Dear Friends:

I see all the articles and blogs with the anti-breastfeeding slant and I
remember that active resistance is a sign of change. In the US,
breastfeeding rates are creeping up. Naturally, the Empire will strike back.

I see the incredible ignorance and the anger and I know that there is more
work to do. I know that eternal vigilance is a part of spiritual practice,
of professional attention and personal activities. I have to brush my teeth
every day too.  Brushing them very well on Sunday means that I still have to
do it again on every day. Back in the 70s and 80s birth was celebrated in
the mainstream, and I taught childbirth classes with people overflowing out
the classroom door into the hall. Now all the hospitals are factories where
spontaneous, undisturbed labors are rare and occur by accident or by
defended design. It's amazing that as many women breastfeed as do! We have
to work all the time to protect this new wave, and to bring everyone on
board.

I've had at least 15 requests in the past month for information about
becoming breastfeeding specialists of all kinds. Wow!! Kay Hoover and Jackie
Kelleher have started a one-day a month lactation consultant training
course. The attendance at my 18-Hour Interdisciplinary Breastfeeding
Management Course (thank you Baby-Friendly USA) is increasing. I am getting
to reach residents (pediatric, family practice and (finally) obstetrics, as
well as the local Chamber of Commerce. The CDC is doing fabulous research
about childbirth practices and breastfeeding. These are exciting times for
breastfeeding, at least in the US.

Given all this momentum, of course the naysayers will come out of the
woodwork. I welcome them. I want to know what they are saying. They are
giving me direction for my work.

 My goal is to make Philadelphia the City of Motherly Love. ("Philadelphia"
means "city of brotherly love". I think the brothers have had it long
enough!)  I imagine that babies breastfeed everywhere, and no one notices. I
imagine that rates of pediatric overweight/obesity and diabetes get low
enough that the CDC notices. I dream of at least one Baby-Friendly hospital
in town, and of a HMBANA-certified milk bank.

warmly,
Nikki Lee
lactation consultant, Philadelphia Department of Public Health

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