I've wondered about distaste with breastfeeding.  I'm thinking of the women who just don't seem to like the physical feeling or the thought of doing it (vs those who dislike certain aspects of it- perceive it to be inconvenient or too much work ).  I also don't mean women who have a history of sexual abuse.     Some women simply seem to find breastfeeding psychologically uncomfortable.   Is it the physical touch and closeness that is demanded or is it that they dislike when any of their bodily fluids are seen and felt on the outside of their body.  There are any number of descriptive ways of stating why a mother may find it distasteful.  I wonder if more mother's now seem to have difficulty with touch because they weren't touched/cuddled/nurtured much as babies/children (so they wouldn't get spoiled)?
 I think about things I find distasteful.  Foods that just don't taste good to you.  The foods I don't like.....I don't think I could learn to like it by just eating it on a frequent basis.
I wonder, is that how some women feel about breastfeeding?  And if they do feel that way and force themselves to breastfeed (because of pressure from where ever), would this mother begin to resent this relationship with her child?  I would think so.   Someone said they are seeing more and more women who are pumping and bottle-feeding breastmilk to their babies.  Maybe with more and more women initiating breastfeeding because they hear it's healthy (not because they have an innate desire to nurture their child at their breast), more are finding they feel this way about breastfeeding (or have the feeling before they ever start, don't know why and hope to learn to like it because it's best for their child,  but don't) and decide to pump and bottlefeed their milk.    
For those mothers who seem ambivalent about breastfeeding and you can feel it but yet mother says she wants to breastfeed, how do you broach this subject with them?  Do you have any interview techniques that work for you to help those mothers who seem ambivalent determine how she really feels about breastfeeding so she can then develop a plan?  If cultural barriers are troubling her, they can frequently be overcome and we may be able to help them with that.   If instead it's distaste, that's something very different.
Thanks
Sally Myer 



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