Last week, among other things, I said:
<<<<"Never once give them a childbirth or breastfeeding class, THEN watch
the
C-section rates go down, and the breastfeeding rates go up LOL.
I am convinced that that would happen,">>
Which, at some point, generated this response:
<<In a message dated 8/17/1 8:59:21 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
Karen wrote:
I am trying to laugh but I am finding it hard not to be offended.... >>>>
And then this one, from Jennifer:
<< It feels
dishonest to tell them that birth is normal, knowing they will be under the
"care" of HCP's who have likely never witnessed normal birth. So, from my
perspective, childbirth classes are a set-up for failure. If that is
offensive to anyone, then I suggest you ask yourself very honestly whether
your practice is part of the problem or the solution. Being a cog in the
wheel of the medical model only serves the medical model.>>
While I mostly agree with Jennifer here - the medical model tries, despite
the best intentions of most teachers, to ensure that classes prepare women
for *that which makes the establishment money* - I must say that when I
originally stated, **that in my mythical "study"** the women should not be
given childbirth or breastfeeding classes, I didn't say that as a direct
"shot" at anyone who teaches those kinds of classes, but rather in order to
establish that any success of my proposed intervention was due to THAT class
- my proposed "MY BODY WORKS" class - as opposed to standard
childbirth/breastfeeding classes. I was not equating lack of childbirth
classes generally with better outcomes, nor was I calling for them all to be
immediately cancelled.
I've never run any study, nor do I pretend to know how, but I suppose the
way to do what I was wishing for would be to have a control group that DOES
get taught birth/breastfeeding in the standard, currently accepted ways,
then have my other group taught in the way I proposed. Then compare the
C-sec & breastfeeding rates.
My larger point was that if women truly believed that their bodies function,
then these women would be able to SEE that they in fact DO function. But as
things now stand, a great many women are fairly blind to their
birth-and-breastfeeding capabilities, because the ONLY parts of our bodies
that we women (in the U.S., at any rate) believe in, are the ones that MEN
ALSO HAVE. Lungs, legs, livers, kidneys, hearts, brains, etc? No problem!
Anything common to both sexes, we women have no confidence problems with.
But anything UNIQUE to women (breasts, uteruses? uterii?, ovaries, female
hormones) we DON'T. That's the simple truth as *I* see it, and it bothers
the heck out of me. So I'd like to see classes that address *that*, classes
that turn women's assumptions around. Instead of assuming they can't give
birth normally, and that they can't make enough milk, I'd like them to
nonchalantly assume the OPPOSITE. Not even give it a second THOUGHT.
In short, I long for the day when women don't doubt their breasts any more
than they do their legs.
And I think that at that point, I'd be out of a job <bg>........
Regina Roig Lane, BS IBCLC for Miami-Dade County WIC, who would gladly move
on to another career for the joy of that sight
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Tow, IBCLC [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2001 11:42 PM
Subject: Re: childbirth classes
In a message dated 8/17/1 8:59:21 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
Karen wrote:
I am trying to laugh but I am finding it hard not to be offended.... >>
in response to:
<< Regina wrote:
"Never once give them a childbirth or breastfeeding class, THEN watch the
C-section rates go down, and the breastfeeding rates go up LOL.
I am convinced that that would happen,"
Me, too! That is what I keep saying about "childbirth classes"--they are
a part of the problem, not the solution. We should have classes for
things that are not likely to work all on their own--like AF.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA"
I am an LC and have never been convinced 100% that LC's are more a part of
the solution than the problem. I try to stay very conscious of the
possibility that what I do might be disempowering or at the least
de-normalizing of breastfeeding. That way, I am not so attached to defending
my profession that I cannot give it up for the sake of what truly matters to
me--normal birth and breastfeeding and the protection of normal human
physiology.
I have been even more passionate about birth all of these years than I
have about breastfeeding (and I am intensely passionate about
breastfeeding).
I am trained in two childbirth education models (including hypnobirthing)
and
have taught childbirth classes, lectured on birth, facilitated a very
active
homebirth support group for years, done labor support, worked extensively
with teen moms and poor women and facilitated workshops on healing birth
trauma. Through all of these experiences I have come to believe in the
damage
done by childbirth education classes.
This is not what I wanted to believe. I would love to believe that if
women just get good information, they can birth normally. This is just not
so. As Anthony Robbins said, "Knowledge is not power. Use of knowledge is
power". Childbirth classes do not prepare women to assert themselves in the
face of the medical model. And they surely do not prepare women to trust
their bodies to birth and breastfeed. I believe they preapre women to either
be "good patients" or to believe that they fit the description of the
"exceptions" they are told about in their classes. Amazing, though, how
those "exceptions" comprise the majority of women.
Childbirth classes as we know them today are like the doorway into the
medical model. If childbirth classes actually did what they claimed to do,
medical interventions would be limited to about 10-15% of hospital births,
not over 90%. If, as an LC, I discovered that 90% of my clients were
"failing" at breastfeeding, I would re-evaluate my own practices. But, if I
discovered that 90% of all clients of all LC's "failed" at breastfeeding, I
would re-evaluate the profession.
It breaks my heart when women tell me their abusive birth stories and
say
"I took classes and thought I was prepared." They really do believe
that--and
they are--prepared to have medicalized births. And then struggle with
breastfeeding afterwards.
So, I suppose we could be defensive, but I personally prefer to refrain
from teaching "childbirth classes" until I can find a way to communicate
that
truly does effect outcomes. So, right now, I only do birth consults with
women who want non-medicalized births. And I tell them that you cannot
expect
to get what you want if you do not control the parameters of your
environment.
So far, the only times I have been successful in really supporting
normal
birth as an educator is when I have provided labor support (or convinced the
parents to hire another independant labor support person) or when I have
persuaded the parents to have a homebirth. It feels terribly dishonest to me
to tell parents they have the right to ask for things they will not get or
that will place them in an adversarial relationship with their HCP. It feels
dishonest to say that if you take this class and prepare yourself you can
have a non-medicalized birth, b/c that is almost never true. It feels
dishonest to tell them that birth is normal, knowing they will be under the
"care" of HCP's who have likely never witnessed normal birth. So, from my
perspective, childbirth classes are a set-up for failure. If that is
offensive to anyone, then I suggest you ask yourself very honestly whether
your practice is part of the problem or the solution. Being a cog in the
wheel of the medical model only serves the medical model. IMO, this is a
wheel deserving to be completely recreated.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
