Hear, hear Rachel. When we blame a culture, then we don't have to take personal responsibility. It is a fine line - the balance between the village and the individual. The statement "it takes a village" really makes my hackles rise. The village did not birth the baby, even though their influence is strong. They do not love the baby. A village is like a corporation, it's only instinct is for survival. A village really doesn't have an intrinsic value, it is all extrinsic. It does not have a heart or a soul. Sometimes we need coaxing with the carrot, sometimes we need a stick. That ebbs and flows - like the discussion between breastfeeding "advantages" or formula "disadvantages". Both are important. But what has most motivated me recently is my experience in a wheelchair, which I've talked about before. My experience with walking and observation of walking made it the desirable thing to do. The wheelchair, although necessary and requiring defense (ADA) to make things more accessible for me, did not inspire me to forget about walking - or to tell everyone else they needed to get one too to make me feel more comfortable in a group situation! I like this analogy and often employ it when I'm defending breastfeeding.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rachel Myr
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 3:13 PM
Subject: who breastfeeds
Someone cited Jim Akre as saying that cultures breastfeed, rather than women. I disagree. A child can not be breastfed by a culture, only by a person with breasts.
In the same vein, people belong to cultures, but cultures are not individuals. Each individual will have beliefs and ways of living that they have learned from their culture, but they will also have ways of doing things that are peculiar to them alone.
If you think that because you know some tidbits about certain cultures, you will be able to give appropriate help to any individual who defines themselves as belonging to that culture, you are destined to fail. There are no shortcuts. You have to engage with the person in front of you.
My hackles still go up more than 20 years down the road when I recall being asked by our INSTRUCTOR, no less, on the first day of midwifery school in Oslo, during our intro round where we said our names and where we were from, 'You'r American, eh? Tell me, why do *all* American women ask for dry-up pills in the hospital?' A third of my class had children under two years old when we started. One student was breastfeeding when school started - yep, the American. And I was supposed to be the expert on people who weaned prematurely, because I came from that culture. The population on which this instructor based her conviction that all American women wanted dry-up pills was the group of NATO officers' wives who were stationed at the base nearby and used the hospital where she worked part time.
There was a post in this thread about Latina women being more likely to supplement in the early days. In the same post, it was mentioned that the pediatricians ordered supplements to any baby whose weight on the second day of life was more than seven per cent below birthweight. What mother would NOT be supplementing in such a setting? The pediatricians need re-programming more than the mothers do. I really feel for the breastfeeding brigade in that unit, it's an uphill battle.
As to culture, human beings are much more similar than they are different, and still there is a wondrous diversity amongst us. Celebrate the diversity, don't bother labeling it. You'll find your work more fun, too.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
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