Jennifer brings up a point that I think frustrates all of us at some
time or another.  It is so frustrating to hear a mom say she has
quit and when we talk with her, we see the reasons as being so
minor, or "problems" that could so easily have been overcome, or
simply a matter of not understanding what's within the range of
"normal".

While we want moms to become independent of us (except for unusual
circumstances), I really feel that ideally, contacting new moms on a
regular basis until she hits the "smooth sailing" should be part of
our services.  Unfortunately, the reality is that we don't always
have the time and resources available to do this.  we rely on the
mom to contact us if she has a problem.  How to strike the balance?
I think this will always be a question.

We want to promote breastfeeding, and we have learned much about not
making it sound too complicated or seem to be imposing too many
"rules".  Sometimes we may go too far in trying to make
breastfeeding normal and appealing.  Then if it's not smooth
sailing, the mom throws in the towel.  On the other hand, we don't
want to go into a litany of all the possible challenges and how to
overcome them or she may decide it's not worth it in the first
place.  Again, I think we will always be working on how to strike
the "perfect" balance if there even is such a thing.

My personal feeling is that we need to emphasize breastfeeding as a
learning process, not just something that happens "naturally".  Even
in those cultures where it is totally natural (if there is still
such a thing anywhere), women learn from childhood by observation.
Not having a readily available "option" means of course, you work to
achieve it.  In our society (and that includes almost everywhere in
the world today) very few women come to motherhood with a welath of
positive, already learned, skill.  Add to that the constant "option"
being promoted or at least too readily available.  Moms need to
realize that both she and baby are developing a new skill.  Some
aspects of this skill are instinctual, some need to be learned.  Mom
and baby don't learn at the same pace.  Sometimes mom gets ahead of
baby and sometimes baby gets ahead of mom.  Sometimes everything
"clicks" immediately and sometimes it takes some patience and
perseverance until things run smoothly.  You can compare to any
skill or activity and find that some people pick it up with very
little effort while others have to work at it.  For example, if in
order to play basketball, you had to be able to hit the basket a
high percentage of times right from the start without even thinking
about it, there probably would not be an NBA or NCAA.  A few players
would pick it up totally instinctively while others may need to
practice and learn by trial and error.  And yet both can eventually
be star players.
Babies are remarkable resilient and can survive just fine in most
cases if everything doesn't fall into place immediately.  If it was
expected to, I think mom's milk would be high volume right from the
first feed.  I really believe that it takes a few days to get there
so that learning of the technique and getting comfortable can occur
on the "low flow".  There are probably other phisiological reasons
on the baby's part, but I really like to point out to mom's how it
is normal to take a little time for everything to become "second
nature".  Whatever analogy you use, be it learning to ride a bike,
drive a car, dance etc. the basic message is the same.  BE PATIENT.
If mom and/or baby are having problems, we have tricks and even
gadgets is some cases which can enhance the learning process.

Didn't mean for this to get so long, but the whole learning process
is a big passion of mine.

Winnie

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