Every time a mother puts her baby to breast, she has made a decision. I
think we need to share with mothers the notion that every feeding is a
decision-making time. For some mothers, the decision will ablways be to
artificlaly feed. For others, it will always be to breastfeed. For others,
the decision is different at different times of ridfferent reasons.   The
mother needs to know a) what is beest for her baby, and b) what is best for
her. Sometimes those two things are not the same.  To be an attentive
loving mothers, she must feel free to do what is best at the time, which
may vary again by all kinds of factors.

If we inform mothers that life is a series of deicisons, and that deciding
to give a bottle NOW does not mean she must STOP BREASTFEEDING, we
inevitably empower them to take greater charge of their life. That is not
the same as giving them permission to feed junk to their babies.  We also
must learn (don't we all go through stages to get to this point) that we
are not responsible for what a mother chooses to do. We are HELPING
professionals, not livers of her life for her.  One of the hardest lessons
I had to learn --as a mother and as an LC.
'nuf said.



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 %% "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities      %%
 %% brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."            %%
 %% definition of a lactation consulting service.               %%
 %% Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC - [log in to unmask]          %%
 %% Homewood, Illinois USA                                      %%

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