But it is in part the assumption that women "can't" breastfeed more often
(or don't need to) and that they "can't" breastfeed without a pump or
without expressing that leads to the continuation of these practices.  As
long as women are routinely told that babies will only need to breastfeed
every 2-3-4 hours, we'll see problems with milk supply.  If everyone was
told and/or just knew from growing up around it, that babies are breastfed
as often as they like, and that may range from every 15 minutes to every 4
hours, then I wouldn't be hearing so many women wail "My baby wants to eat
again, and it's only been 2.5 hours -- what's wrong??!!"

>Example: a woman who's had a
>medicated birth, with a sleepy baby who might nuzzle, mooch around, take a
>couple of sucks, & conk out. Is this a "normal" situation? Well, in pure
>terms, probably not - but in practice, there it is and we see it every day.

So you put your energy into working on changes in hospital policy or greater
cultural context to eliminate the existence of drugged babies at birth -- as
well as helping this mom where she is at this moment.

>And, sadly, working mothers "needing" to be away from their babies is not an
>"extraordinary circumstance".

I didn't say that.  I said that you didn't need a breast pump for those
times.  The "pumps" on the end of your hands work just fine for the vast
majority of women if they are taught how to do it.  We've had this debate on
LactNet before, so I won't go into it again.  But the US love affair with
technology has infiltrated the breastfeeding arena, and it makes me sick.
Hand-expression is just as quick and just as effective as the best pump for
expressing milk once lactation has been well-established.  Working mothers
do not need pumps.  But here in the US we love technology, we love machines
that take over the job of hand-work (leaf-blowers instead of brooms is the
most ludicrous example) and we love things that make money.

>"I cringe to think of women expressing and discarding all that wonderful
>milk."
>
>Me too, but I don't think anyone (at least here!) would ever recommend
>discarding all that precious milk! Who said anything about discarding it?

Well, Pamela sure never said anything about keeping it or giving it to the
baby, so I just assumed women were expressing it into the sink.

Kathy Dettwyler

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