On Oct 9, 2007, at 10:06 AM, LACTNET automatic digest system wrote:
> Say, a pregnant mom is a cocaine
> addict...would we speak to her. Certainly I wouldn't walk up to a
> near
> stranger and spout my opinion, but say a co-church goer, a friend of
> mine, etc,
> sure I would say something. Gentle, but firm truth.
Maybe I'm crazy, but if it is common knowledge, freely shared, that a
mom were doing cocaine, as it is apparently common knowledge freely
shared that this mom is not going to breastfeed, I don't know that I
*would* say anything. You can bet she would get a sling for a baby
gift, because she has some big strikes against her in the bonding
department already. Either the hypothetical or the real mom obviously
knows that she is not making a choice most people would agree with, and
the best we can do is come along side and offer to help her be the very
best mom she can be, *within the boundaries she has chosen for herself
and her baby.*
When we have a relationship that goes beyond the professional, ie
through church or Kiwanis or what have you, we have lots and lots of
opportunities that have no surface relationship to breastfeeding--we
can bring meals, do laundry, give an appropriate and useful gift, take
care of raking the fall leaves that are coming down in my neck of the
woods :)
In other words, we have the opportunity to show her that we care about
her as a person and a mother, not just as a set of sadly non-lactating
breasts. Unconditional love is an amazing thing.
Lynn in MO
who got unconditionally loved a few weeks ago and it rocked my world.
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