Betsy Wells-Gephart writes on the topic of why breastfeeding seems to be
exempt from the general trend to using evidence based practice in maternity
care.  (I say general trend because there are many, many exceptions yet in
place, and you can all be glad now that I will stay on topic for Lactnet
rather than list them for you here.)

The flip side of this attitude is the emotional strength with which staff
defend their positions in regard to breastfeeding.  If you doubt that this
is peculiar to BF, think back to the last time you heard a really heated
discussion about how frequently a mother's fundus should be palpated
post-partum, and what the appropriate fundal height is on the second
post-partum day.  Or what color lochia should be by day 5, or what is the
right amount.  Or what is the best procedure for bandage changes after a
cesarean, or cord care.  Been a while, eh?

Now think back to the last discussion about how to help a mother breastfeed
who is experiencing some difficulty with latch.  The entire tone is
different, the temperature rises and so do the pulse and blood pressure of
all participants.

I use this now to illustrate how *important* breastfeeding is, since it
seems to hit us so squarely where we live, regardless of what our own
personal experience was.  It took me about 10 years of distressing
conversations with my colleagues to see it this way.  It wasn't until the
day one of my colleagues started yelling at me 'You think it's all so easy,
well it's NOT, and I breastfed for a MONTH and never had more than an ounce
of milk, and it was REALLY HARD...' and then started to cry, that I came to
my current realization.  What made it all the more convincing was that the
baby she breastfed is now a man of 40, she is retired, and recalling her
experience can still reduce her to a quivering mass.  Do we need stronger
arguments for why women deserve good help to succeed at breastfeeding?
Wouldn't the world be better without all this anguish?

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html