Hi Gals and Guys,
I'm preparing to teach childbirth classes again for the first time in 6
years.  This is the first time I'll be teaching in a hospital.

Something I've heard from both the education coordinator and the teacher
whose series I was observing was the familiar line about not making moms
feel guilty about not breastfeeding.  My goal is to sneak in the concept
of being responsible for one's own decisions and ownership of the
feelings that lead to them.  I am just brainstorming some phrases and
I'd like to throw them out for general consumption.

--There are deeply ingrained feelings that every parent knows a baby
should be breastfed.
--There are not-so-rooted ideas that every parent has about whether they
should breastfeed their child.

--This conflict between the instinctual knowledge and the culturally
acquired feeling is the source of what is called breastfeeding guilt.

--We don't like to think that we have failed ourselves in any way,
therefore we often externalize blame about failed breastfeeding.

--Sometimes the best answer to "Why do you feel that way?" is just "I
don't know.  I just feel that way."

My many thanks go to the fine people on this list who have been the
catalyst and clarifiers of these ideas for me.  These are not phrases
that I would use word-for-word in a class, (we have a wonderful IBCLC
who got me the job and teaches a separate BF class) but I find that I
need to write they concepts down when they come to me clearly, so that I
can remember them later, and the questions will come during the baby
care class.  I hate trying to search for the same words I've used
before.  No need to re-invent my own personal wheel!

regards,
Beth
pp doula & perinatal educator putting herself on the line
--
  /\/\    Beth Johnson
 / o o\   Cosmic Wonderer
( / ^^\)  Springfield, MA USA
 \ M_M/   "Ruling a country is like cooking a small fish--
           you have to handle it with care."--Lao Tzu


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