It was so inspiring to read Ros's post about mothers spending 3 days in
hosptital side-lying with their infants. Especially in a culture which
formerly had some colostrum taboos.  I know that there is a wonderful Thai
doctor (forgot his name) who came up with what is called the rule of the 3
sucklings:  Suckle early, suckle frequently, suckle thoroughly.  That about
covers it, doesn't it?  During those three days of intense contact I am sure
such a solid bond is forged that it would be difficult indeed for
breastfeeding to fail.

 I wish that there were such a mechanism in US hospt.  While I lament the
'drive-by' deliveries which leave so many of the mothers I see looking
shell-shocked, I have ambivalant feelings about longer hospt. stays when
they involve so much mother-baby separation and so much generally uninformed
lactation assistance. Hospt.in the US will tell you they couldn't possibly
do what Thailand did because of consumer demand that mother rest.  As I
recall, you used to be able to smoke in hospt. too.  The medical community
took a stand on that and said "we have information that says this is
harmful, and in here you do it our way." So that could be done on the issue
of rooming in too, if there were the will to do it from the point of view of
the policy makers.

Unfortunately,it doesn't get any better when American moms come home. They
have too much company and resume activity too soon. When I discuss going to
bed with baby and resting more, I get such ironic -- sometimes bitter looks
from mothers.  "As if I could..." they say.   It is delicate work to get
these women to talk about why they feel they cannot insist on the right to a
sheltered recovery period.  I really like to speak directly to fathers about
what is in it for them to protect their partners during this period. Less
maternal depression, ultimately a quicker, fuller recovery of the kind of
energy it takes to keep the family pulled together, etc.  I stress this when
I teach pre-natal classes.

 When we deplore the "failure" of some women to put enough effort into
making bfg succeed, we need always to remember that the brutal birth and
post-partum customs in the West leave many women emotionally and physically
abandoned, and puts their babies at risk for attachment dysfucntions.  This
is why I put such stock into helping mothers  preserve breastfeeding however
I can.  If bfg can work, the mother salvages some of her expectations of the
joy she had every right to anticipate from the birth experience.  And she
will become empowered by bfg to be a strong advocate for her baby.

Barbara

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Owner, Lactnews On-Line Conference Page
http://moontower.com/bwc/lactnews.html