Rachel writes, in response to Laura's post:
I don't find that 'scientific' information is the factor determining
whether mothers try to get control of breastfeeding but I do find that
mothers who want to be able to plan exactly when, how often and for
how long the baby is going to feed are the ones who struggle to adjust
to life with a baby. They will attempt to use whatever is at hand to
get control of things, from the latest impeccable scientific
information about lactation physiology, to outdated advice not to
spoil the baby by responding to its cues even when they are aching to
pick the baby up for their own sake. Mothers who are able to just be
with their babies and do whatever it takes to keep them happy, seem to
enjoy their newborns a lot more. It's a specific skill, akin to what a
good midwife does with pregnant, laboring and postpartum women
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I find this is all part of the acquisition of the role of motherhood. Go
back and read the very excellent LLL Monograph by Debi Bocar and Karen Moore
on the "Acquisition of the Parental Role, a Theoretical Perspective" which
was published in 1987 and is still just as true today as it was then....
Anyway, this "control" and wanting to do everything just *right* is part of
the "formal" step in the move towards personal -- I do it my way. Some
seem to be stuck in formal a lot longer -- particularly those that seem to
espouse a particular mode of parenting that caters to the mechanistic
method....and some of these women never seem to be able to move on to the
informal and then the personal acquisition of parenting.
We can't hurry the process along, we can just encourage and role model it.
Think about becoming a lactation consultant -- we go thru the same 4
stages...anticipatory -- I want to BE an IBCLC, and this is what I have to do.
Formal -- wow -- I've been thru the classes, I'm working on my hours, wow
-- I sat for the exam and I GOT it -- now I have to make sure I do
everything RIGHT. Then we relax a little bit when we realize we know something, and
it isn't the end of the world if we disagree with an *expert*.
Eventually, I hope, we move to "personal" which is how I do things which may be
different than you do things. And it's OK.
Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC, FILCA
Lactation Education Consultants
Wheaton IL 60187
Newly revised!! _http://lactationeducation.com_
(http://www.lactationeducation.com/)
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