As discourse develops, it is sometimes required that language is 
reframed and refocused - particularly on the internet, as 'internet 
language drift' can be quite substantial.

Therefore, I'd just like to make clear that I never made any statements 
about society failing mothers.  I made a very specific statement that 
when mothers tried to breastfeed, and this was unsuccesful, the people 
and support structures around them had failed, not the mother.   The 
_system_ failed them, not some ambiguous and amorphous concept of 'society'.

Therefore, when a mother has hamburger nipples as she's been given a 
badly fitting nipple shield on day 3 by a support person who has no clue 
how to use them - the system has failed her.  When a nurse has 
supplemented and told the mother her baby shouldn't be breastfed as that 
will confuse the baby _for the bottle_ - the system has failed her.  
When the baby has a tongue tie and no one spots it, or worse says don't 
worry, just use formula - the system has failed her.  When she fails to 
transition to white milk in 3 days and is told to pump to bring in the 
milk and gets mastitis - the system has failed her.  When she's in agony 
and she's told latch is perfect and to go home and bite on a stick of 
wood during feeding - the system has failed her.  When baby refuses to 
stay on the breast for more than two minutes and 5 seperate 
breastfeeding 'specialists' and midwives have told her there's nothing 
wrong - the system has failed her.  When she has failed to transition 
from gold milk to white milk by day 8, and has asked again for support 
and been told "no one understands what's wrong and to just use formula" 
- the system has failed her.  When the baby has been sent into the 
Nursery and she's told she won't get it back until it's been 
supplemented and if she protests Child Protection will be sent for - the 
system has failed her.  When a mother has a baby re-admitted for 
jaundice, and is EBM bottle fed, even thought the mother has asked for 
it not to be because of nipple confusion, and she's told nipple 
confusion doesn't exist and 5 days later the baby is released refusing 
the breast - the system has failed her.  (Everyone of these is a 
scenario I've dealt with this year - and the baby in the Nursery was 
kept there for 8 days against the wishes of the parents.)

'Society' did not exist in my post on this.  I made it clear that I 
genuinely felt that when a women _had tried_ and had been unsuccesfull, 
it was the _people and support systems_ around her that had failed, not 
her. 

Your Milage May Vary.  :-)

Morgan Gallagher

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