In a message dated 2/18/2007 9:39:05 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
At least 25% of babies in our culture cry/fuss more than 2 hours/day!
Dear Friends:
I wonder where this figure came from. Another DVD?
Infant crying is normalized in the hospital. As a nurse working in L&D,
and postpartum/nursery for years, I witnessed this, sometimes daily in many
institutions. I remember a nurse getting up and closing the nursery door,
because the crying babies kept me from focusing on change of shift report.
Was it James McKenna that said that we are birthing babies who are ready
to live in the Stone Age? Stone aged babies expected to be carried/be close
to someone all the time, as we see in all primates (save homo sapiens). When
they don't get what they are wired to receive, they complain.
1 in 3 babies are cut out of their mothers by cesarean section in the US
today. At least 50% are induced, put out of their wombs too soon. They are
born into hospitals where their complaints are ignored, where they are usually
taken away from their mothers. Their mothers are taught to put the wrapped
bundle into a fishtank, and plug its mouth when it fusses. Maybe breastfeed
sometimes, maybe not. 75% (or nearly that figure) of mothers in the workforce
have babies under the age of 1 at home. In my City, only 40% of women initiate
any breastfeeding.
Lots of reasons for babies to cry.
Women can be scared or come to believe that lying down and having their
babies cut out of them or evicted is the right way. Fathers can go along with
this. Society can condone it.
Babies are the onlypeople that can't be misled by cultural forces. They
know what they need. They are crying for us all, who debate over a
fundamental part of being primates, the connection between mother and baby.
warmly, with profound sadness and fears for the future of our species....
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Lactation Consultant, Philadephia Department of Public Health
Maternal-Child Adjunct Faculty, Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com
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