I am glad that Janice Reynolds gave us Ms Wolf's exact words from her book.

In reading the excerpt that Janice gave us it appears to me that Ms Wolf is
confused and angry. She understands something about the need in humans to
be connected, and she wants to advocate for changes that will help mothers
and babies breastfeed and for families to be "near each other" but she is
too caught up in her own struggles to see the breadth of the goal and who
her companions truly are. She may have glimpses of insight ("gets it") but
is lost to the "big picture." An example of such insight is, "Babies are
biologically designed to nurse, of course, and new mothers are biologically
oriented toward wanting to respond. Mothers and babies who are nursing are
like one continually interacting, merged organism."

The most disturbing and revealing aspect in the excerpt is her penchant for
demeaning and labeling. We know that such labeling comes from our weakness
and desire to garner applause from others who feel equally weak.  She will
get applause, but her choosing to condemn LLL with cheap name-calling
degrades and detracts from whatever she is attempting in writing her book.
You will note that she didn't call the AAP "Breastfeeding Fanatics" for
their recommendations for the health of infants. People who want to use
labeling to shore up their weakness choose subjects that they perceive to
be easy targets in their own support community ("that my friends and I came
to call...").

She writes," In the United States, only about half of mothers breast-feed
their babies at all..."

Does she know what percentage of mothers and babies were breastfeeding when
LLL began teaching women about the value in doing so?  Does she know what
"passion" and perseverance it took to turn around the infant feeding
practices of a nation like the U.S.?  Does she know that the progress that
we have made in breastfeeding initiation rates came from women reclaiming
their power of choice, with the support and encouragement of other
women--one mother at a time?

She may say, "Yes, I know all of that, but they needed to do much more. It
wasn't enough."

In pondering womens' anger toward LLL for not being what they wanted them
to be, I see it as a grandmother/mother/daughter issue. Our foremothers
took the steps that they did within their particular challenges, strengths
and limitations, then they gave over to us to continue the efforts toward
their goals for humanity.  We can grumble about our mothers (or sisters)
not doing it all so that our path will be easier, but it is really our job
to pick up where they left off and carry on--in our own ways.

Today there are different approaches to reaching our goals. Some of us work
in hospitals advocating for mothers and babies by changing policy, some are
in private practice "picking up the pieces", some are in
childbirth/breastfeeding education working from the prevention angle, some
are working in the political arena with employment or public breastfeeding
policies, some are doing research, some display T-shirts and bumper
stickers, some are writing books, some are working to keep our profession
strong and informed, and some are meeting the needs of mothers in
support-group settings. (I have probably omitted some areas in which women
are busy working for mothers, babies and families.) *We are all on the same
side*, doing the work in a way that fits our style, and we serve our common
cause best when we do our part without judging someone else for not doing
it our way. We need many different approaches because this is a
multi-faceted challenge.

There is still a need for the mother/mother support just as there is need
for professional research and publishing and all of the rest. We are not
asking Peter Hartman and Tom Hale to sit with a mother who is struggling
with a MIL who is trying to undermine the new mother's confidence in her
capacity to nourish her infant. We don't expect the hospital-based LC to
help a mother guide her 3-year-old in resolving his jealousy issues. (But I
expect some of you are asked anyway.) We don't expect Liz Baldwin to work
with a mother in improving her family's nutrition so that baby can go from
Perfect Food to very good table food.

We have different jobs in our common goal of every baby who can possible
can will feed at her mother's breast for as long as she wants/needs to.

This book will be read by more people because of her choosing to malign
this support group that didn't meet her needs. There will be more publicity
and exposure, but the negative energy that will be perpetuated will lessen
the positive impact that the book could have had. Reaching one's goal
defaming others makes for a shaky foundation. I'm sorry that she chose to
air her greviences in such an unbecoming manner.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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