For most of History women gave birth and breastfeed their babies with the support of other women. Often these women were just family, neighbors or friends. Some communities had midwives who had shared knowledge passed down from generations. This worked well for women having normal, uncomplicated births and healthy babies. Women who had complications or babies born prematurely or with health problems often could not be helped. Then medicine changed and found ways to save lives of mothers and babies in more and more difficult situations. Modern medicine also allowed women who would never have been able to get pregnant, give birth or have a healthy baby to do so. Babies born earlier and earlier or with more serious complications were helped to survive.
Many thought if these medical advances can help mothers and babies in life-threatening situations, we can use them to make improvements that will benefit all new mothers. The balance started tipping. Procedures that were saved for emergencies were being tried routinely to help make birth “more comfortable”, quicker, more convenient. Babies were feed experimental mixtures to nourish them and make feeding “easier” for mothers and more scientific. Now here we are in 2010. More and more women are missing the opportunity to have a safe, normal, natural birth. C-section rates continue to soar, more and more babies start life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Even as science proves again and again the benefits of babies getting nothing but their mothers milk for the first six months of life, women are having more and more difficulty achieving this goal.
What can we do to change the tide. How can each woman have the best chance of a normal healthy birth and an easy breastfeeding experience? The answers lie with education and going back to our great-grandmothers model of surrounding ourselves with a community of knowledgeable, experienced women. We need to read, we need to talk to others, we need to take well researched proven classes, we need to open a dialogue with those who will assist us with our births and child care. We need to make sure our goals are in agreement, that we are open to options that may be out of the “norm”, that we choose wisely those who we may need to question or lean on throughout our pregnancy, birth and mothering.
I am shocked the number of women I talk to today who choose a health care provider when they get pregnant or maybe before, sticking with the gyn who had been performing their routine care and just leave everything up to that person or team. Many women never take a childbirth class and if they do it is often the one their delivery hospital runs, never researching the difference in the types of classes available and how they can aid in improving their chances of a natural birth. I am also astounded by the number of women who make a choice on how they are going to feed their baby based on little knowledge but gut feeling or what someone told them. Then even those who understand that breastfeeding is the ideal feeding method often figure some one at the hospital will show them what to do when they have their baby.
If you are pregnant talk to other women about how they prepared for their birth and their baby? Did it turn out the way they expected or did they wind up with unwanted interventions and giving up on breastfeeding? How about the women who succeeded in having a natural birth and a great breastfeeding experience? Was it just luck? Preparation? Those they were surrounded by? Ask these questions, find the common threads, make your plans accordingly. As women we remember the births of our children and their early years vividly for the rest of our lives. Choose the experience you want and make it happen just like you have made other goals in your life happen. Take classes, make choices in those who will assist you, read, exercise, eat well and assert what is important to you. You will be glad you did and then, you can help other women too.