Thank you, Jay, for your reminder that sometimes the ideal (in
this case, the family bed) does not work. Individual problems
may get in the way - in Jay's case, her back; in my case, it was
a matter of the parents being very restless sleepers (my husband
often wakes me by flinging his arm across my chest - imagine this
in an infant's face....), and I would have been so nervous about
the baby's safety that I never would have been able to sleep a
wink. Also, Israeli homes are often very small - especially
bedrooms. There was no way we could have fit a crib into our
room. We had an intercom from above the baby's crib which
broadcast literally into my ear. I awoke at (and often before)
the first whimper, and our antique Marblehead rocking chair was
"our" place. Was I a "bad breastfeeder"? I don't think so. There
are many cultures, many special conditions, many individual
differences out there. The ideal is the ideal, and usually
nature's way, and we should strive for it, certainly; whoever
cannot realize it, for whatever reason, should not be
pejoratively labelled. Just my opinion.
Judy Knopf, in Israel (whose daughter has already declared that
when she has a baby, she is taking the abovementioned rocking
chair - told her she'd better think again.....!)