Last week I spent time one on one with various physicians on our unit  
showing them and encouraging them to read the NY Times article on  breastfeeding.  A 
few said they would download it, one or two actually read  my copy and one 
actually looked at it and told me it would cause postpartum  depression in women 
who had to return to work and couldn't breast feed for 6  months because it 
would make them feel guilty.  My oh my!!!
 
I believe Marsha Walker told the FLCA conference in April that all mothers  
have guilt at one time or another in their careers as mothers.  So for this  
young whippersnapper (I know I am old enough to be his mom, because he told me  
so ) to evoke the guilt complex made a few of us see red. 
 
 What does this article really do?  It is meant to be a  change agent. It may 
make someone feel guilty enough that they choose to breast  feed their next 
infant if they didn't their first. It may make a grandmother  encourage and 
support a daughter or daughter-in-law to try to breast feed or to  breast feed 
for a longer time. It might make men more supportative of their  partners and 
mothers of their children.  It may make someone think about do  I really need to 
return to work so soon after having a baby...or perhaps can I  rearrange my 
schedule to allow me work differently so I can be more available to  my baby.
 
Can it be a force to help us rethink breastfeeding as just one way to feed  
our children.  Can it make us see that the advantages of mother's milk  
outweigh all the hype and scholarship ads of the ABM companies.  Can this  be a force 
that may draw more attention to breastfeeding than the actually  defunct AD 
Campaign.  Can it cause dialogue between caregivers and staff  and patients. If 
it does any of these then it's an article well worth the  read.
 
Make copies and leave them about in waiting rooms, triage areas, bathrooms,  
physician lounges and other places.  A little guilt might make a big  
change....it seems to have worked for mothers throughout the ages.
 
Leanne Jewell RNC,IBCLC, LCCE, FACCE
South Florida

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