Dear Friends:

    A local doula sent me the book and I've been perusing it. Thank you Karen.

    Interesting.

    Has any one noticed that in the index there is no mention of "carrying" 
or "baby-wearing"? Wouldn't you think that carrying would be part of the method 
as the author boasts about observing the contented babies in other cultures?  
He seems to have either not noticed or forgotten that babies cry just as much 
in other cultures as they do in the US; the difference is that the caregiver 
responds to a cry in seconds in other countries (according to the chapter in 
Breastfeeding: A Biocultural Perspective.) Plus babies in other cultures are 
carried and worn much more than in the US.
    
    In the US, hospital staff ignore crying babies. As a hospital nurse and 
LC, I have seen and still see this every day. Mothers see this and learn to 
keep the baby in the fishtank, put a plug in its mouth, and hold off feeding.
    
    Maybe 'carrying' is in the text somewhere. Can you imagine not carrying a 
baby?Grandmothers carried us.

    And what about his editor? How could his editor have let Dr. Karp make 
statements about external gestation without referencing Ashley Montague PhD and 
his classic "Touching" with its 3rd edition in the  1990s?  Dr. Montague said 
that humans needed another 9 months of gestation after birth.

    "Men put the 'us' in uterus"? Give me a break. This man's attitude of 
disingenous delight and discovery makes me want to smack him.

    He references grandmothers. Fine. Let's remember our our grandmothers, 
that held us and rocked us and sang or read to us when we were babies. They 
embraced us with warmth. Warmth is left out of the "method".

    Dr. Karp offers technique. There is no evidence upon which to recommend 
this method, this collection of techniques, to the world at large, yet the 
method has been embraced by organizations. Often the same organizations that 
promote the 'method' are completely opposed to safe bed-sharing, which is entirely 
evidence-based and supported.

    I have received a collection of articles from the National Medical 
Library (from a crib death organization) that describe risks of swaddling. I will 
post them on this list if you all want.

      On one hand a method that is not evidence-based is endorsed, and a 
style of parenting that IS evidence-based is condemned. I am confused.

    In my opinion, the 'method' seems like a man's eye view of our nurturing. 
Just as labor driven by induction, intravenous medications, and machines is a 
man's eye of of labor.
    
    Technology versus heart, method versus feelings and discovery......I know 
which style I like. I also accept that there are other people that prefer the 
other.

    If the 'method'  keeps one baby or child from being beat up, then let's 
add it to our toolbox, along with skin-to-skin, spontaneous undisturbed labor, 
unrestricted breastfeeding, and long, paid maternity leave!

    warmly,

Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Lactation Consultant, Philadephia Department of Public Health
Maternal-Child Adjunct Faculty, Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com

Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI

www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com

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