>What about failing to survive due to the fact this young (dolphin) mother
>never observed mothering before due to captivity irregardless of the
>amount of contamination in her milk?  While if doing this research we'd
>see all the more reason to clean up the environment and see the importance
>of generations passing on "mothering ways" - great.  I'm just worried
>it'll be something else - and then we human mothers...well that's another
>story however connected in many ways.

In discussions with my grandmother (now deceased) who had her first of
almost 20 pregnancies (11 surviving children) in the early 1900s I asked
her about the death of that first baby.  Her response was "first babies
die".  Infant death was far more accepted but first children in particular
rarely survived. At that time she was living in an extended family rural
community in what is now the Ukraine. There is no question she not only
observed mothering by others but provided infant care for family members
before the birth of her first child. My mother remembers that even in the
thirties the first child was at especial risk and often did not survive.
Today it is why we put special resources in place for first time
parents...at least in the public health system within which I work. It is
interesting to note that my grandmother did NOT breastfeed any length of
time, perhaps not at all. It was 'not done', and this was not a wealthy
community but a poor culturally isolated one. By the time I knew to ask
more questions she had passed away. It may have been about the value of
women working in the fields. They usually returned to heavy farm labour
within hours of birth and the infants were cared for by elders or in Canada
by siblings. The need of women's work to ensure a family's survival is not new.

             ***********************************************
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