Ivy:

Of course this is ridiculous.  There are no serious studies that have linked angry breastfeeding moms with increased infant mortality. There may be wild extrapolations about stress hormones in milk.  In fact, mild amounts of stress are desirable just as high amounts of stress are not. The challenge of mild stress helps us achieve.  High stress can lead some people to end up with PTSD.  

What we have to watch out for is angry formula feeding moms with increased infant mortality.  The reason why I say this is that there are lots of well researched articles showing how breastfeeding relaxes mothers.  So breastfeeding WELL, can reduce anger, frustration, depression and a whole host of strong negative emotions.  The key here is to find out why the mother is feeling those emotions, assist with the aspects of breastfeeding problems that may be contributing or exacerbating those emotions and make sure at the very least that the mother pays attention to optimizing her oxytocin via skin to skin contact and milk removal.  

The worst case of anger I ever saw was induced I am sure by lack of milk removal.  I saw one mother who literally (I really mean it) wanted to shoot her beloved dog of 18 years. Her husband was not picking up on my nonverbal cues to get the dog out of the apartment immediately. He wasn't listening to his wife.  He tried everything but taking the dog out and she finally just exploded.  Her baby didn't latch well.  Once we removed a significant amount of milk from her breast with the pump first and then with her baby -- she relaxed completely and again loved her dog.  I really seriously was grateful that she had no weapons near at hand at the moment she exploded.

I think this manufactured "crisis" might be an excellent "opportunity" to advertise why skin to skin contact and milk removal that comes from breastfeeding will permanently remove the angry toxins, not just from the mother's milk, but also from the mother's developing relationship with her baby.


Best, Susan Burger

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