Hi, all:

This is in response to the post from Joya Bezette. YES. I've seen this pump,
bottle and feed routine here in Lexington, TWICE. One mom had some problems
with sore nipples and was referred to an LC in a larger city. She saw her and
came home with a pump. She then told a childhood friend in Texas she was
using one and the friend told her how marvelous pumping, bottling, and
feeding was, and told her NOT to call LLL or the original LC to get back on
the breast because of the wonderful freedom pumping affords. The other mother
here in town saw an LC and brought home a pump and nipple shields and when
the baby refused her naked breast, decided to go with bottles altogether,
because "all that closeness was so confining anyway" as she put it.  It's
hard to understand wanting to be "milked" by a machine versus nursing one's
infant. But both these women prefer it and give their reasons as efficiency,
freedom and the "non-animal-like-ness."  I should take these ladies to the
local dairy and ask how 'non-animal' pumping seems then. My intention is not
to demean those moms who must  pump and feed via bottles/syringes, etc., but
to question why and how things have gotten so weird that this would seem not
just acceptable, but preferable to nursing.

This leads into MY WISH for those who work with moms and babies:

Please don't derail the normal process at it's initiation or any other time
unless absolutely necessary. Help plan hospital procedures and policies which
help moms come through labor and birth with as few drugs as possible, and
will allow moms and babies to get off to the best start in breastfeeding.
Work with moms when pregnant to plan beginning breastfeeding as soon as
possible at birth. Don't remove the baby from mom until after the first
breastfeeding unless absolutely necessary. I teach childbirth classes and
I've noticed that the moms and babies who get IMMEDIATE access at birth and
STAY together until after the first feed, rarely have problems. My students'
experiences seem to reflect the work shown in the video "Delivery Self
Attachment." Wouldn't it be wonderful if we didn't have so much work fixing
what shouldn't have been broken?

To me, pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding are a cycle and concentrating on
just one aspect of this cycle can cause us to disregard the influences of the
preceding phase. No, I'm not so naive as to think that all breastfeeding
problems will be eradicated by my suggestions, but a lot of them could be.

Well, that's my two cents worth.

Thanks for letting me chip them in.

Margaret Ann Paxton, CCE and LLL
"If you don't know your options, you don't have any."