Breastfeeding

   I chose my topic based on a few reasons.  The first is that I oversee an infant room at my center and I've had questions from new mothers on this topic.  I'll be honest, I don't know too much about breast feeding, since I've never had my own children, so I've never really had the answers for them. I thought this assignment would be a really good way for me to gain some knowledge. The second reason was that my cousin just had a baby in November and really struggled with breastfeeding and ended up not being able to breastfeed her daughter at all and felt very bad about it.  I wondered what, if any, would be the long term affect. 
   After looking up many different articles, I saw the same common trend in all of the articles:  Depending on what culture you come from depended on how long and where a child was breastfed.  These articles also discussed the controversy on the approriateness of breastfeeding in public. I found two very interesting articles that I have attached below. In the United States, breastfeeding is encouraged, however in public, not so much.  People are uncomfortable with a woman breastfeeding in public in the US.  This reminds me of when my boyfriend and I were on vacation in Italy last year and the Italian couple sitting across from us on the train had a baby boy with them.  The child started to fuss, so the mom breastfed him on the train without covering herself at all.  I didn't think much of it, but my boyfriend was very uncomfortable with it and wondered why her husband, who was sitting next to her,  would be ok with her doing that in public.  There culture in Italy though, is different than our culture in America, and Italians really don't think much of breastfeeding in public.  It serves a purpose.
  It was also interesting to me to read about the different ways women dress and the ways babies are cared for in cultures outside of my own.  In America, we believe that holding a baby for too long can spoil the child, but mothers in other countries carry there babies with them in a sling, so they can feed them as needed all day long.  In some countries, babies also sleep with the parents, so the mother is able to feed them as needed.  In Latin America, South Asia and Africa, women have 30-40 days where family members come and take care of things around the house, so the new mom can totally focus on providing care to the newborn.  (All of this info. I got from the second link)
  I also talked with my own mother about breastfeeding and she chose not to breastfeed any of us.  She said there was no specific reason why.  She just didn't want to.  My siblings and I have all grown up to be happy and healthy adults, with no major illnesses, so perhaps not breasfeeding is ok too.
  It was very interesting to look up all the information and to read about all the controversy with breastfeeding..do it, don't do it.  In my future work, when I am asked questions about breastfeeding from new moms, I feel like I can give them solid reasons why you should do it, but also tell them it's not for everyone and if they choose not to do it, then that is ok too.


http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/3/1/11

http://www.attachmentacrosscultures.org/beliefs/bfeed_culture.pdf