These mothers are typically well-educated, well-heeled women who have literally bought into breastfeeding; they have attended classes, purchased books, pumps, gadgets and other products designed to facilitate a positive breastfeeding experience.  Many of these mothers may have even paid lactation experts to help them, but still ended up being dissatisfied with the pressures and constraints associated with breastfeeding in the 21’st Century.

The core idea of La Leche League, mother-to-mother support, which fueled the renaissance of breastfeeding over the last half century, is beginning to backfire. There is a new wave of mothers whose angst is channeled into active discouragement of their friends and peers and an ever increasing need to disprove the value of breastfeeding.

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Helen Rumbelow, the author of “Exposing the Myths of Breastfeeding” is one of these women with a need to ventilate.  She claims that she wrote this exposé because she wanted,  “…to get to the bottom of the medical evidence”.

Her thesis centers on this quote from Joan Wolf, an American academic writing a book on breastfeeding in the West, “The evidence to date suggests it probably doesn’t make much difference if you breastfeed.”

There is no doubt that this comment has stuck in Ms. Rumbelow’s craw as she shares this personal note, “For someone who prolonged my breastfeeding more out of duty than desire, this made me feel slightly nauseous.”  Apparently she is not alone.  She adds, “Many women — the ones who feel that they jeopardised their jobs, marriages, or sanity for the boob — have a right to feel angry about that”

Ms. Rumbelow does not directly tell us about her own experience with breastfeeding.  I am left wondering if these comments might give us a clue:

“…under the weight of this advice from the Department of Health, doctors, midwives, and breastfeeding activists, millions of Western women bow their heads and unclip their Elle Macpherson Maternelle bras.” or  “Dark thought at 3am, when one’s nipples feel like shards of glass. ..”

She can’t seem to make her mind up.  She criticizes the public health authorities for “heavy-handed encouragement of breastfeeding and then facetiously asks us,  “the medical establishment can’t be wrong, can it?”

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Lest we forget, breastfeeding is the biologic norm.  Whether or not “Breast is Best” has not been a concern of women until the past 50+ years.  The existence of relatively safe, commercial artificial baby milks to be used in lieu of breastfeeding does not negate the fact that human milk is species specific and designed by nature for human babies.  голова болит секс

Apparently the Chinese Melamine debacle of 2008 was not relevant enough science to be included in the discussion.  The “confounding” effect of which Ms. Rumbelow and her “experts” speak could just as easily be applied to an analysis of formula-feeding with regard to its safety and value in human nutrition.

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Medical science is only as good as those funding it and doing the research.  It is interesting to note Dr. Kramer was a speaker at a Nestles conference on infant nutrition held in Beijing, China in 2004.

If doctors were truly that influential in inspiring modern women to breastfeed, why then are the global rates of breastfeeding so abysmal?  Being risk adverse, many doctors do little more than pay lip service to the idea of breastfeeding.  Operating in a managed health care system that stresses conformity, they are often more comfortable managing the intake of formula.

Breastfeeding promotion efforts could learn much from this lesson taken from retail marketing, “…a brand’s worst nightmare is of being hijacked by disgruntled customers with plenty of attitude, heaps of time, and a high-speed Internet connection.

The rancor expressed in Ms. Rumbelow’s article should be a red flag for all of us who support breastfeeding families.  The issue of concern is not about good, bad or indifferent science being applied to breastfeeding vs. formula-feeding.   It is about the experience of breastfeeding in our modern world.

How would you describe your breastfeeding experience?

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Retro is a prefix from the Latin meaning backwards.  Retro, in the common vernacular, refers to the way things were.  Be it a noun, adjective or adverb it describes something from the past. 

For purposes of this post I am drawing on an expanded definition found in Wikipedia, ”a term used to describe, denote or classify culturally outdated or aged trends, modes, or fashions, from the overall postmodern past, but have since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again.”

Breastfeeding has been around since the dawn of time.  It is the way human babies were meant to be nurtured after birth.  Nonetheless, it fell out of fashion in the 20′th century. 

You could say that the first wave of Retro breastfeeding began with La Leche League in the late 1950’s.  Against much resistance, mothers banded together to support one another and breastfeed their babies.  They were viewed as reactionaries as they seemed opposed to the progress offered by the medical model of birth and childrearing that relied on the drugs and formulas of big Pharma.  Going back to the “basics” was their call to action.

In 1985, the inception of the allied health profession of Lactation Consulting, born out of  La Leche League roots,  fanned the flames of that Retro breastfeeding comeback.  The job of the IBCLC’s (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) was cut out for them.  In those days, breastfeeding meant timed feedings and supplementation with water or formula.  Those consultants entered in to the fray and began working to change the standards of practice in Western hospitals.  They set out to educate and support women so that breastfeeding would be the rule rather than the exception.   At first there was resistance from some in the medical community who were accustomed to managing infant feeding by manipulating formula intake.   Gradually it became politically incorrect to advocate against breastfeeding.

As we approach the 25′th Anniversary of Lactation Consulting as a profession we are entering yet another wave of Retro breastfeeding.  However, this one merely pays lip service to what began in La Leche and the early days of lactation consulting.   It is a weird amalgam of dogma and old practices, that fundamentally do not support breastfeeding,  blended with touches of tech and pseudo-science.

What is most ridiculous and ironic is that this latest version of Retro breastfeeding can be traced to the the practice of many lactation consultants. Those that have begun to rely too heavily on managing pumps and gadgets and less on the art and skill of breastfeeding have changed the focus from breastfeeding to human milk feeding.

Give me the music any day, but spare me this techno version of breastfeeding from the 1970’s!

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Here in the States, midway through Breast Cancer Awareness month, this day had been designated as National Mammography day.

For those of you who are currently breastfeeding, mammograms are usually delayed, so you would not have been able to take this call to action.  However, regular self breast exams should be done while lactating.  You know the landscape of your breasts intimately as a nursing mother and will generally notice even more subtle changes as you handle your breasts on a daily basis. Pick a day, the first, the 15′th, 30′th or any day you fancy, and do a thorough exam on that day each month until you wean.

I rather like the synchronicity that this day also marked the beginning of women banding together to support one another breastfeeding their babies.  La Leche League was founded on October 17, 1956.  It has grown over these past 52 years, from that small group of Illinois women, to a membership in excess of 8,000 mothers the world over.

As a daughter of that revolution, I applaud the efforts of those first five La Leche League moms who took a stand for the health and well-being of themselves and their babies.

Breastfeeding has been shown to be protective against contracting breast cancer, but is not fool-proof. Due to environmental, genetic and other yet unknown factors, even women who have breastfed are at risk of developing this disease in their lifetime.  Thus, regular self breast exams, and mammograms when you are finished breastfeeding, are important because early detection saves lives.

Enjoy your breastfeeding journey and use it as an opportunity to maintain the health of your breasts now and in the future.