As I talk about in my presentation, "The Woman Behind the Breasts," w hen mothers want to control breastfeeding via having specific concrete steps or focusing on scientific information, several things may be going on--alone or in combination. Let's start with culture. Culture can be viewed as having multiple dimensions, including how people approach social relationships, time, their relationship to nature, human nature, and human activity. There are three basic ways to approach our relationship with nature: control, harmony, and subjugation. Mothers from western and westernized cultures are likely to manifest control of nature and a valuing of science as part of their overall worldview and as part of their approach with breastfeeding. ( Good Mojab, C. The cultural art of breastfeeding. Leaven 2000; 36(5):87-91. http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvoctnov00p87.html .) Then, as Jan wrote, a desire for control, concrete steps, and scientific information related to breastfeeding can also show that a mother is in the "formal" stage of maternal development . ( Mercer, R. (1981). The nurse and maternal tasks of early postpartum. Maternal Child Nursing Journal, 6 , 341-345.) Mothers also could be showing that their "way of knowing" is "received knowing" when they desire and rely upon concrete breastfeeding rules and information provided by external authorities. ( Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, N., and Tarule, J. Women’s Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind. New York : Basic Books, 1986.)
So, depending on its causes, this pattern could be a) enduring, b) a transient part of development in the postpartum experience, or c) modified over time through experience and long-term development . Regardless, it is critical that we always trust that a woman has good reason for doing what she is doing and needing what she is needing and to compassionately meet her wherever she is.
Cynthia
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Cynthia Good Mojab, MS, IBCLC, RLC, CATSM
www.lifecirclecc.com
www.lactspeak.com/speaker/cynthiagood-mojab
www.facebook.com/CGoodMojab
http://lifespantkd.blogspot.com
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