Last night I taught a class to Latino women at a Hispanic Mission. I was so  
excited-I had forgotten how wonderful it is to teach breastfeeding ( I have 
been  out of work for 3 years due to an accident and now that I am released to 
go back  to work, I can't find a job!). These ladies were: trying to get 
pregnant,  pregnant-from first baby to baby number 4. They were very talkative and 
happy to  share their experiences and knowledge. I did find out some very 
disturbing  things they have been told in our health care system. I discuss some 
about  unmedicated births, and how to manage childbirth without medications. One 
mother  is a birth attendant for women in their community and she said the 
hospital  tells women to keep their knees together and clinched together after 
dilating to  5, in order to slow labor and keep from tearing. Ok, you try to 
keep you knees  together and clinched for several hours. They are also told that 
if they refuse  pain medications, they will tear worst. About breastfeeding, 
they are told that  many Latino women's nipples are too small for the baby to 
latch on. They also  are told that they cannot have the baby in their room at 
night because hospital  policy doesn't allow the baby to be in a room when mom 
is sleeping. At the large  university/medical school hospital here, they are 
given "large bottle nipples"  to put over their own nipples to nurse with. ( 
we have a huge problem with  nipple shields being issued to a large number of 
women). At WIC, they are told  they have to wean at 12 months because the 
breast milk will rot their babies  teeth because it is higher in sugar. And of 
course WIC pushes cow's milk for  both mother and the babies, even though they say 
that cow's milk gives them gas  and makes them constipated. So the first hour 
was spent on dispelling these  misstatements! They are also given Depo before 
they leave the hospital. 
The class was 2 hours but the ladies stayed over 30 minutes asking more  
questions. The church asked me to teach the class but couldn't pay me which is  
ok, because I got such a reward for being with these women who love their babies 
 so much and enjoy mothering and breastfeeding. Everyone had nursed their 
older  baby over 2 years, despite what WIC tells them. One mom says they know 
just to  sit there and pretend to not understand.
They ended the evening by presenting me with a lovely scented candle and a  
thank you card they all signed.
Do you think we will ever see the day when medical professionals know about  
breastfeeding, teach correctly, and culturally appropriately?
Oh, I did receive a call recently from a mother who goes to the pediatric  
clinic at the medical school , who saw a resident who said to her " Are you  
still doing that? you know, it doesn't have any nutritional value anymore. " She  
is breastfeeding a 6 month old.
 
Barbara Whitehead, BS, IBCLC, RLC
eastern NC

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