Hi - I've been lurking and learning for a week or so. Thanks everyone for the
insights. I have three ch, and am convinced of the power of human milk. I loved
the 'kindness of human milk' slogan !

I read the post about the 'Myths of Motherhood' book in LACTNET 1 Feb and I
wondered if it was anything to do with a book called 'The Myth of Motherhood, An
Historical View of the Maternal Instinct' by Elizabeth Badinter. This copy I
have is pub. by SOUVENIR Press (E&A) Ltd, 1981, ISBN 0 285 64942 6, printed in
USA. Maybe she referenced it ?

It is fascinating to realise that it does not seem to be an instinct to
breastfeed in spite of the baby having the instincts to suckle.

Did you hear about the experiment on rhesus monkeys with the cloth mother and
the wire mother ? I have a copy of 'The Science of Animal Behaviour' by P.L.
Broadhurst, pub Penguin books 1963. Basically, what they did was take newborn
monkeys and put them in a cage with a wire frame holding the bottle, and a cloth
model with a 'face'. The monkeys did their best to cling to the cloth model as
much as they could, and only going to the wire frame when they had to. Now this
may have been because they were originally tree-dwelling monkeys. Instinct may
have said 'hold on, or you'll not survive'. But wait for it - when they became
adult, they were hopeless at being parents. Even when paired with an experienced
partner they still had no idea....This seems to imply that something important
comes out of being mothered.
It would be interesting to see a survey of several generations; it may be more
unusual for a woman who was af to bf  her own baby ? FYI, my mum's mum bf for
weeks, my mum for months, and I bf two of mine for years ! I have to credit my
mum for what she achieved - I had the support of LLL, she didn't !

Helena Boutal