I have to jump in here a few days to late, but better than never on the
thread of the Orthodox woman.  Being that I am one, let's not confuse
Jewish modesty with other cultures.  Women do indeed wear long skirts and
long sleeves, and cover their hair for everyone besides their husbands,
however, it is not to the same degree as other cultures where only the face
is allowed to be seen, etc.  I have nursed in alleyways, dressing rooms,
and on intercity buses.  But I have never shown even a drop of skin.  I
heard from the mouth of an Ultra-Orthodox rabbi that if a baby is crying on
the bus, the mother should pick herself up and go to the back of the bus to
nurse.  Keeping culture in mind, however, this is done with the utmost
discretion and it is not uncommon to see a mother totally under a blanket.
I work with Ultra-Orthodox women each day, and the excuse of modesty is not
on the top ten list to do with premature weaning.  I think it comes down to
how commited the mother is in the first place.   Although Elisheva is also
on target, about maybe not feeling able to nurse in front of an older son
in law.  Let me throw this question back to you.  How many of you would
feel comfortable nursing at the table of a dinner party of let's say 10
people?  Would you have thoughts of going into the bedroom?  Forget about
having skin showing or not.   I have heard many things, believe me.  But I
don't feel this is the issue that is causing unsuccessful long term
feeding.  I think Heather was very on target in her observations of the
Orthodox community in Gateshead, although from personal experience, I have
spoken to too many mothers who tell me they never gave any of their other
children formula, so I think there must be other factors coming into play.
To throw another point into the pot, many of these mothers tell me their
nipple size has almost doubled by the time they get to their 10th + kid,
and obviously many seem to have kind of "stretched ducts" (for lack of a
better way to descibe it).   It's funny, while Heather has observed that
many mothers  begin pumping right away, most of my mothers have NO
experience pumping except in a hospital situation, and kind of look at you
like you have mentioned the theory of relativity when you mention pumping
to increase supply.  But to clarify, we are talking about two different
populations. 1) Mothers that have loads of kids, begin to supplement, and
faze out on BF by the end, these are the ones where pumping is new for
them, and 2) the specific mothers I am talking about, many times American,
who are already totally commited to BF and find insufficient milk with
birth 8+,9+,10+,.
I think any mother, even the most commited ones to BF, even if there  is
just one other kid at home find they have to weigh how much time they can
invest in correcting a serious problem at the expense of the rest of the
household.   Our job is to be available to help before anything reaches the
stage of a serious, time consuming problem.
As a side note, Esther has it so exactly on target being able to spot a
very "experienced mother".  I was smiling ear to ear.  These mothers are
always surprised you have something to offer them this many kids down the
line.
Jessica Billowitz
Israel

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