I've been musing over the mostly all supportive emails about making workplaces baby-friendly. In principle i certainly don't disagree with it - but I don't think it should be our primary aim. My mother always used to tell me not to compare myself to the worst, but to compare myself to the best. So, yes, while millions of women around the world have always had to work very hard before, during and after childbirth, that doesn't mean that we should accept that as being the norm or the ideal. In our Western cultures the need or desire to get back into the workforce is most often associated with separation of mother and baby and the end of breastfeeding. And the women we are talking about who have on-site childcare and breastfeeding on demand are certainly the very privledged of our societies, not the norm. And, other than providing breastfeeding, are they not separated from their infants most of the time anyway? I've just recently had a communication with Rachel from Norway - yep, you know what I'm going to say - 12 months paid maternity is conducive to an incredibly high breastfeeding initiation rate and more than half the babies still receiving breastmilk at 12 months. What other factors are involved here? I guess there are others, but I would suggest that that 12 months leave is what is the catalyst. I'd like to keep breastfeeding in perspective - it is only one (very important, but still only one) aspect of mothering. Workplace care facilitates breastfeeding, not necessarily mothering. Please note that I am distinguishing having the child cared for by others (work place care) from working with the child eg. home farm work, home-based work. The mother still provides the mothering in that case, and the work she does is more conducive to unscheduled and more prolonged interruptions to allow mothering. Work for me is fun, and I am often found still on the computer at 10 pm, but, for me, mothering was much more fun and I'm so pleased I had the opportunity (yes, we ate beans and mince for years) to mostly stay home with my children during that time. Let's put our energies and recommendations into policies that will allow mothers to take the time to spend with their infants. Denise **************************************************** Denise Fisher, BN, RN, EM, IBCLC BreastEd Online Lactation Studies Program http://www.BreastED.com.au mailto:[log in to unmask] **************************************************** *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html