So well said, thanks for sharing.
On a different board right now, I've been lurking in a thread which touches on women who weren't able to breastfeed, etc. and it just makes me sad - several of the UTBF mothers harbor such anger and resentment towards "breastfeeding advocates," even though the stories they're sharing so clearly paint a different picture .... one where doctors and nurses unwittingly sabotaged the bf relationship; where the mothers ended up supplementing early and reel off a litany of other things which were imposed upon them, all as a result of a lack of knowledge, lack of support .... but it's the bf advocates' fault, not the doctors or nurses or a poorly trained LC ....
As far as the moms are concerned, the docs pushing ff etc. were 'saving' them from a failing bf relationship, not hammering the final nail into a coffin that was already built through lack of education/support.
A couple people have tried to point out the places where the UTBF moms' bf was sabotaged, and people are being careful about not pointing out that *if mom had read the bf books she's talking about, she would have been watching for signs of whether baby was hydrated well enough etc.* --- and instead, pointing out where staff could have implemented finger feeds, cup feedings, etc. etc., or where the LC should have been brought in, or etc. --- but what the moms keep coming back with is, "Oh, but all the bf advocates say that 98-99% of women can bf, but that's just not true, I couldn't bf and listening to bf advocacy meant that my child suffered in the interim."
I just don't understand why it gets blamed on lactivists (who clearly weren't in the picture at all, except as nebulous judgers in some of the moms' heads) - when in reality, it's obviously a case of uninformed and unsupportive HCPs all along the line, and a lack of follow-up support for the bf mom when she arrives home too. How is someone who says, "Breast is best," or "Most women can breastfeed, if you have problems, ask for help" but has NO impact on the medical care the moms receive, before/during/after birth -- responsible for medical interventions which sabotage bf??
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That was great!
