Dear Jennifer,

you said "It was so painful for me at our last bf
support group mtg. to sit there longing to nurse my own daughter while
surrounded by other nursing moms I am supposed to be helping! "

I feel what you say eloquently expresses the bizarre situation we are all in as
breastfeeding workers where bfing has become part of the professionalised
medical technical domain and hcps are expected to 'make it happen' for other
women no matter where they are with breastfeeding themselves.  I have known
midwives who returned to work when their babies were 10 weeks old, weaned them
because bf was not going well or because it was going to be hard to work shifts
and bf or, even, because they had no access to electric breast pump ("You can't
use that one on the ward.  That's for mothers".) -- and are then expected to
plunge straight in to helping facilitate other women to establish an experience
their work has partly prevented them from having.

Am I the only one to think this is one of the things which needs to most
fundementally change before our cultures become in any microscopic way
breastfeeding friendly?

Please hang in there, Jennifer.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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