>"Medela speaks the language of the generation."
>
>I am running out of the office, but wanted to add my .02 worth. I may
>regret that tomorrow if I find myself unindated with hate mail
Linda, no one (surely) is going to send you 'hate mail' either
privately or on Lactnet.
But while I understand you want to help mothers and babies make the
most of whatever version of 'breastfeeding' appears available to
them, I suspect I won't be the only one profoundly disagreeing with
you.
You equate an acceptance of pumping to an acceptance of technological
change, and a discomfort with the increase in gadgetry (like pumps)
to people who have 'refused to learn and adapt to computers'. I can't
think of a less appropriate analogy, or a sadder one.
Computers and IT generally are A Good Thing. They make it possible
for us to communicate on Lactnet, for a start :) 'Moving with the
times' is the argument that was used to promote formula - and still
is, in fact. In the UK, a major brand is advertised on TV with a
father doing the voice over, promising to 'do the night feeds' -
keying into the modern notion that today's fathers do their share,
with the tacit message that mothers who want to do their own night
feeds, thank you very much, must be rejecting this 'new man'.
You ask us to 'meet mothers where they are at' - but what if they are
'at' where they are 'at' because of commercial, political, social and
other forces placing them there? Most mothers do not voluntarily want
the incredible hassle and distancing from their infants that comes
with pumping. They are 'at' that place because of poor employment
protection, because in some places, 'public' breastfeeding is
uncomfortable for them...or because truly despicable advertising and
marketing tell them it's all lovely and modern and technological and
'free' to use a gadget and a freezer and a bottle to feed their
babies.
Who's going to speak up for the other view? For the easier, closer,
physiological and physical and milkier connections between mothers
and babies? For the 'old' idea that human relationships begin at the
breast, and that love (and, as we now know, life-long emotional and
mental well-being) begins with getting to know and trust one special
person who responds to you and who teaches you that you are *you* and
are worthy of love?
Of course these wonderful experiences and lessons can be learnt with
bottles of ebm (or formula, come to that) - but pumping and using
pumped milk makes it harder for them to happen, and use of the pump
takes up time and space in life which could be spent doing other more
life-enhancing activities than sitting at a machine extracting milk.
Employers can somehow gain Brownie points for 'allowing' pumping
stations at work (instead of 'allowing' decent, lengthy maternity
leave and flexible working), and mothers are told (frequently) there
is no need to respond to a baby's need for milk and closeness at the
breast when they are outside the home because they can 'pump and take
a bottle with them'.
In short, the use of a pump becomes not a liberation, but an oppression.
Linda, you ask:
> Isnt it at least better
>that they are getting breastmilk???? YES!
I'd agree, of course...but I wouldn't celebrate it, not the way it is
actively promoted.
>We are to provide information
>to the pts, not make the choices for them. Just because "X" worked for me
>and in my opinion is the best way to do things, doesnt mean that "X" is the
>best choice for them!
Now that I do feel uncomfortable with, on a personal level, sorry. My
feelings about this have nothing to do with what 'worked' for me, or
with me telling people I know what is best for them. I don't work
like that. My feelings are based on observation, on what I know
about infant and maternal well-being, and on how I know markets work.
The breastfeeding support world should be working against the
unethical marketing of pumps, and be very clear-eyed about what's
happening when unethical marketing is permitted. We, of all people,
should know the effects of it.
Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
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