In one of the last digests I recieved there was mention of moms not
breastfeeding due to a possible history of sexual abuse.

This was the case of one of my clients. And I just wanted to share the
success story.

This girl is 24 years old and was sexually abused from the age of 5 to the
age of 12 when she finally had the words to describe to her parents what her
cousin was doing to her.  It ended completely when the abuser died when he
was strangeled by a life line thrown to him when his boat tipped in a rapid.

Anyways.....

this girl married and became pregnant. She was finally very comfortable
sharing her body with a man who really loved her but was unsure of how she
would feel about a baby suckling her breast, which had always been used as
a very sexual object. During our prenatal classes we discussed how the abuse
would affect her birth experience and the breastfeeding. She always called
the baby a she. I addressed this fact and wondered if it would be easier to
nurse a female child, and how she would feel if the child were a male. this
brought on an river of tears. We talked about how she would make the
decision. She opened up that everybody around her was bugging her about her
feeding choice and she again felt pressured to do what was in the interest
of others (much as her abuser did). She made the decision to wait until the
child was born and decide then.

Well the birth day came and she labored beautifully. Never once asking for
pain medication. When the baby was on her chest, the doula present (my
business partner) noted that the mother was trying to undo the gown and put
the baby to breast ON HER OWN. The child was a boy.

The boy is now 5 months old and refuses to take a bottle. ( I think more of
the mother refuses to give one!! ha ha ) He is fat and chubby and full of
rolls. She is very empowered and finally has something that nobody can take
away from her. She breastfed in Walmart when baby was 1 week old. She is
incredible.

As a last note she just had her gall bladder removed on tuesday night, and
nursed her baby during her recovery. When the hospital staff said the family
had to leave her words were "I don't think so, I breastfeed my child".

So I know this was kinda long folks, but with all this WIC stuff being
discussed I wanted to let you know that a difference is being made "one mom
at a time".
Hope every one has a great day.

Patricia
Calgary, Alberta

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