I found a neat quote from Niles Newton while reviewing some of her early
articles. This is from 1971 in the Am J of Clin Nutr (Vol 24:993-1004).
"Because breast feeding involves a large measure of personal choice and
because it is related to attitudinal and personality factors, no groups of
breast and bottle feeders are likely to be equal in other respects.
Therefore the relation of breast feeding to any particular psychosocial
measure may not be cause and effect, but simply the differences due to other
uncontrolled co-variables." She goes on to say "Breast feeding is practiced
in such diverse ways that its emotional impact may be quite different for
both mother and baby, depending on which breast feeding style is used [ie
unrestricted or scheduled]."
We know something about the type of breastfeeding practiced by most
preliterate, preindustrial, and some historic cultures, but all through
history there have been culturally imposed "rules" and attitiudes about how
to breastfeed, who should breastfeed, and how long to breastfeed. It is
just about impossible to generalize, and I'd go so far as to say totally
impossible to mandate this behavior.
I adored my (many years:) of breastfeeding, and look back on them as one of
the delightful gifts of my life. It resonates with me on a personal level
(which Dr. Newton brilliantly espoused) that we miss one of the ways in
which we can biologically experience our gender identity if we don't
breastfeed. Fo me, experiencing my generative power is one way I expanded
my perception of personal power. For some, this deepens an awareness of the
concept of sexual power by extending this power beyond courtship into the
arena of maternal authority. This is not a "sexy" arena, which is sometimes
where the bind arises in a culture like ours, which respects only sexual
power of the Pamela Anderson type. We worship youth and beauty and give
them power, where the saggy breasts and wisdom of the mother are often
ridiculed and rejected in favor of the trophy wife. So when you ask women
to chose, some of them, who fear they will lose power if they become
"mother" are not going to be secure enough to pick the option of exploring
their opportunities for power in this new way that doesn't seem very
culturally rewarded.
This makes the choice to breastfeed very much a feminist issue on one
level. However, keeping women barefoot, pregnant and nursing is also a
weapon of control of women in some societies, so the difficulty again arises
from generalizing.
Study after study has linked the secure status of women in a society with
better standards of living and longer life spans for all. And in terms of
population: there was a wonderful study done some years ago showing that,
with very few exceptions, a regional decrease in infant mortality rates is
generally followed by a DECLINE in the birth rate. Often this apparently
causal decline occurs in as short a time span as 10 years. Improvements in
maternal education have been assoc. with declines in infant morbidity and
mortality, but in this study, breastfeeding had the greatest effect on
improved infant health. The authors stated that "Mothers with 3 or more
child deaths have 3 times as many children as mothers who have not lost a
child." So empowerment of women involves better educational opportunites,
more breastfeeding support, and should result in reductions in the birth
rate.
That article is Hanson L and Bergstrom,S: The Link Between Infnat Mortality
and Birth Rates -- The Importance of Breastfeeding as a Common Factor, Acta
Paediatr Scand 1990, 79:481-489.
Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates, Austin, Texas
http://www.jump.net/~bwc/lactnews.html
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