" Reminded me of that fake arm you could buy to make your baby think you
were there with him, when actually you were probably having it off with your
state-of-the-art electric breastpump that can CRY."

Dear Friends:

How many human processes can technology be used for?

A man I know bought his wife an electric foot massager because she would put
her feet in his lap for him to rub when they were watching television. Would
he buy her a dildo when she felt desire?

A pump that cries. Fake hands or arms to fool babies into feeling safe.
Gadgets that hold bottles for babies until they can hold their own.

The latest New Yorker magazine has a cartoon that I have titled "Modern
Thanksgiving"....it is on page 80. I'd post it on a LACTNET files sharing
place if there was such a thing.

For those without access to this black and white drawing of a family
gathered for a National Holiday in the States, I will describe what I see.
The Thanksgiving table in the background is full of food and dishes and
bottles and all the accouterments of a feast. In the foreground, the family
is sitting in front of the flat-screen TV. While there is a husband, a wife,
two teen-aged children, an uncle, a grandmother and a baby (sitting on the
floor holding its own bottle) as a group in the drawing, each person has an
individual electronic device that is claiming all their attention: video
camera, cell phone, telephone, iPod, television.  People are eating while
texting, watching, talking or listening to their electronic devices.  There
is not one particle of human connection in the whole scene.

In my infant massage class yesterday, several of the mothers have figured
out that keeping their babies in the car seat all night keeps the baby
quiet. When I made a gentle question about this, the mothers said "Oh our
babies get plenty of holding." These mothers were also forcing and holding
pacifiers in their babies mouths if the baby made any noise. At least they
were breastfeeding, although many were doing it on schedule.

Thank goodness for the mother sitting quietly in the back, who spoke about
bed-sharing and cuddling and was more focused on her baby than on anything
else and gave her baby a wonderful massage.

How do we bridge the gap when machines run the show?  This starts in
pregnancy and is excacerbated in labor and carries on in life as new mothers
imprint more on machines than on their babies.

sigh.l


Nikki Lee RN, BSN, Mother of 2, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com

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