Lara I agree with you, it is perfectly reasonable and necessary to
distinguish between modes of delivery the context requires it to be so but
is it useful in everyday talk with mothers....no way! It's a holier than
thou attitude that is possible because there aren't that many women in the
situation and few understand how it could come to be. How about another
example. What about mums who have low supply issues and supplement with
other milks?? Would you talk about her in ordinary conversation as a breast
and formula feeding mum? What about mums that express for times of
separations are they breast and human milk feeding mums?? In ordinary
conversation?? "This is my friend Jane, she breastfeeds and human milk fees
her baby"
It's like the language that nearly always appears in the media when they are
talking about a famous family and a child in that family is adopted eg John
Smith is survived by 3 sons and an adopted daughter. Why is the adopted put
in there? Because it's wierd, because people are questioning the
relationship, because they wish to diminish. It's the same here. For
goodness sake! It does not diminish breastfeeding to refer to these mum in
general conversation as breastfeeding mums.

Lest any think that I don't value the act of breastfeeding I've just gotten
home from the ALCA conference (wonderful wonderful speakers and I am trashed
and probably a bit cranky!) at which I spoke on the non-nutritional impact
of breastfeeding. I firmly believe that breastfeeding itself is an extremely
important activity that cannot be lost without great loss to both mother and
child (and I am backed by both science and personal observation). I think
that it is to our detriment as advocates for breastfeeding that we have
largely overlooked breastfeeding in preference to promoting breastmilk but
should we look down on mums without their child at the breast...nope, we're
not in their shoes, we don't know where they have come from and it's just
plain not necessary. The language is not perfect but just as I maintain that
it is reasonable to describe children sucking at an empty breast as
breastfeeding even when there is no food involved I think that babies
getting food from the breast via another means call also be described as
breastfeeders.

Karleen Gribble
Australia


> Definitely. (And I would love for more of this research to be done!)
> There is a need to draw the distinction in the scientific literature
> and in medical reports, when the distinction makes a difference.
>
> My objection was to the apparent categorical denial of access to the
> word "breastfeeding" to these families. They're breastfeeding mothers,
> their babies are breastfed babies.

I host a support group for EPing mums; these labels hurt. Deeply. These
> mums have _chosen_ breastfeeding; they struggle daily and hourly with
> the reality of expressing, and are quite distanced enough already
> without being consciously and deliberately cast out from their
> community.

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