Dear Friends:
     At a March of Dimes conference in 2001, inductions were listed as a
major cause of prematurity.
     Barbara's suggestion about research findings and education is a good one
except that when I talk a bit about induction in my childbirth classes, I get
very little reaction. People think "Oh, that won't happen to me"; all their
friends are induced and "their babies are alive"; and breastfeeding isn't
that important anyway, now that there is this new formula out that is "just
like breastmilk".
    I tell you, dear friends, that we are up against a huge, HUGE, wall.
 (More like a juggernaut, that rolls over people in its way.) I have seen
articles in medical journals promoting induction because it helps plan
staffing in hospitals. The reasons for induction get more and more
outlandish, and no one bats an eye. The health care system is so fragmented
that the OBs have no clue that anything they do has any impact on the future
of that baby or of breastfeeding. People view birth like getting a tooth out
or changing an air filter in a car.
      People come to childbirth class already terrified of birth after
watching shows like Maternity Ward and they line up like sheep to slaughter
with the illusion that they are getting some control over the unknown. The
problems with maimed women and battered babies are ascribed to the risks of
birth, instead of having the blame placed squarely on the routine use of
technology. ( I repeat, routine. The technology has a place, but only as an
adjunct to the natural process).
     How many cities now have departments of pelvic reconstructive surgery? I
didn't see such a thing when I started working in maternity, nearly 20 years
ago. The reason is that women are maimed by the vacuums and forceps and
episiotomies. Their commitment to their babies and to breastfeeding is
undermined by pain and by separation    We all know about the impact that has
on babies.
     In my work as a hospital LC, I see babies who are so injured. Example: a
little boy with a swollen and shut black eye, bruise on his forehead and a
scratch on his neck from the internal lead. If his mother brought him to the
ER with those injuries, she'd be investigated by child protective services.
But because the doctor did it, during the course of the
induction/epidural/pitocin/forceps travesty called vaginal delivery, no one
even questions why this boy is totally withdrawn, a little turtle in his
shell. Then add circumcision.....what in heaven's name are we doing to our
babies??
     I am tired of being nice and polite. We have an epidemic of violence in
our birthing process that is trashing our future before those babies even get
home from the hospital. There is tons of evidence from every developed
country on the planet that supports breastfeeding, keeping babies and mothers
together, and watchful waiting in a supportive environment for healthy
birthing women. And NONE of it is taken seriously except by those who are
either damaged or who work, as we do, at picking up the pieces.
     Grrrr!
     Off the soapbox now.
     Warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CCE, craniosacral therapy
Adjunct faculty, Union Institute and University, Maternal and Child Health:
Lactation Consulting
Supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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