<< I wanted to combine my two passions, sexuality and breastfeeding, and
was thinking of writing about how motherhood and specially breastfeeding
change a woman’s percepcion of her own sexuality. In my experience,
women "bloom" in a very beautiful way during this time of their lives,
feeling generally empowered by the experience, physicaly and emotionaly.
The experience of motherhood and bf has changed my perception of myself,
of what it means to be a woman, and of what my body means to me - it has
helped me to love myself.
I wanted to hear, if any of you think this is interesting, any ideas or
feedback about this.>>
 
Dear Kika,
 
My personal experience with motherhood was similar. It is the fuel that
drives my passion for breastfeeding work. I had grown up in what was
quite a normal (repressed) environment in the 1950s, so it was a thrill
to find what my body was capable of and what deep wells of love were
waiting to be drawn from in caring for my children. Now that I know more
about oxytocin, I think that must be at the heart of that power and
those feelings.
 
I am eager to know what you find in the literature. There is Niles
Newton’s classic work on ‘the trebly sensuous woman’ from the 1960s.
Probably there are also good threads to follow in Uvnäs-Moberg’s work on
oxytocin.
 
Somewhere in the chaos of my study I have filed a one-page piece, I
think it’s from a childbirth journal for parents, written by a woman
with a history of sexual abuse. She described how giving birth and
breastfeeding were healing experiences for her. This is not what we
usually hear. Usually health care-givers are warned about the potential
for post-traumatic flash-backs, and not encouraged to see well-supported
birth and breastfeeding as an opportunity to re-visit old wounds, get
beyond the pain, and find new power. But the sexual abuse literature is
another place you could look for leads.
 
La Leche League used to have a very nice one-page handout on bf and
sexuality, and I hope they still do. In that one, a woman, talking to
her very breastfeeding-friendly male pediatrician, described her
breastfeeding relationship with her toddler (because the doctor wanted
to understand more about toddler nursing). His response was, “If I, a
male, had a relationship like that with my child, they’d put me in
jail!” So the topic is loaded with misconceptions and misunderstandings.
If you can contribute to a sensible dialogue about it, many people will
have reason to thank you!
 
Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
working for WIC in South Jersey (Eastern USA)
Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA
 
 

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

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