Dear Friends:
We have learned from our sisters in Norway and South Africa and other
countries that there are breastfeeding problems everywhere. We know that the
fear of insufficient milk is a universal phenomenon; every culture has its
rituals, prayers, and special foods to help a mother through the early
postpartum.
However, when birth became industrialized and medicalized, when mothers
and babies were routinely separated in hospitals, breastfeeding problems have
increased enormously.
Birth and breastfeeding are always a challenge, albeit a necessary one,
for humans. Some stress promotes health by making all the systems within work.
As an aside, Dr. Michel Odent has given an interesting definition of
health "being a system which allows us to struggle on a minute-by-minute basis
and to adapt constantly to the environment", and says, " Health cannot be
really understood outside the context of the struggle for life." (From his book
"Primal Health".)
There is no reason or evidence to suppport making birth or breastfeeding
more difficult, as seen the abuse of technology so rampant in the USA today.
To illustrate, we know from our experience, and from research, that cesarean
section is a barrier to the establishment of lactation and of breastfeeding;
yet the national cesarean section rate in the US is nearly 1 woman out of 3.
For some reason, this statistic is not taken seriously, just as
breastfeeding on a national level is not taken seriously.
While there will be women who will persevere despite all obstacles (as
posted about the lady laboring in the parking lot to achieve her goal of a
vaginal birth of a footling breech #6 baby), there are far more women who will
succumb to cultural pressure. And who can blame them? I am as vulnerable as
they, despite my grey hairs and clinical experience and being able to quote
from research.
When a neonatologist can say that human milk is insufficient in front of
NICU staff nurses, and I have to bite my tongue out of fear of having the
lactation program shunned, the pressure of the 'norm' outweighs research,
respect for normal process and common sense.
warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com
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