Cathy Barger said "I've had more new mothers "crack" under the sleep
deprivation in the first
few weeks than any other cause, I think. It's so easy to look back once
your
own kids are past that stage, and laugh (albeit sympathetically) and
blithely remind them that it won't last forever. Well, it won't, as we
know,
but it's a complaint I take seriously. For one thing, it jeopardizes
breastfeeding."

If you were referring to my post (and I'm behind as I've been at a
conference all week) about the sleep video, I certainly don't BLITHELY (as
if I don't sympathize with their problem) that it won't last forever.  For
one thing, my own kids AREN'T all past that stage.  I still have a nursing
toddler waking me several times a night and then I have to be up by 5:30 to
get ready for work.  I just wish there was a compromise method somewhere
for breastfeeding babies who wake more than they need to.  For example, my
twenty month old does not NEED to nurse several times a night for nutrit
ion.  Yet, once you've established the family bed and nursing on demand, it
isn't an easy thing to stop.  Yet, the cry it out methods certainly don't
appeal to most breastfeeders.

I agree with you completely that sleep deprivation is a very serious
problem for many women.  IF they are total zombies and depressed and
stressed, how good is that for their babies?  I think that when we talk
about modeling ourselves after women in traditional societies and nursing
on demand all night for as long as the child wants to....we forget many
differences (Kathy D could probably help here) in our culture and
traditional ones.  For example, we as a culture are sleep deprived even
without babies in the picture!  I read somewhere that the average American
sleeps much less per night than in the 1940's.  We certainly haven't
evolved physiologically to need less sleep in 40-50 years.  We're just TOO
BUSY!  Plus, if the mother works, she can't nap when her baby or toddler
naps.  So when women go back to work at six or eight weeks and their baby
is still waking them  up five times per night, it's a recipe for trouble!

I sure don't know what the answer is.

Lucy Towbin, MSW,IBCLC
(Drinking a cup of tea to wake me up)