The Business of Being Born Message Board

I am a lactation consultant and another topic that relates so much to the unmedicated birth is breastfeeding.  More families are becoming more aware of the enormous benefits that breastfeeding provides to a child, but added interventions during labor can make another natural process more complicated.  I liked how the movie touched on this.  Like the driving factors of malpractice and insurance coverage can make natural birth more difficult to achieve, so too do formula companies and birth practices have a huge effect on a woman’s concept of her ability to nourish her baby.  Babies placed on the mother’s abdomen right after birth can actually find their way to the breast and begin to suckle.  Unfortunately formula companies are using hospitals to advertise by giving out diaper bags with “free” samples–”just in case” you can’t nourish your child.  You may even be given several “freebies” in the mail or at the obstetrician office! Daily I hear women say they plan to “try” to breastfeed their infant and many believe they don’t have enough milk.  Just like in childbirth, we make women feel that they can not provide all their baby needs–when in reality it is very rare for a woman not to be able to provide all the nourishment her newborn needs.  I encourage families to find out about the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.  If a hospital has this designation, it provides best practices to promote successful breastfeeding.  Of course, if the baby is born at home or with a midwife delivery in a birthing hospital–chances are–you probably won’t need a lactation consultant–it will just happen naturally–as it should! 
Kim F.