Language is powerful, so it behooves us to carefully consider what the words
we use may maen in current cultures and circumstances.
When our local group was translating a leaflet many years ago, we really
thought about "breastfeeding" a lot.  I recall that for that leaflet, we
used a word that meant "feeding the baby yourself" implying using one's own
body. It seemed the best choice at the time, but now I think it could mean
feeding the baby a bottle oneself, in a culture where that is the norm.  So
it only works in context.

At the moment, "nursing" serves me best for breastfeeding, and "mother's
milk" when it's the stuff that I'm referring to. Neither is ideal, nursing
also implies cuddling, holding, and of course taking care of medically.  It 
might be better to use "human milk" when talking to health care 
professionals.

We might even create new
words?

Nan Jolly M.B. B.Ch. LLLL
Port Elizabeth, South Africa

>I think there are many terms that we as advocates use that undermine our
>own agenda. I personally think that "Lactivist" is one of those terms and
>have no desire to be termed as such. OTOH, it concerns me less than the
>word "breastfeeding". We do not use the terms "udderfeeding" or
>"teatfeeding" for other mammals. Using the word "breast"feeding inherently
>implies there is another option. It also objectifies the breast, making it
>similar to a bottle in that sense. My breasts do not feed my children, they
>are not filled like a bottle, then emptied by the baby like a bottle. My
>breasts are not independent of me and my psycho-spiritual experience of
>mothering. My breasts are intergal to a complex feedback mechanisn within
>my biology and my psyche that is in constant communication with my brain,
>my heart,my nervous suystem, my endocrine system and so on. IMO, we need to
>be truly radical and when we refer to the feeding of an infant we must mean
>ONLY feeding at the breast. Botlles are the object, the tool like many
>others accessed only when necessary. I also do not think "human" milk
>feeding does it, b/c this can be done with a bottle and places all of the
>value on the product--human milk. That is why I like the phrases
>"artificial" feeding and "artificial infant milk", b/c they make it clear
>they are not a physiologically normal way to feed a baby.
>
> I don't have the exact solution, especially as it becomes more complex
> when one tries to think globally, but I am pretty confident that we aren't
> using any effective terminology, though. As a mtter of fact, I think we
> will know it is effecvtive when it isn't adopted by the AIM companies in
> their own literature. They have no problem with "breast is best" or
> "breastfeeding". I don't see the term "artificial feeding" in their
> literature, though.
>
> Jennfier Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
>
>
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