Kathy D. said, about BF promo:
"there is a much bigger group of moms
out there who have NO CLUE that it makes any difference whether you
breastfeed or bottle-feed.  It is NEWS TO THEM."

I don't think that's exactly the case any more (although I actually hope I'm
wrong, because then it's relatively easier to fix). When I worked at WIC,
the first thing I would ask a pregnant woman (and these were usually still
in their 1st trimester) was "What are some of the things you've heard about
feeding your baby?" Almost always, even with very young girls and women very
isolated in rural poverty and culture, they would say something like "Well,
I've heard that BFing is supposed to be best". If I got that answer, I would
try to draw them out as to why or in what way BFing is "best"; most were
able to say something about the "immunities", or about the bonding (or
"bondage", as I got used to hearing!), or that it's "more natural" for
babies (with rural women frequently pointing out that we don't give calves
people milk), or that it's cheaper. So even if they went on from that point
to be very defensive about how they weren't planning to do it, I think that
some of the message about why it's important (or why health care types think
it's important - often not the same thing for many women - is getting out
there. It seemed to me that our "why you should" is way out there ahead of
the "how to do it" message.

Good news/bad news, I think. The good news is that at least most women have
heard something about BFing being recommended as the best choice for babies;
the bad news is that the women who've heard that it's "good" in general
often have a long and firmly-entrenched list of reasons why it's not for
them. It's so much easier just to share information, give a little
encouragement to the ones who "want to but I can't because...", and move
along from there. But it's a lot harder to deal with the folks who are
aware, at least in vague & general terms, of the reasons we encourage them
to BF but are determined that it's not for them. I think of this as the high
art of what we do, this working with a woman to find the key to her
resistance and working with her in the WAY THAT WORKS FOR HER to help open
her mind/heart/attitude a little (OK, a lot!)

Lots to think about - Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC Ithaca NY

-----Original Message-----
From: Kathy Dettwyler [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 1999 1:59 PM
Subject: when moms or hcp's just don't get it


Thanks Leslie, for your wonderful post, reminding us that some moms have
other issues that may be affecting their decisions and abilities concerning
how their babies are fed.

We also need to remember, though, that there is a much bigger group of moms
out there who have NO CLUE that it makes any difference whether you
breastfeed or bottle-feed.  It is NEWS TO THEM.  These are the ones who can
be reached and affected by someone simply providing them with information
about the difference between breastfeeding and bottle-feeding.  Many many
women never give any thought at all to whether they will breast or
bottle-feed.  They just bottle-feed because . . . that's how babies are fed
in the US.  They use disposable diapers because . . . there aren't any other
kind.  They have their boys circumcised because . . . that's what we do to
little boys.  They buy a crib and fix up a special nursery for the baby
because . . . that's what we do in our culture.  They assume that if
breastfeeding were better, the ob/gyn would tell them all about it, rather
than give them a free sample of formula and sign them up to receive cases of
free formula.

And I'll freely admit that one of my main motivating forces in doing what I
do is to empower women as women -- I don't think any other activity empowers
women as women as much as breastfeeding.

When one knows a lot about a subject, and deals with it day in and day out,
it is sometime difficult to remember that there are entire groups of people
who have never heard of the issue.  I am reminded of this every time I teach
my "Women and Culture" class, as I am this semester.  We always begin with
female genital mutilation -- and most of the class has no idea that this
exists.  They are shocked.  And just yesterday, a student in another class
looked thoroughly confused when I told her that women in traditional
cultures didn't menstruate very often as adults.  She didn't know that
breastfeeding affected menstruation, and hadn't really thought about how
many pregnancies women experienced in the past.  These things seem obvious
once you know them, but we all had to learn them for the first time, once.
And many women who bottle-feed have never heard anyone say anything remotely
like "This may be harmful to you and your child."

Kathy Dettwyler