Hello Gail and Lactnet Friends,

 

I recently taught a class for teens in a school for juvenile offenders. I
was invited to speak by their teacher who is one of my former clients and
who successfully breastfed her own baby. 

 

There were 4 teens in the group; a 17 year old male with 2 yr old son. a 15
year old girl who sucked her thumb the entire time and who had a 4month old
daughter, a 17 year old who had a 2 year old child and was pregnant again,
and a girl who was 15 or 16 and also pregnant. They were a tough audience
who typically gives no attention or respect to their teacher or anyone else
viewed as an authority. The teacher and 2 monitors were also in the room. I
took a bag of items with me that related to breastfeeding and had the
students each pull out 2 or three items. I asked them to tell me what they
thought the items had to do with breastfeeding. I had things like an invoice
from a doctor's visit, birth control pill case, money, a toy car, a
toothbrush, my child's report card, a wrist watch, medicine container, etc.
They kids participated and were attentive in a loud way The kids were
genuinely surprised by the benefits I was presenting. The monitors in the
class also participated and were suprosed to learn about the differences
between breastfeeding and bottle-feeding.. When the teens said no one ever
told them this "stuff" before about breastfeeding I did try to stress that
each parent does the best they can for their children given the information
they have at the time.  I suggested they might make a different decision
with this new information in the future. 

 

At the end of the day, the young man said he would want his kids to be
breastfed, but he didn't think his "woman" would do it.  The 2 pregnant
girls agreed to at least give their baby one day of breastfeeding. The 15
year old, who had been the most disruptive, was suspended for fighting later
that day and had not returned to school for a couple of weeks. I am hoping
that hearing about the benefits of breastfeeding did not cause her undue
anxiety. 

 

I consider this a success story.  I think having the kids participate keeps
their attention and is an easy way to teach about breastfeeding. 

 

Judy Gutowski, BA, IBCLC


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