Gosh, this issue of guilt just fascinates me. I keep *thinking*  about it.
I have seen health care professionals use guilt about many issues, ie
smoking, car seats, immunizations, circumcision, etc...(and no I don't
wanna talk about the later two on Lactnet, thanks)...but why would we be
concerned about protecting a mother from information that coudl potentially
save her baby's life, or at least his/her health, ie prevent her from
knowing the truth about breastfeeding?  Because, there is more to this
issue than to those other issues. This is a personal issue. It cuts to the
quick of who we are. Who our families are. What our parenting styles are.

  The decision of whether to breastfeed or not is a defining brick in the
foundation of who we are  as people, as mothers, as parents. We don't have
a legal choice about whether we put our babies in car seats or not. We do
have a choice about whether we smoke around a baby or not. And we have a
choice about whether we feed our babies formula or not. Many, (not all)
mothers feel sheepish about using formula when they could have breastfed.
It is hard to admit that we sometimes will choose what is inferior because
we ourselves have no emotional space or resources to do what we know would
be best.

We live in a culture that is fast, that is about ME, and that supports
detachment and avoids living in the moment.  Health care providers need to
get out of their own heads, and need to speak the truth and stop dealing a
load of fertilizer when talking about breastfeeding.  If they didn't choose
to do it, or their wives didn't, that's their choice and problem. If they
weren't supported to breastfeed, it is our problem as a society.  If one
chooses to downplay a simple and beautiful intervention because we feel
that we must patronize and protect others from the truth in order to
validate our own poor choices, that is ethically negligent and inexcusable
at best.

Kathleen

Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet, Indep. Consultant
http://together.net/~kbruce/kbbspin.html
LACTNET Archives http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/lactnet.html

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