theatokos | (no subject)

Bennett's communication is exploding. In the last 24 hours he has said, in context: home, house, car, cook, up, pup, hop (thanks Dr Seuss!). Continuing favorite words are: hot, mama, uh-oh, and 'go go go go' - yes, four in a row. He has signed poop, sad, bath. His empathy is also expanding. He gets sad when others do, he was concerned for Elliott Cat because Schmell has a bad sore, and he's running around giving hugs. Adam has started playing a strictly vocal version of Marco Polo - Adam says Marco and Bennett responds 'pogo.' So cute.

ETA: I forget that he also says cocoa and coch (red in Welsh). And this morning he said poop!

I'm reading The Politics of Breastfeeding as my 'at home' book. It's full of fascinating information, nothing which surprises me all that much. It has cemented my already pretty firm belief that formula is nasty shit and that boobies are amazing. But there's something about the book that is off putting. It's her tone. I can't quite put my finger on it, but perhaps that's because I only have ten minute chunks of time to read. I think her book is not going to win any converts. If I was a mother who had problems breastfeeding and I wanted to try again, this is not the book I'd recommend. Basically, if you've ever used formula I think her tone and content could make you feel like shit.

What I'm walking away with, though, is how freaking amazing human bodies are. First, like I said, boobies are incredible. We make a perfect food, it's regulated in just the right make up and just the right amounts; it cannot be replicated. But even though formula is sketchy stuff, humans can thrive! Hell, we are what we eat - literally - and Americans eat high fructose corn syrup by the truck loads and some how don't keel over dead from it. I would never drink martinis and smoke while pregnant, but millions of mothers did in the middle 20th century and their babies turned out fine. We are incredible, hardy creatures.

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Aren't the words awesome? I think we're finally at what I'd consider a "fun age." Marco Polo sounds like a hoot.

Thanks for warning me away from that book, too. it sounds interesting, but I do NOT need any more guilt on the subject. We'll see how this round turns out, but I STILL sometimes tear up thinking about how awful last time was.

I think you'd be down with the info, but seriously. There's just something bitter and judgmental in her tone - even when she's trying to be sympathetic to women who had problems with BF.

Lately, I've been wondering if the rise in women with problems breastfeeding is due to something in our environment - like some kind of pollutant in food or water or our homes. Just an idea. Because it doesn't make much sense that the numbers of women with medical reasons keep rising.

Well, hey. What do you know? I pick up the book and in the very next section she addresses this, in the strangest way. She starts out by saying that she the facts she presents may be 'painful' or 'enraging' to mothers who haven't breastfed, but to not speak the truth is 'patronising' to women. I can see that, and do agree, but as Adam is fond of saying, "It's not what you say, it's how you say it." But then the very next sentence says that trying not to make mother's feel guilty is a 'cop-out'. Ouch. But then the paragraph later ends with "No woman need feel guilty for 'failing' to breastfeed, though she has the right to feel angry or sad for being denied support and information when she needed it." As if emotions are that rational!

This book makes me very conflicted. I agree with a lot of the information - but again, I just don't like her tone.

I'm curious - does she have good hard evidence that there has been an increase in the rate of mother-baby pairs with problems breastfeeding? I'd be willing to bet that in the past when there were problems, many more babies died. For example, my kid would have died for sure if he had been born before the 1940s (when the operation that saved his life was first performed), so you would never have observed our struggle to breastfeed.

The book is footnoted like mad. But the assertions of mother-baby breastfeeding issues are my own assertions and no, I have no hard evidence for it.

But she does talk about how certain cultures deal with various issues. She mentions preemie babies a little bit (I'm only half way through, so maybe there's more to come?) and hasn't gotten to special needs at all yet.

In general, the history of medical practice for 'non-standard' babies has been horrific.

You might find the first couple of sections of the following interesting (and certainly provocative):

http://people.bu.edu/olivetti/papers/submitted_albanesiolivetti_03262009.pdf

I have been marveling at how B is made out of me. She keeps growing and thriving with nourishment that comes only from my body. Amazing!

Yay words!

Yes, the human body is amazing!!! We can make babies and nourish them after they are born. That is some pretty powerful stuff.

Go Bennett! Go Boobies!

yes, formula = nasty shit. who would feed that to their child? & certainly never by choice!

;)

My friend S would, because she is the main breadwinner and had to go back to work after 6 weeks and the pump couldn't keep up.

My gay friends M and B would, because neither of them has boobs.

I would, because I have insufficient glandular tissue and can only make 2 oz per day. Believe me, I tried every trick you can think of AND will try again in a few weeks when #3 arrives--but that "nasty shit" will also be necessary unless I get a free, live-in wet nurse.

I know it's not ideal, but THANK GOD formula exists.

I was being extremely sarcastic. My daughter was 100% formula fed - by choice. My son will also be.

Sorry, it's easy for me to get defensive.

Yup. I feel about c-sections like I feel about formula: I hate the 'industry' that promotes both and I do think that natural birth and breast milk are best, but I am very grateful that both sections and formula exist.

Honestly.... I don't know. ;)

But the book is also very very critical of the hospital-formula industry pact that undermines otherwise healthy breastfeeding, and the way that natural disasters and women in the third world are undermined and actively damaged by uninformed aid agencies. So it's not entirely about the formula itself.

His empathy is also expanding. He gets sad when others do, he was concerned for Elliott Cat because Schmell has a bad sore, and he's running around giving hugs.

That's so cute! :)

It's nice to have a relatively bright child, but nothing makes me feel a like 'good' parent more than seeing my child develop empathy. This warms the deepest cockles of heart.

Edited 2010-02-18 16:36 (UTC)

I can totally understand that. Would be one of the important things I would look for and empower in my child as well. :)

Once the words really get going, the word 'explode' doesn't really capture it. I am amazed daily.

I have no interest in feeling like shit - so when (and if, although really, I'm feeling when more than if) I go for baby #2, I'll skip past this book, and will instead be looking for some resources that can help me reconcile the traumatic experiences I had with BFing, and to help me figure how I could make it work for me.

And WORD on the human body being amazing. It's too bad that most of us (well, at least me, anyway) don't do enough to honour it.

The book is excellent (now that I'm further in) on putting breastfeeding in an historical context. Her history chapters are great, actually. But when she talks about women and modern society, there's a certain distasteful snark that's there. Definitely skip it. I'm sure there are other sources that would be better for you and the several other ladies on my flist that struggled to BF.

It's a good reality check for me to remember that even though I am all pro-breastfeeding and am in the single digit percentages for continuing to BF Bennett at this 'late' age (which, as it turns out, is totally well within the norm for most non-western societies!), he was never 100% exclusively breast milk fed. So I think figuring out what works is crucial. And every bit of breast milk is better than none.