>Your final comment is that  in areas where epidurals
>are common we do not see breastfeeding problems.


Ah, Pam, I said 'we don't *necessarily* see breastfeeding problems'.

Scandinavian women have epidurals routinely - far more (from what I 
gather) than mothers in the UK.

But there is a lot more bf in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland!

What I am getting at is the difficulty of isolating the epidural from 
all other labour and birth interventions, and that does not mean, 
cannot mean, comparing unmedicated home birth with a full-on, 
bells-a-clangin', whistles-a-blowin' 
lie-on-your-back-with-your-legs-in-stirrups-and-have-this-epidural 
hospital birth .

It may be that an epidural coupled with a bf culture and fewer 
interventions is ok for bf - that the bf culture and the lack of 
other interventions make up for any physiological effect of the 
epidural.

At the moment, I can't see how we know one way or the other.

I am a bit sad when I see epidural birth as the norm, because I 
really do think it medicalises birth, and the result is that an 
experience becomes a process.



Heather Welford Neil

NCT bfc, tutor

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