>  According to the data from 2004 hospital discharge rates in California;
>http://www.mch.dhs.ca.gov/programs/bfp/in-hospital-tables.htm
>
>83.9 % CHOOSE breastfeeding and of these, only 40.5 GET exclusive
>breastfeeding - I say we AREN'T giving mothers their choice!
>
>Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
>California, USA

Of course we are not :(

Stats in the UK show that 9 out of 10 mothers who *stop* 
breastfeeding before their baby is six weeks old would have liked to 
continue. Only 1 in 10 do it because it is their choice, pure and 
simple.

Out of all the women who stop in the first week, only 1 per cent say 
they stopped because they had breastfed for as long as they had 
planned to.

Where is the choice there?

I hafta say, I am finding this debate about choices utterly perplexing.

I don't know any *genuine* and *trained* supporter of breastfeeding 
(and I know a lot of them!) who does not respect women, who does not 
treat them respectfully, and who does not recognise the primacy of 
their wishes and their preferences when it comes to the baby and how 
the baby is fed.

Some of the debate on here seems to assume there is a bunch of 
'militants' who go round bashing mothers with 'breastfeed or else' 
slogans, or who don't care if they turn mothers off by being 
judgemental. I suppose there must be some people like that, but I 
haven't met them IRL or online.

My experience is that we understand probably *more* than any other 
body working in maternal and child care that for many (all?) mothers, 
breastfeeding takes place in social, emotional and cultural context, 
a mix unique to every mother and baby, that demands respectful 
acknowledgement.

It can be/must be acknowledged at the same time as we explain to 
women, and society, the impact on health of formula.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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