Elaine wrote, " No matter how you
slice it, it's true that not all women will bf or continue to bf as long
as we like. I think that once they have made an INFORMED decision not to
bf or to stop bf, they OFTEN already KNOW that breast is best. I think
these moms often need support from us for whatever feeding decision they
have made. I firmly believe that all moms truly want what is best for
their babies. Moms need us for all kinds of emotional support."

Elaine, I think what you wrote, above, is a pretty much accepted way of
looking at whether a mother breastfeeds, or doesn't.  But I'm very
interested in the perception that it *is* accepted and OK and normal.  I
think you've put your finger on a very important aspect.  This is all about
women, and what they will do or not do, and about mothers' needs for
support for their decisions, and about our obligations to provide that
support.  It all sounds good.  Until we realize that the purpose of a
mother making an informed decision about whether to bf or not is not really
about the *mother* at all, it is about what is best for the *baby*.

Lately I keep seeing a similar way of presenting infant feeding decisions
in all sorts of writings and documents.  Consistently the wording is about
the mother deciding what to do, and about her apparent freedom to
decide.  But nowhere in the human rights documents can I find anything
suggesting that babies should not be breastfed on the basis of a mother
choosing not to.  On the contrary, the wording is clear - that in all
things the best interests of the child should be served, that the child has
the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and that
breastfeeding will achieve this.

Does anyone know how the mother's freedom of choice not to breastfeed
became so integrated into our whole culture that now it is believed to be a
legal *right*?  And is it written anywhere that we as LCs have an
obligation to support a mother in a feeding method which we know will lead
to health risks for her baby?  Please understand that I'm not talking about
individual mothers who find themselves in situations where breastfeeding is
not possible (medical, social, psychological) - I'm talking about the
ordinary mom who just prefers not to breastfeed.  And about whole groups of
babies generally.  What are our obligations to *the baby*?

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Harare, Zimbabwe
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