Dear Friends:
       To the great list of reasons, I would add something now. I meant to
add it in the previous post, but the 'reply'  button misfired.
       I would add the impact of being female in a world that has been
patriarchal for 5,000 years. We are abused, disrespected and held to a model of
functioning like men to receive recognition from society at large. When women
change their routes of walking to avoid stares and catcalls from men, this is an
energetic assault on our femaleness. Yet women are taught to adapt, and change
their path, and we do. How often do we have to deal with the attitude that
breasts are for men, not babies? We have been re-routed in our early
aculturization.
       Golda Meir asked why  men didn't have the curfew when women were being
raped at night, during the formation of Israel. The women were supposed to
stay indoors after10 PM. But it was the men that were the problem. They remained
free to move about at night.
       What value is breastfeeding when women are supposed to leave our
little babies and put our milk in bottles for others to give to them? How many
women really make enough working outside the home to have any money to spend, once
daycare and transportation and taxes and food and work clothes are paid for?
Yet we are conditioned to do this.
       Another factor promoting lactation bail-out, is the factory approach
to obestetrics and hospital care. "Get the baby out efficiently; get those moms
home soon; make deliveries early in the week so hospital staffing can be
easily planned. If breastfeeding doesn't work right away, or the baby doesn't fit
into the factory pattern, bail out.
       Another factor is the adaptability of women, who often line up like
sheep, accepting all the risks of induction/epidurals/artificial feeding as part
of having babies. Other animals don't recognize their babies if they are
given epidural anesthesia in labor; humans not only get epidurals routinely, but
are separated from their babies at critical times. Women become disconnected
from labor and from their babies. Yet they survive, and the babies go home
breathing and with a heartbeat. The medical system views this as success, even
though many of those babies can't suck or eat easily.
       Feeling very cyncial today,
       Warmly,
       Nikki Lee

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