It will never cease to amaze me how people will blame others for "making"
them feel guilty as if we hold a gun to their heads and insist that guilt
appear because they are not breastfeeding their babies.  The power of
information is great.  The only reason women feel guilty for not
breastfeeding is that they now KNOW that it is the very best and they are
giving their babies a substandard alternative.  What we do is to give women
the information to have informed choice.  If they choose to not breastfeed
they know they are not giving their babies the best; they therefore choose to
feel guilty.  Do we scold or penalize the cardiologist for informing the
heart patient that eating foods high in saturated fat will do damage to their
heart?  Do we reprimand any other health professional for educating their
patients/clients?  Of course we don't.  In fact, we tend to be quite happy if
the patient/client feels guilty when going against their advice.  What makes
the Lactation Consultant so different?  Does a billion dollars a day make the
difference?  Probably.  Does knowing something that someone else doesn't make
a difference? Probably.  Invading turff? Oh yes.

Women have bought a bill of goods partially because they think they were
supposed to.  They also bought it because they think sticking a bottle in a
baby's face is easier; someone else can feed the baby; no one else they know
"does IT;" they can have the baby and go on with their lives without too much
interruption; they can go away without the baby; they don't have to have that
baby "sucking on them all the time;"  they didn't want to have this baby in
the first place; "I can't do this it takes too much time;" etc., etc., etc.
Notice anything missing?  IMHO we will be in serious trouble once these
babies become parents.  There is no attachment now.  What will it be like in
18-20 years (it will probably be more like 13 -16 years).

Sorry, folks.  I needed to vent.  I've run into just too much of this from
mothers (and I do use that term loosely) and medical and government personel
lately.  Informed choice is given an awful lot of lip service these days.  I
will keep giving it though.  It's my responsibility, within my scope of
practice and an expected part of being IBCLC.

Thanks for listening.

Linda Barrett, IBCLC