"I have also had clients tell me they would
breastfeed their baby if it was a girl, but not a boy.
Which is in direct opposition to the picture of the Pakistani woman we are
all familiar with, so it is apparently a very "western" if not completely
American idea."

A few years ago I had a discussion about breastfeeding in an ESOL (english
for speakers of other languages) adult class I was teaching.  ONe student
said that she had not breastfed her four children 'at least, not more than
aobut four or five weeks', but that in her part of Pakistan you might
breastfeed your daughter longer (say two and a half rather than two years)
'because she is going to go to a mother-in-law, and needs the extra'.  This
woman came from Azad Kashmir, which is the region which where a large
proportion of the 'Pakistani' people in the UK originally came from.  I
don't know if this is a regional/tribal/family difference in how to choose
the children who receive the most/longest breastfeeding.

I have had some great discussions over the years, I always wish I could
secretly film so that health professionals and plicy makers could see -- one
year a class of Bangladeshi (Sylheti) women critiqued a government leaflet
for me, I was in stitches.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter,
BfN, The Breastfeeding Network
http://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/
also ESOL/EAL tutor for 12+ years


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