This is truth! Breastfeeding has been around longer than modern medicine - yet babies died from preventable infectious diseases all the time. For me, all I have to do is go up a few miles to a family cemetery and see all the babies and children buried long before their mothers and fathers. The trick in modernity is to hold onto what is valuable from history and evaluate what is new and use the best of both. Breastfeeding is important. But so is immunization and antibiotics and surgery and therapy. Our longer lifespans percentage wise come from advancements. This can't be bad. What is bothersome though, is when what was originally used therapeutically becomes used for convenience as an after-market use and helps to expand profit margins.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alla Gordina MD, IBCLC, FAAP
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2014 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: no need to apologize...
This e-mail was long in the making.
How on Earth can we (lactation consultants) bring our message across to all the members of the health care team if we neither respect them nor give them a credit to what they know (mostly what we, lactation consultants, don't)?
Let's face it, with all the benefits of the breast milk as a "first immunization", breastfeeding neither did nor will prevent polio, smallpox or diphtheria.
And with all the downsides and risks of antibiotics (especially with their inappropriate use), breast milk as a "natural antibiotic" still would not cure TB, sepsis, meningitis, MRSA or even a trivial streptococcal tonsillitis.
Add to the mix a simple idea that any specialist is usually a specialist in a very special area. The famous saying by Koz'ma Prutkov (Google this name, you may enjoy his aphorisms) "Specialist is like a dental abscess always being one sided" goes both ways. We (lactation
consultants) are one sided in our ways, colorectal surgeons in their own ways and so on. For internal medicine docs breastfeeding and breast milk, so dear to our hearts, on the grand scheme of things are relatively minor issues. Would you believe that IM docs really have to be "buried in the medical texts" to keep up with all the advances of modern medicine? They do. The same as us. Just different texts, as per same Koz'ma Prutkov, "one can not grasp the immensity"...
So if we want other specialists to listen and to learn about breastfeeding, we should stop opposing ourselves to the rest of the world and start finding opportunities for cooperation.
If we want to be a part of the team that will succeed in solution of the modern breastfeeding problems, we should not create confrontations with our teammates.
Peace,
Alla
--
Alla Gordina, MD, IBCLC, FAAP
General Pediatrics
Breastfeeding Medicine
Adoption and Foster Care Medicine
Global Pediatrics and Family Medicine
NJ Breastfeeding Medicine Education Initiative NJ Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator, American Academy of Pediatrics Satellite Symposia Sub-Committee Chair, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
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