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Date: | Wed, 9 Sep 1998 09:11:54 -0700 |
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I have found that there is a significant community of Ezzo fans in my
area. When working with them I have found one approach that seems to
work very well. Let me share it with you.
First let me say that I am a fairly fundamental Christian myself.
Having spent significant time in study of the Old Testament I am able to
cite the Levitical law as an example of how God viewed the time after
childbirth. Ezzo argues in his classes and in the Raising Kids Gods Way
book that the Biblical mother did not have time to spend on attachment
type parenting practices. I ask parents to consider the fact that in
Leviticus 12 instruction is given regarding the status of the woman
after childbirth.
This instruction includes the fact that the woman who had given birth to
a male child was to be considered unclean for a period of 40 days
following the deliver. For the woman who gave birth to a girl the
period of uncleanliness was 80 days.
So--what does that mean? A woman who was unclean could not fix food,
could not have physical contact (let alone sexual) with others. So what
was the woman to do during this period of time? It appears that all she
could do was to allow others to prepare her food, do the house work,
etc, and she could only come in contact with the newborn child. Anyone
or thing that she did touch would have to be ritually purified. Ritual
purification was an economic matter to be reckoned with.
When folks are asked to look at this information, many of them then
begin to question the Biblical basis of the program. In my experience I
can then present to them some of the more unique aspects of
breastfeeding physiology, such as the immunologic boast that the mother
is able to give the baby by frequent nursing and get them to rethink the
Ezzo approach to breastfeeding.
For what its worth--it has worked remarkably well for me.
Melinda
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