I changed my profession after my births and hospital experiences
because I could not believe what women had to go through.

My mother gave birth, at home, in England post WW2 with
a midwife but I was in Canada for my first birth and could not
believe the rough treatment, the separation from baby, and the
nurses who told me I had no milk and squeezed my breasts
to prove it to me. Not to mention that they also told me I had
inverted nipples and would not be able to breastfeed. In 1973
the baby was brought to us for 15 minutes every 4 hours and
we were not given much help with breastfeeding. Sometimes 
I would just get the baby latched and then a nurse would arrive
and take her back to the nursery. Yes I am still angry (but not 
as angry as I was back then.)  Going home from hospital
I felt like a total failure as a mother but being a stubborn
Brit I perservered, with help from LLL, and eventually became
LLLLeader and breastfed all 4 of my children.

I joined a group of women who were pushing for changes in 
hospitals and after some time all of them  in Toronto were 
offering rooming -in and a little more help for breastfeeding.

However since becoming IBCLC (1988) I am still hearing
horror stories about birth and breastfeeding beginnings.
I encourage women to write to hospitals and complain
but I don't think many do. But I also hear good stories
and I know some mothers write and thank the staff.
 
Ruth Bacon  IBCLC


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html