We have a large Mexican immigrant population here in central NJ and after
reading the opening of this post I feel like I could have practically written
it. The women here do both, and the staff usually just goes along with what
they say. In my very limited spanish, I have understood that they feel they
have no milk ("NO LECHE") I try to explaiin that there is colostrum and show
them how to express it. I have read (I don't remember where) that in some
cultures people believe that colostrum is no good. I would be interested in
anything else you find out about this population as about 1/3 of our patients
seem to be non english speaking Hispanics, mostly from Mexico.
Caren Goldstein RNC IBCLC