By Dr. Jane A. Morton, M.D.
If breast feeding is so natural, why doesn't it come naturally?
In part, because we have so many unnatural concepts about breast
feeding.
Pretend you are a woman living in prehistoric times and you have just
given birth to a tiny infant. You pick him up and cradle him...and lo
and behold he begins to root for your breast. Now remember your
breasts are not locked up in layers of velcroed, snapped, hooked
support gear.
The infant latches on in a way that hurts you. Do you say, "Let
me endure this ordeal until the sun passes from this point in the sky
to that point," or do you say "Oh, if only I had listened to
the instructions to rub my nipples with stones before I had this
baby!" No, you say "Ow...this hurts! It must be wrong.
Let
me ask my sister who gave me all sorts of tips on how to go through
labor to help me get this right." (As no generation of
prehistoric woman to date has skipped breast feeding it is quite easy
to find good advice.)
After the baby latches on and painlessly nurses he falls asleep.
You
decide to go out and find food for yourself. Do you say "Where's
my infant seat, my Swingamatic, my Geri backpack?" No, you carry
the baby in a sling, so he is right where you can see him and easily
nurse him to sleep again, should he awaken.
A cool breeze blows and he does wake up and smells you (because his
sense of smell is keener now than it ever will be again.) Remember, he
doesn't have on a hospital monogrammed T shirt covered by flame
retardant pajamas and three layette blankets specially washed in
scented detergent.
Do you say "No, there is not enough in my breast for you now; you'll
have to wait," or do you nurse him well over a dozen times a day
(which, by the way, is customary even today in so-called
underdeveloped countries). Finally, exhausted by the day, you decide
to sleep. Do you scratch your head and consider sending him back to a
special cave full of infants? Do you search for an all-purpose gourd
filled with fresh sweetened water for some stranger to give him?
Do
you worry about spoiling him or squashing him if he sleeps right
beside you? We have come a long way since those days. But if we expect
breast feeding to come naturally, we need to reconsider the unnatural
barriers we have literally placed between ourselves and our babies.
Before you accept the advice of any well-meaning counselor, think back
to your prehistoric sister and imagine how she would have responded.
This article originally appeared in the Winter 1993 edition of
"The California Pediatrician." Breastfeeding.com thanks Dr.
Jane Morton for allowing her article to be reprinted here.
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