I'm sure that Jen IS quite a tireless advocate for breastfeeding.  I am sure
that for her, the procedures do represent considerable progress and she may
have worked very hard to help acheive that progress.

BUT my tearing my hair out frustration is really over 50 years of
patronizing women's health issues in this countries on many many levels that
someone like Jen, who should be working on much more important breastfeeding
issues, may spend years or may never see this policy change.

To respond to some of Jen's comments:

First, quite the contrary, my husband actually did a 10 minute scrub.

Second, I should not have made the comment about my husband not being a
moron. So if I offended anyone with that, my apologies. I cannot imagine why
even someone with a marginal IQ would want to touch the "surgical field".
Quite frankly, I actually see no correlation whatsoever between IQ and
respecting procedures.  Has anyone ever wanted to get their hands in there
when the surgeon is sewing mom up? And even if they did, what does that have
to do with breastfeeding.

Third, how can the baby's mouth on the breast possibly be considered a risk
of any kind.

Finally, while I think it is terrific that mom gets help from a lactation
consultant early on, I know all too well that in Manhattan, most hospitals
are completely understaffed when it comes to LCs.  The LCs I know have very
little time to spend with mom and I cannot imagine a woman waiting around
for the LC to come before feeding her baby in that precious hour after
delivery.  I actually tell the couples that come to my prenatal classes to
not even think about looking at my latch on sheet right after delivery
because this is that precious moment when they get to know baby and let
things happen on their own.

I still have not heard one single logical reason not to breastfeed in the
OR. The baby came out of the birth canal, is presumably sterile, is already
being held by mom, is nowhere near the sterile field so all the arguments
about sterility fall apart.

I really do consider this to be baby steps and I find it quite sad that this
is still considered progressive when I've seen far better care in terms of
breastfeeding in what I consider to be in many many other ways, very
marginal care in developing countries.

I'm still trying to figure out what might happen in Jen's facility if some
baby actually wiggled its way to the breast.  Would someone prevent it from
latching on?

I'm sorry if I'm still feeling a bit incredulous - I guess I still have
moments when what I lived with for 20 years in developing countries comes
jarring up against the harsh reality of how medicalization can sometimes
really impede health in this country.  I know personally what a toll lack of
medical care can mean in developing countries, but still there are some
advantages.

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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