Hello all.  I'm responding to Anne Altshuler's post about her interests in
how breastfeeding is portrayed (or not portrayed) in children's books, and
about nursing after lumptectomy.

Re children's books, on parent-l, Sue Ann Kendall (who may be on LactNet
too) collected examples of books that portrayed breastfeeding in a positive
way.  I'm sure she would be glad to post this to LactNet.  It included a lot
of the LLL books (from their catalog) but also others.  I have written a
tiny bit about the way animal nursing is portrayed (with bottles) in
children's books, primarily "Little Rabbit's Baby Brother", and Penny Van
Esterik also talks about this in some of her work.  I can get the reference
to her work if you are interested.  Also, Raffi's book "One Light, One Sun"
has the baby sleeping in the same room, in a bassinet and Dad gets up at
night and feeds the baby a bottle of milk while mom sleeps.  We always talk
about this as though it was expressed breast milk (there is no formula can
apparent).  This is a nice book for lots of other reasons, too.  Sue Ann
Kendall's e-mail is: [log in to unmask]

Re lumpectomy.  Speaking from personal experience, I had a lumpectomy for
*suspected* cancer between children two and three.  It was just a lumpy
lump.  The incision was circum-areolar on the top, and the lump was not very
deep.  When my third child was born, if I tried to manually express milk
from that breast, only the sides and lower quadrants released any milk, and
only from the lower spigots (I know that's not the right term, but I'm sure
you all know what I mean).  I never had any problems with mastitis or
plugged ducts or breast infections.  That breast never had as much milk, and
Alex refused to nurse on it after about 2 years (he's now almost 4, and
still nursing from the right side).  At the same time, before I attribute
the lower milk supply to the lumpectomy, I must admit that it produced much
less milk with Miranda, born years before the lumpectomy.  She also
preferred the right side after about 2 years.  Especially in light of the
research suggesting that breastfeeding protects a woman against breast
cancer, and protects her daughters against breast cancer if they are
breastfed, I think this woman should be encouraged to breastfeed from both
breasts.  If problems develop in the one with the surgery, she can stop
using that one.  The breasts will produce milk in different amounts.

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
Specialist in infant feeding and growth