1511cf66_all_To_Action_on_Breastfeeding__Topic
[ID] 329 [Interest Areas] Lactation Professional Researcher [Comment] It is my fervent belief that a majority of women giving birth in America today have no reference for breastfeeding as an integral part of the maternal-infant relationship. The baby as an active participant in the breastfeeding relationship is too often forgotten. Mothers dedicated to the notion of providing their babies with the best nutrition are missing perhaps the most important aspect of breastfeedingâwhen mother provides her âselfâ to her baby and begins the natural process of forming secure attachment. This oftentimes missing element causes great struggle for the new mother who faithfully attempts to follow a rigid schedule or some arbitrary set of rules provided by someone who has never met her baby and who has no idea whether the baby's behavior indicates he wants to feed, to be held, or simply to sleep. Moreover, while we have been very successful in alerting the public to the importance of breast milk and breastfeeding, we often create an impossible situation for the new mother who has just experienced a medicated hospital birth, rife with interventions, and expect her to manage breastfeeding as if she or her baby was not impacted by the birth setting. We unintentionally set mothers up for failure because the baby is not able to follow the ârulesâ and breastfeed on schedule. Nor is he able to latch like the 2-month-old baby in the breastfeeding video. I believe that the generic breastfeeding instruction provided by videos, books, and prenatal classes fall short of the individualized instruction mothers and babies require in the immediate postnatal period. Nurses, pediatricians, and even lactation consultants are typically not trained to provide individualized systematic observations of babies to give parents their very own personalized âtutorialâ of their baby. It is my belief that empowering mothers with the lost art of recognizing and interpreting their babiesâ signals rather than applying cookie cutter rules will have a much greater impact on breastfeeding success rates. This effort should be made in the immediate postpartum period (i.e., in hospital) before irreparable damage to the breastfeeding relationship (and milk suppy) occurs. [Topic] 
Maternal and Infant Care Practices: Prenatal, Hospital, and Post-Delivery Care
Call To Action on Breastfeeding
Topic