I asked how we oldsters learned to breastfeed because I figured I'd get the answers I did.  I just didn't expect 18 pages of them!

But here's the gist of what we said, with my own thoughts:

1)  A generation ago, our babies just did it.  Not one of these stories is about a baby who failed to take the breast, or about a mother who had to learn special skills in order for her baby to succeed, or about a mother who knew much of anything at all!  If anyone remembers hearing more than one or two stories of non-latching babies from that era, please speak up; *I* haven't heard them. (I've now met one person who has heard them; have others of you?)  Sore nipples yes, low supply yes, poor management over and over.  But from all the gray-hair stories I've heard over the years, I've heard an **extremely** small handful of "my baby never latched" stories... until later in the 1980s.  

My thoughts:  Something has changed.  The only two things I can think of are the way mothers are taught and the ubiquitousness and type of birth drugs.  Most of us oldsters had way more separation than mothers today have, yet breastfeeding worked for us, and worked immediately.  Maybe we need to stop making separations such a focus of attention, bad as they are, and look more urgently at the births and the help. 

2)  A generation ago, the help we got from professionals was almost uniformly detrimental.

My thoughts: Are we certain we're not doing the same thing - squeezing mothers and babies into rules and protocols that have nothing to do with what really works?  We know now that we taught positioning totally terribly in our early days.  We'd probably have been way better off not teaching at all.  Are we sure that that isn't still true?  There's at least one study that indicates that we may be more hindrance than help (Henderson A, Stamp G, Pincombe J.  Postpartum Positioning and Attachment Education for Increasing Breastfeeding: A Randomized Trial.  Birth 2001; 28(4): 236-242). 

3)  A generation ago, LLL meetings - or at least the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding - was a common factor in a whole lot of successes, at least in the US.  

My thoughts: If you haven't made a donation to LLL in a while, it sure would be welcomed!  So would your presence at meetings, and your earnest urging that patients and clients attend.  If we all disappeared and only LLL remained, most new mothers would be probably be fine.  If LLL disappears and only we remain, I'm not so sure.

4)  A generation ago, Karen Pryor's book was the other near-essential.  

My thoughts: It couldn't have been for the positioning information:  "Probably the nurse will help you get comfotable and get the first feeding started.  If not, you can manage by yourself.  You can nurse sitting up or lying down.  If you are sitting, don't lean back.  Lean forward a little, and rest the baby partly on your lap, like the mothers in the first four plates.  That way the nipple is easier for him to grasp, and your arm won't get tired from holding him.  You can use your free hand to guide the nipple into his mouth."  No, I think what we got from her book was almost entirely attitude and desire.  Same with LLL's Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.  

5)  As far as I've seen and heard, a generation ago breastfeeding tended to work.  Some people quit because of truly terrible nipples, many had unnecessary pain that eventually resolved.  But according to the stories I heard back then, it wasn't nipple pain or "failed latch" that ended most breastfeeding (the two things we've focused on for over 20 years), it was management.

My thoughts: One of our local Leader Applicants said recently, "My generation doesn't think breastfeeding works."  Have we spent so much time focused on "the latch" that we've screwed up mothers' perception of this very robust behavior?  Have we forgotten how competent babies are, if we give them not one isolated cue ("tickle the lips" or "nose to nipple") but a whole casual bundle of them as the mother who leans comfortably back and just holds her baby seems to do?  The word "position" became a verb - something the mother did *to* the baby - in the early 1980s, and from then on it seems it was all about the properly-instructed mother manipulating the baby.

Tina Smillie and now Suzanne Colson (www.biologicalnurturing.com) are handing control back to the mothers and babies, and even medicated babies seem to be doing pretty well as a result.  I'm feeling embarrassed by my well-meant but incredibly intrusive efforts of the past 25 years!

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.normalfed.com

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome