Hi Pat and all,
I have contact with several women every month from these cultures, in
addition to other Arab countries, because the hospital has a female OB
physician who is Muslim. I have yet to be denied seeing the breastfeedings,
in fact, my experience is almost the opposite. Most will gladly accept/want
hands-on assistance, and sometimes expect this at every feeding. I would
lean toward the thoughts on abuse/trauma, in association with the breast
phobic client, because my experience has been these women are very
comfortable with the designated function of the breast. There is an
expectation of modesty, but not to the point of not touching themselves. I
teach all my clients how to hand-express and no one has declined to try it
in my presence.
Just my two cents,
Lu Bush
RNC,IBCLC
Texas
On Wednesday 30 May 2001 10:16 am, you wrote:
> I have had several mothers here that I worked with that came from Bengali,
> Pakistan and India. None of them ever breastfed in front of me and would
> leave me sitting alone in the living room while they fed the baby.
> None of them would have let anyone aside from their husband ( I don't
> actually know this, assuming this but could be wrong) look at their
> breasts. But they verbalized that breastfeeding was completely private for
> them, done with baby and mom alone. At least in this country, they have
> been willing to receive verbal help, I don't know what they would have done
> at home. Because of their religion, they all planned to breastfeed for two
> or more years, but supplementing with bottles away from home was common.
> However, they did allow me to visit with their heads uncovered after the
> first visit, so I felt somewhat accepted.
>
> Pat Thomas PHN IBCLC
> Winona County Community Health
> Winona, MN
>
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