Pamela writes:

"..mostly the black mothers are very, very
persistent and patient about teaching their babies how to breastfeed,
because *not* to breastfeed is unthinkable!"

And that makes all the difference.

Of course, another thing that makes "all the difference" is that American
OB technology is slow in getting there. I am saddened when I hear the story
of a client who always dreamed of breastfeeding, went to the hospital, was
hooked up to a fetal monitor, confined to bed, labor didn't progress fast
enough (for whom?), pitocin was begun along with IVs, she got her epidural,
fever went up, antibiotics were given, her anxiety and fear are elevated,
labor still is not progressing well, a c-section is preformed, she is
exhausted, baby can't latch, a few hours go by and baby is given abm,
mother and baby go home without an effective feed, and mother feels that
*she* is a failure. "Why can't I breastfeed my baby?"

She feels that she is unique in her failure.  No one tells her that she is
in the majority in America.

I worked with a mother whose husband was from Tanzania.  Her baby was
tongue tied and she was having terrible sore nipples.  She had the frenulum
clipped and, with a few days of training baby was doing well.

Her husband was looking askance at her inability to breastfeed without
'paid assistance' because everyone back home did fine.  Then his mother
came for a visit.  When she heard the story she said, "Oh, almost everyone
had bad sore nipples.  One woman went screaming from the village it was so
bad.  But when someone 'cut the tongue' babies did fine."

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mailto:[log in to unmask]

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