I do agree with Cassandra that perspective is very important, but also with Morghan that the argument that staff are "doing their best" allows them to do damage and often very little of value. It would be ideal if each and every person took it upon him or herself to always improve, to learn, to grow, to elevate, but that is not the case. It would be the ideal if individuals held themselves to a personal best, a very high standard of funtioning and interaction in their work lives, but this is not the case either. So, if we want to focus on the outcome we desire, we need to approach things from a different perspective. This might mean demanding a different level of training and skill in staff, it might mean accountability--that ugly word that gets tossed around a lot in the health care field and rarely means anything at all. 

The reality is thst people might well be doing their best and that their best is far from adequate. I think this is very often the case. I think it is rooted in many aspects of our culture, not the least of which is our detached, rather than attached parenting. We do not take care of one another the way human beings ought to do, are capable of doing. So, this makes the success of breastfeeding an even more significant issue, in my mind. To change the bigger picture, we need the desired outcome. To get there, we need to educate mothers (they cannot ask for that which they have no frame of reference to ask) and make health care workers accountable for outcomes. People are smart and have a strong sense of self-preservation. When their own outcomes (job, pay, security, etc) rest upon solving a problem, they are highly motivated to solve it. IMO, educated health care workers whose actions undermine breastfeeding have no right to interact with mothers and babies. 

As an analogy, we could argue that at this point in time, AIM companies are doing their best with the product they are dumping on the market--that doesn't make it acceptable in any way, though, does it? That doesn't mean we shouldn't hold them accountable for the damage they are knowingly causing. I know it is not the most favored perspective, but I think how we treat the most vulnerable people among us defines our humanity and it cannot be justified and rationalized to inflict life-long damage because we want to be comforted with the belief that each of us is doing his/her best. It just isn't good enough when it is so clear that we can do so much better. 


 


Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC

 




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