Murphy’s Law : If Something Can Go Wrong. It Will.

Turns out that I am an actual descendant of said Murphy.  Kathleen Clements nee Murphy was my maternal grandmother.  It is true that she had her share of hard knocks being widowed in her mid-thirties.  She had nine children ranging in age from 12 down to 9 months at the time of my grandfather’s fatal car crash on the winding roads of the Wicklow mountains.  Nonetheless, she lived a full life and saw all of her children grow-up to adulthood.  I would like to think that my optimistic spirit is part of her legacy.

Throughout the past 30 years actively working as a Maternal-Child Health Nurse and Lactation Consultant, this feeling of optimism has at times been difficult to maintain.  Being a passionate advocate of breastfeeding has been frustrating.  Often I feel like a salmon swimming upstream against the current of bad advice and token support.

Breastfeeding in the modern era has always had its challenges.  Much like childbirth, yet another natural process of the female body has fallen victim to a medical model which at its core assumes intervention will be needed.  Mothers are confronted with an over-reliance on gadgets, weights and measures and liberal supplementation with formula served up as breastfeeding support.

Anyone who knows me, reads this blog or my articles is very aware of my dismay at this medicalization of breastfeeding.  I am constantly reminded about this sad state of affairs when I teach my prenatal classes and survey the expectant mothers.  It is shocking that the majority know someone, with less than six degrees of separation, who has had a difficult breastfeeding experience.  As a result, these mothers-to-be are tentative and will say “I will try” or “If it works” when they discuss their own breastfeeding goals.  In essence, they are starting with an expectation of failure…Murphy’s Law.

Conscious Breastfeeding is your tool to outwit dear old Murphy.  Your breastfeeding is not a science project nor is it an illness.  It is a natural extension of your pregnancy meant to sustain your baby through its continued growth and development outside of your body.  

You need to be Conscious…put your focus on optimizing your breastfeeding connection.  Get help with the latch. It is skill and a teachable moment for you and your baby.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that your baby can do it without your help.  A baby and a pump are not the same.  When in doubt your baby always trumps the pump when you have a great latch.

By focusing on the fundamentals and keeping things as simple as possible you can replace a fear of failure with a sense of accomplishment.  Replace Murphy’s Law with the positive Universal Laws which see you in all of your glory as… a Conscious Breastfeeding mom.

Survivor is a popular television program here in the States that has run for 16 seasons.  It’s motto is outwit, outplay, outlast and be the ultimate survivor.  The season finale is today, Mother’s Day.  It has been quite fascinating to watch as the final four women used a great deal of cunning and collaborated to eliminate all of their stronger male challengers. 

Watching Survivor made me wonder…

What if the contestants were all nursing moms, babies and their partners?  What would they do without pumps, bottles, nipple shields, supplemental nursing systems and weighing scales?  Would they survive?  How would they know what their baby’s percentile was out there in the wilderness?  Would bottles of formula drop out of the trees along with the coconuts? 

You might recall a news item from a few years back about an African mother  caught in a flood who sought refuge, labored and delivered her baby in a tree.  Although not ideal, birth and breastfeeding began there before she was rescued by the South African military.

Breastfeeding may be natural, but it is definitely a learned behavior.  Peer pressure, combined with token support, leaves many mothers vulnerable to advice and interventions which can destroy their confidence.  Doubts about their milk supply and a sense of being overwhelmed by the work load may cause them to waiver in their desire to continue breastfeeding.

Modern mothers need to outwit, outplay and and outlast the pseudo-science which has been embraced by the medical and lactation establishment and the ubiquitous and clever marketing of formula by the drug companies.  

You should not have to “survive” breastfeeding.  When in doubt, reflect upon what you would do were you on a desert island?  Get back to the basics.

On this Mother’s Day celebrate the power and mystery of your female body which enables you to nurture your baby in the womb and beyond through Conscious Breastfeeding.