It isn’t fair.
In the US, healthcare professionals are vehement about the use of infant care seats and about quitting smoking tobacco. They are becoming more and more vehement about ‘safe sleeping’ practices, i.e, no bed-sharing. They are clear and strong in these public health messages with no fear of any backlash.
The public does not accuse them of being “fanatics” or say, “oh those crazy people”. In the hospital, mothers and families do not turn a deaf ear when healthcare staff make those recommendations.
Breastfeeding is as life-saving and health-promoting as using car seats and quitting tobacco. Yet breastfeeding workers are slandered (i.e., called “nipple nazis” or some other pejorative), Â sometimes viewed with disdain by the public, and often marginalized in the health care system. I’ve had new mothers refused to see me, the lactation consultant, when I wanted to spend time with them in the postpartum ward. I know it wasn’t personal, as they hadn’t met me; they were reacting to the professional name and topic.
I asked my husband about this, and his idea was that breastfeeding is a women’s issue and as such, does not receive the respect it is due.
What do you think?
