I know I will be going against the accepted wisdom here, but I think
that the one thing we should be encouraging these mothers to do is to
breastfeed.  Every reason is given as a reasonable cause for the high
rate of alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide rate amongst the people in the
Northwest Territories, particularly First Nations people, but nobody
ever invokes lack of breastfeeding.  These problems have to do with loss
of the traditional ways.  Well, breastfeeding is a part of the
traditional ways.  These problems have to do with the breakdown of the
family.  Well, does not breastfeeding help to keep at least the mother
and baby close?  These problems have to do with lack of security and
self esteem.  Well, does not breastfeeding confer self esteem to the
mother and security for the child?  And on and on.

I am not suggesting that breastfeeding for 2 years and beyond is going
to solve all the problems of the north.  But damn, it's something we can
do which is a sight better than what we've done to date, and a lot
easier to promote and encourage breastfeeding than what we've done to
date.

The baby will get solvents during the pregnancy if the mother is abusing
them.  What's a little more during lactation if the child grows up and
does *not* fall off a gasoline storage tank after inhaling gas fumes?
And if I'm right, and we might decrease the rate of solvent abuse in the
next generation if the mother breastfeeds, even if the baby gets some
solvent in the milk, isn't that a bonus?  We are talking about 3rd world
here.  Despite the undesirability of exposing the child to solvents, the
death rate from not breastfeeding is stupendous amongs our First Nations
babies.  I worked in Northern Quebec for a year.  I know a little about
the situation. It's a crying shame.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC