Looking for Breastfeeding Moms, Part Two

Published April 17, 2009 @ 03:36AM PT

I know what helped me to breastfeed. I know what encouraged me to keep going (my awesome colleagues at my job, my supportive husband, my best friend, the convenience of being able to feed the baby anywhere.) And I know what discouraged me (strangers glaring at me, one nasty woman in an Iowa parking lot, sheer exhaustion). But those are American factors. I don't know anywhere near enough about what it's like for women in other cultures.

And here's the other thing; we don't just need to learn about how women in other cultures nurse so that we can help them. We need to know so that they can help us. It took an Uzbek woman to help me figure out breastfeeding. A woman who had spent her life seeing other women nurse, and then two and a half years nursing her own child. No one knows more about the reality of breastfeeding than a woman who has nursed. I'd like to capture than knowledge, and share it.

In the United States, a woman may never see anyone breastfeed before she has to nurse her own baby. We've lost our collective knowledge. Luckily, the whole world hasn't lost that, just parts of the world. We've got a lot to learn from each other.

I'd like to do my part to support that learning; I am going to start doing interviews here on this blog with mothers outside the US who have breastfed. If you are such a mother and would like to be interviewed, email me. Please send the link to this post to anyone who you think would like to tell their story. I don't think anyone has started a project like this before, in such a major and public way. We have a chance to do something really amazing. Help me make it come true.

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Comments (1)

I just wanted to say that I really appreciate this initiative. I think it is a much needed discussion that will be beneficial for all parties. I look forward to hearing stories from women around the world!

Posted by Miriam Hartmann on 04/17/2009 @ 08:28AM PT
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Author

Alanna Shaikh has spent the last ten years immersed in global health; she has worked for NGOs, companies, universities, and the US government on projects that ranged from preventing antibacterial resistance to improving maternal and child health.