Some of you may know already that I'm an IBCLC. That's an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (really rolls off your tongue, eh?). I am also a retired La Leche League Leader. I still work a bit in the industry, in the health professional continuing education end of things. For years, our home has been littered with books about breastfeeding, anatomical pictures of breasts, and knitted breasts. Each of my kids was breastfed for a LONG, LONG time. Years, and years. I am still convinced in my heart and soul that breastfeeding is the best thing for babies and moms, and that it is a critical part of preventive healthcare.
I retired from LLL for a number of reasons, but one of them was that I just didn't want to talk with whingy moms anymore. My cup of compassion had been drained. (yes, now is when you make the B cup jokes, and ask whether I shouldn't have used the word 'sucked' instead). I kept picking up the phone, talking the mom through the problem - and frankly it was often not a problem at all, just her perception that there is something wrong with the normal - and I wanted to scream 'Look, just wean & get off the damned phone!!!', which is when I knew it was time to hang-up my LLL bra because if there's one thing new moms don't need, it's another person saying, it's ok, you tried, and it's your body, and your decision and you need to do what's right for you (in syrupy voice). There are enough of those nay-sayers in the world and nobody is going to get my permission (because yes, that's often what they're seeking) to quit.
If I had been reading M-mv back then, I probably would have said:
It's. Not. That. Hard.
Oh, I know it can be hard. Believe me, IBCLC's learn about the hardest conditions. No breasts, no nipples, nipples with no openings, babies with deformed palates, babies with no muscle tone. We know how hard it can be. But the bread and butter of our business is moms with just a few small problems and an abysmal lack of confidence and support.
But I digress. The point was, sometime, quite a while ago for me, the spark went out. I scaled back my boob activities, I just couldn't get excited about the newest artificial breast milk advertising scandal, about the harassment breastfeeding women were experiencing etc etc. I stopped writing letters to the ed, to the health minister, to the CEO's of hospitals.....
But on Saturday, I was reading a story on the BBC news website about breastfeeding's protective effects against developing coeliac disease. The story ended with the statement that the WHO recommends breastfeeding for 6 months.
Like hell it does.
The recommendation is exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. Thereafter breastfeeding should continue, with the addition of suitable complementary foods for 2 years or beyond.
And from somewhere I got the energy to write the editor, explain the difference, and ask her to make the change. And she did.
And I also got the energy to tell you about it.
Come on, you know why.
Yup, it's because of the boxes.
1 comment:
Hi Gavin - as I understand it genes can turn on & off for reasons which are still mysterious to us. What some researchers speculate is that there are triggers that cause a certain gene to be active - so just because there's a genetic component doesn't mean that the disease may not be affected by dietary or environmental factors too.
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