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Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 3 Jun 2002 16:22:19 -0400
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 From Kathy Dettwyler...

The "guilt" issue is an interesting one -- one that I give talks about at
breastfeeding conferences (see it this Jun 24th at the La Leche League of
Texas conference in Dallas/Ft. Worth -- COME ONE COME ALL!!).

If there is a behavior that is bad for children's health and most
middle-class white people don't do it, then health care professionals have
no problem making women feel guilty about doing it.  For example: drinking
while pregnant, using illegal drugs while pregnant, smoking while pregnant,
not using seat belts in cars, not vaccinating, etc.  Health care
professionals often DELIBERATELY invoke guilt to get people to behave
responsibly.

One classic example is this public service radio announcement that played
for several years in the mid-1990s across the country to encourage people
to put their children in car seats, set to a country western music beat:

Safety Belt Education Campaign, Radio, January 1995, used with permission.

"Larry's Lament"
Announcer:      Here with a message for younger and more sensitive passengers,
Vince and Larry.
Vince:          (SINGS) My precious pet said "Don't forget Tommy's care
seat when
you go."  But I paid no mind, and now I find, there's one thing I must know
. . . "
Larry:          "Do little angels have car seats in their chariots in
heaven?  If
my angel used his here on earth, today he would be seven.  I didn't think
to buckle him in, just goin' into town."
Chorus: He's on the highway up to heaven.
Larry:          I'm on the road that goes straight down.
Chorus: Forget the safety seat.
Larry:          You're on a one way street,
Vince:          That only goes straight down.
Announcer:      A message from The Department of Transportation and the Ad
Council.

Nothing subtle there folks.  Don't use a car seat, and you're going to
hell.  No concern there for not making the parent feel guilty.

But many health care professionals raise this issue of not wanting to make
mothers feel guilty if they don't breastfeed.  Why is this different?  I
think it is because formula-feeding has become so much the norm in our
culture that lots of middle-class white folks do it -- including the
doctors, the nurses, etc.  A doctor can get on her moral high-horse and
condemn a mother for using crack cocaine during pregnancy (something SHE
would never do), but since she formula-fed her own kids, it must have been
OK, right?  These health care professionals are trying to keep *themselves*
from feeling guilty.

Anyway, end of lecture.





Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet, Indep. Consultant
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.together.net/~kbruce/kbblact.html
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