Dear Friends:
    This discussion about mothers that choose to pump leads me to wonder if 
it is mothering that we are fighting for, more than breastfeeding.
    I see that the trend in the area where I live is for less mother-baby 
contact in real life. After being in a nurturing community event for 3 days, 
where the babies were passed around to everyone, I realized that most babies I see 
out in the world are strapped into strollers, down at adult knee level, with 
plugs in their mouths.
    A  main cultural message is that women must be busy and that mothering 
does not count as work. 
    How often do we hear that a mother is "too busy" to breastfeed? She 
prefers to pump because she can be on the computer/telephone or some other work 
while extracting milk. This is the way she gives something to everyone: her milk 
to her baby, her time to her employment, and her focus to juggling it all.
    Cultural pressure makes women choose the path of least resistance. 
   I am NOT saying I like any of these things; just musing aloud about some 
changes I have noticed over the years.
    warmly,

Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Adjunct Faculty, Union Institute and University, Lactation Program
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation

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