Hi Julieanne

Glad you feel less affected by the article today. :-)

The piece you sent is typical of journo-type mothers who want to write an 
article with impact.For some reason women's page editors particularly seem 
to love this kind of whiny stuff.  It's easy to write; I've done it too, and 
so nice when someone pays you by the word.   This type of thing is not 
always on breastfeeding, but obviously these are the ones we Lactnuts 
notice.  Below my letter, I'll paste in one called Breast Intentions, which 
I also thought was going to be inspiring.  I even replied with empathy and 
suggestions as requested, but my email was not published - probably because 
I recommended the IBCLC referral email address and it may have looked like 
me touting for business.  But I'm also hoping that it was simply a long 
weekend and the approval person is away till Monday.

What can we learn from these articles?

1. Obviously there is still very poor breastfeeding support out there
2.  What good help there is, isn't getting the publicity it deserves.  Are 
our marketing efforts at fault either personally or en masse?   Why aren't 
mothers able to reach us before the train smashes?
3.  The message "Breastfeeding is normal" hasn't reached the ears of the 
public or health providers.  In fact, "breast is best" has a lovely snappy 
ring to it and we will probably never get rid of it.
4.  Other people will always rush to offer their advice, even when 
hopelessly misinformed.
5.  One of the prime needs for women is to feel good or make others feel 
good, or at least "not guilty".  Which is why this message of "it's OK to 
bottle feed" resonates with editors (hm, working women prevented by 
circumstances from breastfeeding perhaps?) and other "failed 
breastfeeders"....sorry, I'm sure you know I am not judging anyone, but I 
think underlying many of these sad articles IS a feeling of failure and an 
attempt to reclaim one's self worth.

There must be heaps more, and we are going to go demented if we react badly 
to the individual mother.  I think those of us who can must get involved 
with more effective public-health marketing messages (ie breastfeeding 
coalitions, municipal health clinics, medical/nursing schools).   And at 
other times we just have to plod along one breastfeeding dyad at a time.

Here below is the article I read, rather sad in its depiction of the baby as 
a piglet, and the mother as a helpless victim of circumstance and greedy 
professionals - she has whined all the way through her pregnancy as well. 
(Yes, I too think that the fee charged for a 2 min laser physio... and 
why????....was exorbitant - yet the mother went back!   I need more clients 
like her, LOL).   The pity of it is that she appears convinced breastfeeding 
is going to work, but she's just put off a generation of other mothers.

Best wishes
Jacquie Nutt  IBCLC
South Africa


Breast is best. My gynae told me, the antenatal class told me, my granny 
told me (her granny told her), and that well-meaning teller at Pick 'n Pay 
mentioned it as well. There is no disputing the benefits. I’m convinced. But 
convincing my cracked, bleeding, engorged breasts is another story all 
together.

Breastfeeding may be best for my week old son, suckling away happily like a 
hungry piglet every two or three hours, but my word, it certainly doesn’t 
come as naturally as I expected it to. There seems nothing natural about the 
shooting pain I get in my cracked nipples every time he latches (and 
re-latches and re-latches. He has turned re-latching into not only a hobby 
but an art). And I certainly don’t get that warm glow the books assure you 
breastfeeding gives you when I wake up in pain with engorged breasts that 
make Pamela Anderson’s pair seem modest.

I stuff my feeding bra (most unattractive item of underwear ever known to 
humankind) with cabbage leaves, hoping for the ‘instant relief’ that 
generations of women have experienced. But after a few seconds of relief all 
I’m left with is stinky hot cabbage leaves that are literally steaming when 
I release from the confines of my throbbing bosom (not throbbing in the 
Mills and Boon kind of way; more throbbing in the ‘oh my word I need a swig 
of that gripe water to get me through this feed’ kind of way).

When our whole house and the baby stinks of cooked cabbage, I realise it’s 
time to call in the professionals. I need a breastfeeding physio to laser my 
nipples to a crisp. She arrives with what looks like a little torch and 
shines it on my nipples for two minutes. How can I respect a woman who 
charges R300 to shine a torch at my nipples for two minutes? Apparently I 
don’t need to respect her to ask her to come back the next day; and to 
please bring her torch with her. That’s what desperation can do to you.

Just when I thought all was going well and I had the pain under control, 
(aah, Myprodol) I woke up two days ago with mastitis. And all previous 
nipple pain seems like child’s play. This is seriously unpleasant. Body 
aching, head pounding, nauseous and breasts that resemble concrete blocks. 
That afternoon the doctor has me on an antibiotic, and I grit my teeth, go 
home and get back to the breastfeeding. Why? Because Breast is Best!

**Did you struggle to get going with breastfeeding? What’s your best 
advice?**

             ***********************************************

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