Linda Pohl makes an excellent point about the breast crawl video having the potential to improve post-birth treatment of women and babies in a country of over a billion people.

However, the video is aimed at over 6.6 billion people with all kinds of cultural and medical arrangements.  It would have been wonderful if the video had kept culture and intervention out of it as much as possible.  Show the "crawl."  Point out that, ideally, the mother would *not* be flat on her back but would be in a position of her own choosing.  That mother and baby would normally be making eye contact, and the mother would be free to caress and help her baby in any way that felt right to her.  It might perhaps point out those few "leading rather than helping" things that interfere, like trying to put the nipple in the baby's mouth.  Because of the format, the many problems that are left unaddressed are, by implication, recommended for all by an international organization.  As Jennifer Tow so eloquently said, the vdeo manipulates and controls normal behavior, and then presents the intervention as the norm.

A boon to billions in the world, at a cost to billions more.  With little more effort - perhaps even just with a different script - the video could have been a boon to all.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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