Dear all

Having one of those off days. My client group of young at risk mothers are great and we have a lot of robust and breastfeeding mothers and others who are absolutely doing the best they can. 

I have struggled with a particular 17 year old for months and months now. She is an IV user and dealer who used during pregnancy and despite the odds had a lovely healthy baby. She even tried breastfeeding for a while but was on bottles within weeks. She now lives in a dump, is depressed, using and dealing again, has no family near, and the few friends she has lead totally chaotic lives. 

My main concern now is for the baby, who is small, ignored, and has probably survived by being "good".

So in a sense, I have "failed" and there is a no win situation, because if we involve child protection the baby may get put in care ( or not - it is actually quite hard to do this in Australia, still raw after the "stolen generation" and orphanage abuse scandals), or else she will simply disappear and we will never know what happens next.

But I suppose the ultimate failure would be a dead or damaged baby.

Oh well... at least writing it down puts it in perspective. There are times when the importance of supporting breastfeeding just pales beside other concerns.

Mary E Black
Professor of Public Health
University of Queensland

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