Margaret and Stewart Wills <[log in to unmask]>
>
> On the LLL website, there are two articles on helping vision-impaired
> women breastfeed, including one written by a Leader, blind from birth,
> who breastfed her five children
>
> http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVSepOct92p67.html

Dear Lactnetters,

        Usually I lurk and learn on Lactnet, but I thought I'd drop a line to
let you know that I'm the Leader who wrote the article cited above. I'm
always happy to hear from anyone who is working with a blind mother (or
a blind baby for that matter). In my experience the most valuable key to
being helpful to a blind mother lies in the helper's acceptance that
breastfeeding is not a visual activity. After all, haven't most of us
eventually learned to breastfeed in the dark? Blind mothers simply learn sooner.

        The advice that led this particular mother to bottle feed  troubles me,
and I am afraid it is not at all uncommon.

        A few--quite a few--years have passed since my own last baby left my
breast behind on his fifth birthday, just as he had announced to the
family several weeks earlier that he would. But I now savour the
singular joy of having a beautifully breastfeeding seven-month-old granddaughter.

Donna Cookson Martin, B.A., B.Ed., Grad Dip

Cookson Consulting Services
Sedgewick, Alberta
Phone 780 384-3544

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