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Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:12:03 GMT |
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BfN The Breastfeeding Network |
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Jan, you described a situation where "sometimes the scale helps".
Yes, the scale helped this woman to overcome her anxiety, which was based on
information she had received about the "adequate" timing of a breastfeed. What
happened here is that you used one system of measurement (weighing) to
counteract the harmful effects of another system of measurement (timing).
Living in a world where perceptions of breastfeeding (and lots of other things)
are already framed through using systems of measurement, this is clearly often
a useful strategy (although it might not help someone whose baby doesn't
'measure up' on the scale -- and what would you use then?). My query about test
weighing, which sparked off the recent thread on this topic, comes from a
fundemental questioning of the value of framing our discourse about
breastfeeding in terms of measurement, rather than as a satisfying lived
experience for the woman and her baby. I guess, in this case, weighing enabled
that satisfaction to happen.
Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Network, UK
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