Just as babies can learn that a "satisfactory" feeding means obtaining milk
from an artificial teat and bottle (aka nipple confusion), babies/toddlers
can learn to artificially separate the complex functions of breastfeeding
(sucking [on a pacifier], obtaining nourishment [consuming expressed
breastmilk or formula from a bottle], cuddling [with mother or another],
...). The fact that they can and do learn to do this does not mean it is in
their (or mother's) best interest to do so. In individualistic cultures
such as the US (and other Western cultures), thumb and pacifier sucking are
commonly perceived as important steps to independent self-comfort rather
than as nursing/nurturing cues (see my upcoming article "The cultural art
of breastfeeding"--mentioned in my other recent posts). A mother who is
"trying to trick him into" breastfeeding instead of using a pacifier during
"a foodless cuddle" can be seen as actually trying to undo the earlier
"trick": substitution of breastfeeding with pacifier use.

Cynthia Good Mojab
(Breastfeeding mother, advocate, independent [cross-cultural] researcher
and author; LLL Leader and researcher in the LLLI Publications Department;
and former psychotherapist currently busy nurturing her own little one.)
Ammawell
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web site: http://ammawell.homepage.com

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