain of the mother during gestation. Actually, migration begins at
about 6 weeks, with a dense migration taking place at birth--no matter
whether the baby is premature or born vaginally or by cesarean. This is
the kind of information, that were it common knowledge, would have to
change the way we treat babies in this country--we could not possibly
understand the nature of the human in utero and at birth and continue
the barbaric practices we do--inductions, drugging, cutting out of
mothers bodies, washing, pricking, separation form mothers and so many
other inhumane, disrespectful practices. From some people's
perspective, we have to live with the system and do the best we can.
Then I would ask you this--what happens when babies don't feed because
they are unable to turn off the sympathetic response they are having to
the trauma of their births? What happens when the infant's first
experience of the world is abandonment by the mother (his experiencem,
not the mother's intention), what happens when her first experience is
pain and disregard for her communication?, what is the price that is
paid when the hormonal melieu of birth is completely circumvented so
that the mother feels she has never bonded (and perhaps she never has),
what happens when the biochemical interplay that literally turns on our
humanity is disregarded? When all of this is going on, I am surprised
that any baby bf's or that any mother bonds at all. Fortunately, we do,
but really against all odds. Shouldn't we be concsiously working to
lower the odds for families? I wonder why we do not know these
things--why we do talk about them? Do we not care? Are we too
overwhelmed? Do they push our own buttons about own own births or own
parenting? The information is out there--I read the stem cell study
when it was first published. Do we think it doesn't relate to
breastfeeding? It does. Everything to do with the heart of the mother
and baby relates to breastfeeding.
I am not saying that we can win every battle--I do not even think we
should be fighting battles. I do think we owe it to babies to be better
educated, though and to educate everyone else, all of the time. As an
example, when I tell parents how important it is NOT to wash babies
before they bf--most parents do not allow it. That's a simple example.
How many things like that could we do that give power to families? I am
tired of the blaming of parents. Parents are blatantly lied to everyday
in childbirth and breastfeeding classes and by HCPs who do not want
them to know the dangers of their interventions. We get so angry at
parents being lied to by AIM companies, but go on to defend the lies
when they come from the institutions and systems we represent. Does
this make sense--shouldn't parents at least be more suspicious of the
lies from marketing companies than from medical institutions? They are
given misinfomation by people who do not know what they are talking
about and will not say so. I do not suggest that I know all of the
answers, but I think any conspiracy of ignorance and silence would be
just as destructive as the marketing from any AIM company.Why should
they worry about us--we continue to create an environment in which
their products will continue to thrive?
I wonder why we cannot honestly look at where our systems in the US
fail families? I understand that most of us work within these
systems--but we are not the systems themselves. We are the individuals
who have the capacity to bear witness, to hold the rights of the human
beings involved as more sacred than the structure of our systems. We
can only be blamed when we are not responsible by our own choice.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
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