Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Fri, 3 Mar 2006 09:13:09 +0000 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Judy writes:
>My 84 year old neighbor gave birth to two daughters while her husband was
>employed as a career Navy chaplain here in the US. She was not young when
>they married and then had their two girls.
>
>She told me that it was insisted in that time frame (early 1950's) that all
>new mothers start breastfeeding at those two military hospitals. And most
>succeeded, she said.
My mother - 81 - also gave birth in the early 50s (in the UK, though)
and she and her contemporaries tell me breastfeeding was assumed, and
it was insisted upon.
Interesting that Judy's mother says babies were kept with the
mothers. I think this is crucial.
With my mother, what was also insisted upon was babies in the nursery
at night and in the day, feeding no more often than four-hourly
(babies were brought to mothers at designated times - every baby was
brought at the same time), formula top ups for any baby that didn't
settle immediately after the designated so-many-minutes per side and
who cried between feeds.
They were in hospital for about 2 weeks - plenty of time to totally
mess someone's breastfeeding experience up with those rules. My
mother had raging mastitis with 2 of us and stopped breastfeeding
very quickly. She tried again with number 3, still following the same
crazy rules, and this time 'ran out of milk'. 4th time (1960s) she
didn't try at all.
These experiences were absolutely typical for the time - insisting on
breastfeeding, but with institutional practices that undermined it
right from the start.
This is what bothers me about campaigns to persuade/encourage/teach
mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding. Without the structures
in place to make it work, mothers are still at the mercy of outdated
knowledge.
We have mothers and babies together all the time in UK maternity
hospitals, and no one insists on 4 hourly feeds any more, but there
are plenty of people who should know better telling mothers to
schedule from the start and to limit time at the breast, and giving
top ups of formula right from the start for babies who don't conform
to this regime.
Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
|
|