Magda asks:
>
>Are we breastfeeding centred, woman centred or breast milk centred?  Seems
>to me
>that individuals come down in different places and sometimes I know I come
>down
>in slightly different places at different times. If one is breast milk centred
>-- and I have read plenty of posts on Lactnet that suggest this orientation --
>making it easy for women who don't want to breastfeed to get human milk for
>their babies is common sense.

Interesting post, M, but I think I'd say that making it easier for women to
get banked human milk is being woman-centred - and I am one of those who
are woman-centred, more often than anything else, in my practice.

I am truly sad, on a personal level, if an individual woman wants to give
breast milk in this way, because she and her baby are missing out on the
relationship of breastfeeding. But she may have her own reasons, and if she
has access to all the aspects, then so be it.

This certainly happened when milk banks were more common in the UK - I have
no idea if it still does happen. Pre-term and sick babies whose mothers did
not want to breastfeed were given donated human milk (free in the UK, of
course) while they were in special care. I donated milk myself to the milk
bank, knowing that most of it was actually used in this way.

 I don't recall that human milk  was ever an option when the baby was
discharged from the hospital - but that might have been priorities and
practicalities.

Of course one would want the mother to be counselled and encouraged and
enabled to give her own milk, but some really don't want to do it.  The
counselling, encouraging and enabling is, however, still done very poorly
and inconsistently in too many special care baby units.


Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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