Like Kathleen, I answer questions and see moms who closely fit the
description of the mom whose letter Jack recently shared.  These moms are
just turned loose to sink or swim, and breastfeeding is a casualty of that
kind of approach to postpartum health care.  If we all see hundreds of these
women, then it means there are thousands and thousands of them.   It is a
scandal, in my mind, and our efforts can really feel like a finger in the
dike holding back the sea.  I think of it as one more area where the
well-being of women and children come dead last, in spite of all the
culture-wide posturing to the contrary.

 It is easy to get overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of this problem.  What
I try to remember is to do my best with each woman and to hang in there with
her as long as she needs, to try to educate as many peripheral people as I
can with each case I take on, and to keep learning more tricks so I can get
better and more effective as I go.  On the deepest level there is, this is a
political issue.  There is a political slogan that comes to mind:  Don't
mourn, organize!  I know there are some people who are uneducable, but there
are many who do a poor job of supporting bfg because they just don't know
how to do it better.  We can't give up on teaching our colleagues, and you
can't teach people you hold in contempt.  They recognize the contempt and
reject your information.  So it is very difficult to suspend the judgement
that these people are not doing right and to help them to do it better.  Not
being an esp. patient person, and often being very tempted to slap people
sideways, I really have to work on my own temper in order to be effective
with others.

A final thought (in terms of self-protection): a wise person I know to whom
I often whine and complain, told me that the best defense is to just do the
next right thing as best you can understand what that might be.


Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
http://www.lactnews.com

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