welcome to posting on lactnet, david page. your comments are important since
you have the initials to back them up. so often we hear of comments by
dentists that not only show their lack of knowledge but often what seems like
a malicious intent to sabotage breastfeeding. i am not sure than anyone
stepped up to the plate (hi, rob!) about your question - why does the medical
establishment not support breastfeeding as it should? or, to put it
conversely, why do parents choose to bottlefeed despite a lot a of good
evidence as to how dangerous it is?

it isn't just convenience, as you mentioned in your post today. yes, a lot of
people think that bottlefeeding is more convenient. ha! this always makes me
think of my friend's comment that breastfeeding is "the lazy way to mother."
the real reasons women don't breastfeed (and i *do* often ask why someone
doesn't) are that they are not planning on being the primary caregiver, or
can't tolerate that intimate a relationship with their baby.

even moms who plan to stay home from outside jobs to care for their children
may not truly wish to be their child's primary caregiver. they view "never
being able to leave the baby" as some sort of nightmare life sentence, and
bottles that anyone can give are their deliverance. its takes a world of
education and encouragement (and a very willing and happy baby) to get
someone past this. the ones who can't support an intimate physical
relationship with their babies are even scarier. it might take a lifetime
(that the baby doesn't have, either) for someone to figure out that one. this
is one of those "arcane uses for a nipple shield" topics - a mom who cannot
bf but might be one of those who pumps and puts it in a bottle for a long
time, may well be someone who would agree to nurse using a nipple shield.

so in our lovely world (apologies to those of you who don't live in this kind
of world, must be heavenly) where children are only tolerated if they are
convenient, and where intimate relationships where a lot is asked of someone
(including to be the adult) are tolerated only so long as "there is something
in it for me," well, the babies who get true loving parentingare really the
lucky exceptions to the rule.

or there is the worst case scenario, which my above mentioned friend
described as a possible future for our children - "a world in which there are
the 'haves' - who were breastfed, attachment parented, had a loving
upbringing, and the 'have nots' - those who didn't get those things, got
bottles and pacifiers in their mouths instead, and spankings to hush up when
the artificial nipples didn't work - and our children will be trying
desperately to deal with the 'have nots.' "

carol brussel IBCLC

or, there is desperate mother of a teen who had a baby she wouldn't
breastfeed. why not? "its too personal" the daughter said. so, how'd she get
that baby?

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