We had problems with a Cameroon mother who was separated from her baby
by Social Services whilst she was in Yarl's Wood.  She refused to
express, and when the baby was returned, was convinced her milk was
bad.  Baby was suffering terrible nipple confusion, and had oral trauma,
but the mother was sure it was that the absence had turned her milk to
poison, and that was why the baby had problems back on the breast.

Pamela Morrison explained to me that many women in some African
countries, believe that milk goes bad in the breast if a baby misses a
feed, so the milk is then 'poisoned'.  There is also a problem that
expressed milk can be inhabited by demons, so she explained that in the
hospital she worked in in Harare, the nurses taught the Mums to bless
the milk in the storage container, and this kept it safe from being
possessed.  Also, many cultures believe that pregnancy turns the milk to
poison too, and will kill the child, so weaning is instant on
discovering you are pregnant.  Pamela may pick up this thread herself.

Some cultures, again, predominantly African, believe a woman cannot have
sex whilst lactating, and so the mother weans to make herself sexually
available to the father. (I often wonder if polygamy plays a role here...)

Areas of Industrial Working Class Britain, believe that breastfeeding is
only for those too poor to afford formula, and women who breastfeed in
public are 'slack'.  It was a stigmatising public sign of extreme
poverty: decent woman do not breastfeed.  I've written about this here:

 http://one-of-those-women.blogspot.com/2009/02/dangers-of-d-word-part-2.html

And yes, I've supported women from the African sub-continent, who
who'd've breastfeed in public spaces in their country of origin, but
bottle feed formula in the UK, as they feel too intimidated to
breastfeed publically.  This is usually sub-Saharan Africa.  Lots of
Africa countries do NOT breastfeed in public spaces.

Likewise, baby wearing is a similar stigma in Industrial Working Class
Areas - too poor for a pram.  I remember babies being worn by their
mothers in the slums of Lanarkshire, wrapped on the hip in shawls, and
on their back when tiny babies.  Shawls were stigma - too poor for a
coat, and baby wrapped in shawl outside the house, again, a stigma.  You
could wrap the baby in the shawl in the house, if the baby was 'poorly'
and required constant comfort, but not outside.  Outside it was a pram.
The lending and borrowing of The Pram was a huge thing in my childhood,
with women who fell pregnant booking up their friend's pram as soon as
they could.  A new pram for a new baby was the height of wealth: the
older and shabbier the pram, the lesser status of the mother.  'Tinkers'
wore their babies in shawls, and breastfed in public spaces.  Tinkers
and fishwives!  A friend who married a Scottish Minister's son, and who
visited her in-laws home, bought a tartan wrap especially for her first
baby visit.  Unaware she was 'showing up' her MiL, by walking about town
with a baby on her hip, wrapped in a tartan shawl!  (MiL was in her 70s,
so well versed in this 'decent' divide from her own youth.)  The in-Laws
then proceeded to buy her a poncho, to wear whilst feeding the baby when
they were present.  This resulted in my friend blithely handing out
plates of soup during dinner, with one breast completely exposed, as the
poncho had so interfered with her normal routine, she hadn't noticed she
was flashing the entire room after the feed had finished.  Of course,
the issue there was that as a 'decent' woman, she should have been
breastfeeding in the back bedroom: alone.

My friend Emily, who is white British, baby wore hers constantly in her
local town, staunchly working class Industrial.  A 'friend' said to her
"You're not in Africa you know..." in very disapproving tones... that
was two years ago.  And of course, the classic one very prevalent - that
breasts belong to husbands and boyfriends, and the baby is not allowed
to usurp that ownership.

Morgan Gallagher

Nikki Lee wrote:
> Dear Friends:
>
> Does anyone have any stories about breastfeeding that are reflective of a
> cultural background of an African or Asian or European country?
>
>

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

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