I thought I'd share something.
An aquaintance of mine (was my "boss" for 6 weeks at the beginning of my
pregnancy in summer 99 when I did some temporary work for a children's
clothing store) was pregnant last summer. I did not know much about
what she was planning for her birth/child, but I took her a whole ream
of papers on different stuff to do with babies in general.
I remembered that she had asked me how my birth was (birth centre birth
with midwives) so I explained more in detail how it went, and what I
really appreciated about it all (very much respect for the bf, baby
always with me, never taken away, etc.). I also included a lot of info
on breastfeeding for her, which I highlighted with my own comments. We
have a very low breastfeeding rate here in Québec; I'm not sure exactly,
but I believe it's somewhere in the 50%'s perhaps. Bottle-feeding is
very much "the norm" around here. I remember another aquaintance at the
same store, talking with (pregnant me) about nursing, and she said "oh,
it's ok for those who want to do it, but I didn't want to, and I was so
mad at the nurse who put my newborn daughter on my tummy...what do you
think was the first thing she did, but want to nurse?" I remember
thinking "good for the nurse, it was probably the only gulp of human
milk she ever got." :-( Well, I didn't know if this other girl was
planning on nursing her child, but included a lot of info, including
mentioning that it was BF week and there was an exposition *just* on bf
(no formula!) in the mall where she was working if she cared to go visit
it at all.
I mentioned a few things in my highlights about different reasons women
give for NOT nursing that I think are ultimately very stupid, the
biggest being "I would have to go back to work anyhow". I said, in
response to this, that there are several choices that are possible in
such a case which do not necessarily dictate formula-feeding from the
start. I said that she could pump at work (which we know would be the
best case scenario), or she could choose to not pump, but keep the
morning/night/weekend feeds, or she could even wean before going back to
work, but at LEAST the baby would have had a few months worth of milk,
(and my hope of course would be that she'd like it too much to stop!
;-)) which would be very good for the baby and which would save them a
lot of money.
Well, this aquaintance gave birth about 3 weeks ago, I learned about it
from a mutual friend, who had been to visit them in the hospital. Baby
boy, 6 lbs 8 oz, and she is nursing. I was very happy to hear that. I
gather that she gave birth at the one hospital which the local IBCLC
here says "they give supplements in a cup when they give them now, but
they GIVE supplements" (i.e. lots of times/lots of them), and she told
our mutual friend that she had had a hard time first with the baby, but
things were going better then (2nd day I think, so I suspect he might
have had a supplement or 2 :-(). I hope she continued, but I was SO
happy to hear that she'd decided to at least give it a try. Maybe she'd
already thought about nursing, and decided to do it, I don't know...but
maybe my package, given to her back in september (when she was only
about 2 mos. pregnant) actually planted a seed in her mind. :-) I'd
like to think so... ;-) I recommended lots of books, especially since
she reads and speaks english fluently, and I tried to steer her away
from a couple she mentioned that I've heard bad things about. I
mentioned Dr. Sears, and some "more mainstream" type books that would
still give a positive light onto BF for people who aren't too far into
it yet, and I suggested she try and find a copy (perhaps at the library)
of "The womanly Art of BF" to read.
I hope she continues at least long enough to come see us in may at our
"maternity/paternity exposition" in Québec city, where I will be
volunteering (though of course she could end up not coming while I'm
there! ;-)); I'll keep my fingers crossed. :-)
I had been to see her in the store a few times with my own daughter, and
she seemed very surprised that I was "still nursing" her last september,
at the "ripe" age of 6 months, but I laughed and said it was very easy,
and made my nights so easy etc., which she seemed to accept...so she at
least heard of one person doing it longer than 2 days. ;-))))))
Fio.
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