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Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#51

Post by LesZedCB »

gnarbarian wrote: post #46
LesZedCB wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

indeed there was no machine-driven bombardment of (mis)information tailor made to provoke a fear/anger response

we are approaching a day when every aspect of our lives will be monitored and scrutinized for maximum social compliance and productivity. "our records indicate you have not used your cloud connected CPAP machine frequently enough. a healthy night's sleep is necessary for maximum productivity at your place of employment. you must use this machine on average 6 hours per day or the portion already paid by your insurance…

i always come back to Deleuze's Postscript on the Societies of Control

https://www.jstor.org/stable/778828

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#52

Post by sybercecurity »

abfan1127 wrote: post #6

anecdotally, my wife struggled to breastfeed our first born. The hospital lactation consultant wasn't very helpful. Ultimately, we found another who's knowledge and bedside manner was very good. I'd hypothesize the lack of generational homes leads to lack of information for new moms. Add on stress about things like jobs, careers, family expectations, and it becomes very difficult.

> "...who's knowledge and bedside manner was very good."

Had a similar experience and I came to believe part of the dad's* jobs is to act as a circuit breaker if you end up with a militant lactation consultant. Some seem to think guilt and browbeating new mothers will somehow get things to work. Then it's time to step in and suggest some one else or some other solution.

*Dad, partner, whoever. Just someone who isn't on a hormone induced emotional rollercoaster.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#53

Post by colpabar »

moeris wrote: post #33

Most of the comments here are implying that there is some environmental change which has caused breastfeeding to become harder or less efficient. The article doesn't seem to say that, though. I didn't see any implication that breastfeeding was better back in prehistory. It's possible that it's always been hard. Being in a social group large enough that there are other mothers would solve the issue, largely.

It's against the rules to imply this but most of the comments here are written by people who don't read the articles.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#54

Post by MandieD »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7
LesZedCB wrote: post #2

i was expecting to find something about society-wide chronic stress, lo and behold > And chronic stress has been found to deplete the body of the energy it needs to make milk. lets just say our profit and growth driven society is not structured to nurture humans, neither grown nor newborn.

I'm surprised we're more stressed now than humans from thousands of years ago who somehow managed to produce plenty of breast-milk. They didn't have as much safety from pillaging tribes, hungry animals, they didn't have antibiotics, anesthesia or life-saving surgeries. They didn't have access to a grocery store a short drive away, or a fire department. Can all of the advancements in human QoL above be undone by turni…

Infant mortality right before the 20th century, even in the UK and US, was staggeringly high - yes, a lot of that was childhood diseases that we now have vaccines and better sanitation against, but much of it was also “failure to thrive”. Expectant mothers not getting quite enough to eat? Nursing mothers not getting enough to eat, having to do other labor (paid and unpaid) to care for themselves and the rest of the family?

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#56

Post by klyrs »

My mom breastfed me in the 80s, but didn't produce enough milk. So, she had a wet nurse. This practice was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and probably goes back even further. That women are taught that this is a biological imperative is astonishingly ignorant of human history. Humans are not solitary by nature. We evolved as a society. It should be no surprise that we have evolved to rely upon that. And, no surprise, wet-nursing occurs in other social mammals too, even cross-species, just as we supplement with cow's milk.

That said, it's great to hear that scientists are exploring the mindbogglingly complex hormonal interactions at play. We won't change the culture, failure to breastfeed will still cause shame for this perfectly normal occurrence. It would be good for new parents to feel less stress in regards to this aspect of childrearing.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#57

Post by antognini »

positr0n wrote: post #14
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #4

I think it's almost unfathomable for us to imagine how far we are from a "traditional" homosapien life. I read a book called "Hunt, Gather, Parent" where they describe the life of multiple 'less developed' societies, and how they spent a large portion of their life interacting with babies, adolescents, older children, pregnant relations. It's a miracle people are still able to reproduce at all given our isolation fro…

I read a comment here years ago saying that in ancient times the average woman would have only a few dozen menstrual cycles in her life. Most the time between puberty and menopause you were either pregnant or breastfeeding. Does the book discuss that too?

That may have been true for agricultural societies, but it doesn't sound right for hunter gatherers (at least from my memory of an anthropology class I took). Many hunter gatherer societies have strong postpartum taboos and space children at least three years apart.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#58

Post by piyushpr134 »

roland35 wrote: post #30

Breastfeeding isn't easy! Some babies just never really get it, and if you don't start right away it's hard to produce enough breast milk.

This is an important point. BAbies need to do hard work to get milk. But when they get hooked to easy milk i.e. formula, they just won't do the hardwork knowing that nipple of bottle is just a heart shaking cry away. Parents fall for child psychology. New moms think they know better than their moms and that they are experiencing something new.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#59

Post by this_user »

tstrimple wrote: post #8
robertlagrant wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is society is profit and growth driven?

It's the nature of a capitalist society. It's right in the definition. > an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

You make it sound like there is a difference between capitalism and human nature, but there really isn't. Capitalism is merely an institutionalised expression of the latter, hence its longevity.

Humans by their very nature possess the instinct to outcompete their rivals as a result of millions of years of evolution. Anyone who was not like that, was removed from the gene pool by those who were either by taking their resources or by outright murdering them.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#60

Post by falcolas »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #4

I think it's almost unfathomable for us to imagine how far we are from a "traditional" homosapien life. I read a book called "Hunt, Gather, Parent" where they describe the life of multiple 'less developed' societies, and how they spent a large portion of their life interacting with babies, adolescents, older children, pregnant relations. It's a miracle people are still able to reproduce at all given our isolation fro…

Forget the isolation; western civilization all but requires two income earners to have a "median" life. There's remarkably little time or money to raise a child.

Median individual income: $40,000, poverty level for "replacement" families (two adults, two children): $30,000.

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