Ooh, I have so much I want to say about this! You are talking about a lot of the AP stuff I think about. Yes, yes, on the supermom thing, and on the biologizing difference ("women are naturally attuned to their babies! all women! it's genetic!" oh, are they bad at physics too? is that genetic?) And there's a lot AP stuff that is really intensely blaming, a lot of the problems I have with very intense breastfeeding and natural birth advocates are repeated there.
I do think that there is some biological basis in some of what AP covers (yes, breastfeeding is best, and yes, babies are happier if you hold them a lot vs. if you never hold them at all). It's the intensity of UR DOING IT WRONG that is very off-putting and this sanctification of the mother's "natural instincts". What if she has hardcore postpartum depression, and feels zero interest in her baby? What if she has a lot of problems with breastfeeding? Is she still a mother? Is she still a woman? They're problematic questions that AP doesn't properly address. I could go on...but I should go to bed.
Also, my main suggestion for breastfeeding success: lactation consultant, early and often. If they don't give one in the hospital, request one, and if there are ANY problems post-hospital, find a private one ASAP. The plumbing is functional 95% of the time, but you wouldn't know it from the number of people who succeed because support tends to be terrible, and people who do get help only get it after becoming thoroughly miserable because they think it's "supposed" to hurt (kind of like only going to the doctor after walking on a broken leg for a week - it makes everything more complicated). And I am totally backing you up that if I am going to cart my DDDs around for the rest of my life, at some point I plan to make them WORK! ;-)
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I do think that there is some biological basis in some of what AP covers (yes, breastfeeding is best, and yes, babies are happier if you hold them a lot vs. if you never hold them at all). It's the intensity of UR DOING IT WRONG that is very off-putting and this sanctification of the mother's "natural instincts". What if she has hardcore postpartum depression, and feels zero interest in her baby? What if she has a lot of problems with breastfeeding? Is she still a mother? Is she still a woman? They're problematic questions that AP doesn't properly address. I could go on...but I should go to bed.
Also, my main suggestion for breastfeeding success: lactation consultant, early and often. If they don't give one in the hospital, request one, and if there are ANY problems post-hospital, find a private one ASAP. The plumbing is functional 95% of the time, but you wouldn't know it from the number of people who succeed because support tends to be terrible, and people who do get help only get it after becoming thoroughly miserable because they think it's "supposed" to hurt (kind of like only going to the doctor after walking on a broken leg for a week - it makes everything more complicated). And I am totally backing you up that if I am going to cart my DDDs around for the rest of my life, at some point I plan to make them WORK! ;-)