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Subject:
From:
Kathy Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Jan 2000 11:32:00 -0600
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Hello all.  I am here, barely.  I do appreciate all the cards and letters
and children's art that you've been sending me.  In the "for what it's
worth" category, having barely survived my 4th chemo treatment, and with the
blessing of my oncologist, I have decided to forego #5 and #6.  "Nomo chemo
for meemo," as I like to say.

Concerning the discussion of learning and retention immediately post-partum,
I think it would be a great issue for someone to do research on.  One factor
which should definitely be included is the mother's emotional state.
Emotional upset can greatly affect what one "hears."  Someone who is
distraught may not only have no *memory* of what was said, but it may never
have even been processed by their brain at any level.  So it's not a matter
of understanding, or of remembering, it is a process of not even hearing the
information in the first place -- even if the mother is acting engaged and
nodding her head and seeming to understand.  There's an article (don't have
it handy) that describes this very eloquently -- it's an article about how
doctors should treat parents in the event that they have had a baby with
Down Syndrome.  It's a "what to say, what NOT to say" kind of article, but
it talks about how parents DO NOT HEAR much of what is said to them when
they are upset about their baby.

A new mother whose baby is fine may still be emotionally upset about how
things went during labor, if she had to have an emergency C-section, even
that her husband was late or a jerk!  Anyway, the point being that a
research project should include some measure of the mother's emotional state.

Kathy Dettwyler

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