This is nothing earth-shattering at all, but I just wanted to mention
that I have had a good feeling as I walked out of two groups that
sometimes make me anxious -- a group of teens (a few moms) and a group
of First Nations mothers. In both cases, there were very few mothers who

planned to breastfeed.
Although I had planned some gimmicky things, I ended up going with the
same format both times:
1. Talk about what they have heard is good about breastfeeding.
2. "Because of all the good things we've mentioned about breastfeeding,
I'd like to talk now about why you think some mothers don't breastfeed."

There were a couple of things that interested me. First, it didn't
expect a high level of knowledge. Talking about misconceptions about
breastfeeding -- sometimes wrongly referred to as "myths" (hey, I just
spent a weekend talking about Northrop Frye, and *cannot* use myth as
something false, weak or misleading!) works fine at LLL meetings,
because the mothers there are generally well-informed and interested.
This was a way of evoking the same kind of horror stories from
mothers-in-law, comments from unsupportive strangers, fears about body
image, etc. Among the reasons: it hurts, my mother didn't have enough
milk, I lost interest in sex and I smoke.
I really thought it was important to acknowledge, validate and support.
When an opinion seemed to be dismissed by the others, I would add, "Oh,
I've heard that, too!"
Another thing I liked about this format was that it depersonalized the
comments. Women could choose to talk about their own experiences or say
"somebody told me..."
With the First Nations women, I had the opportunity to talk a little
about traditional ways, but I wouldn't recommend that approach unless
one has a tiny bit of legitimacy in the community. Like the wisdom of
breastfeeding passed down from mother to daughter, the teachings have
been dismissed and lost in many communities, and need to be restored
from the inside out.
Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes, IBCLC, Atlantic Canada

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