My name is Mary Broadfoot. I live in a town in Central Scotland.  I am a mother
of 4  (14, 12, 7 and nearly 3) and have been a lay breastfeeding counsellor with
the National Childbirth Trust for almost 10 years.  This is voluntary work.  I
am thoroughly enjoying Lactnet - I am learning a lot, and finding the flow of
ideas very stimulating.  For the record, I have a particular interest in the
economic effects of not breastfeeding.  I have calculated costs for the UK
relating to gastro-intestinal illness on a 'per 1,000 births' basis, to make it
easy for local groups to see the local picture.  Mike Woolridge has taken this a
step further, and I believe UNICEF are to publish figures for other conditions.

I was very interested in Katherine Dettwyler's views on thumb-sucking.  My own
experience has been that my second child started thumb-sucking at 3 months, and
is still going strong at 12 years.  She was breastfed on demand and exclusively
from day 1, but it took me a few weeks to work out what she was like.  I
expected that feeds would be frequent and long, and that I would nurse her to
sleep.  But she was 5 minutes a side, every 3 hours, from 3rd day of her life.
She had a special noise which meant 'put me in my cot, I want to sleep.'  She
was a happy baby, 8lb 13oz, straightforward birth ( gas and air only), and
gained weight well.  She is now 5 ft 10 inches at age 12.  Her only oddity was
that she cried after coming off the breast  -  I found that holding her upright
allowed her to bring up wind (burp), and she was then happy again.  I wonder if
she had a need to suck her thumb which could not be met at the breast?  I
strongly feel that I have allowed my children to become independent in their own
time.  My daughter seemed to be independent early in many ways.  She breastfed
until she was just over 2 years, and was (spontaneously) totally toilet trained
about the same time.

2 ideas come to me:  children are individuals, and while it may be the case that
thumb sucking is a sign of 'a child whose needs aren't being met at the breast',
there are always exceptions....
secondly, is it always valid to draw universal conclusions from behaviour
observed in 'traditional' cultures?  Is it possible that in Western cultures our
excellent diet (over eating) could contribute to a situation where the breasts
are in some way producing rather too much milk for a baby - and that thumb
sucking is a valid way for a baby to regulate this?  Perhaps in cultures where
diets are healthier and less excessive, there is no need for this, and that is
why it is not seen....

Mary Broadfoot