Coach Smith again.

How we view babies depends a LOT on our perspective. Are they normal until
proven otherwise, or "accidents waiting to crash and burn?" The answer is
YES, both!

Our perspective comes from our training and experience. As a practicing LC,
I mostly see babies with problems. The calls I receive are from moms with
problems. I rent pumps to moms who are separated from their babies, again a
problem situation. Now when I see a normal, happy, thriving baby at the mall
I start looking for any problems, because that's what I do for a living.
This is far, far different from what I saw during my 25 years as a LLL
Leader and childbirth educator. I saw mostly normal, thriving babies and
their moms. Month after month, meeting after meeting, I saw normal
breastfeeding over and over and over in many different contexts. The
foundation of "normal" got laid down in my memory/experience bank as a very
thick layer on which to base my current practice and teaching.

Health professionals in general, and physicians in particular, are expected
to learn a lot in a short period of time during their training. They are
responsible for finding and treating problems, so it makes sense to focus on
all the awful things that can happen, and hone their diagnostic skills.
What often gets shortchanged is a thick layer of normal as the foundation.
[I think this is true for many aspects of health care, not just
breastfeeding.]

Docs tend to rule out the worst stuff first, then may refer to others with
less costly fees who will provide ongoing support in the variations of
normal. For example, the doc refers a mom to a peer counselor or LLL group.
The viewpoint is "Rule out problems, what is left is normal." The other
approach is also valid: a mother, peer counselor or LLL Leader sees
something that is NOT normal and refers to the doctor for expert care in the
unusual situation. The viewpoint is "Support and assume normal first, what
is left may be a problem."

Either way, we all need to know NORMAL breastfeeding, which usually takes
place quietly and without fanfare in homes, malls, churches, parks and back
yards. Not in hospitals, doctor's offices, or even LC practices.

My holiday plea to everyone is to keep our eyes on NORMAL breastfeeding,
with a trained eye ready to spot the (rare) true problems. Remember, nobody
knows everything. And be patient - with ourselves, with others who have
different view points, and with our clients. It took us XX years to get
where we are now, and others are at different places on this road of
discovery.

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre
Dayton, OH USA
http://www.bflrc.com