European
Conference 2000
By Carol Hunter
Rhein-Main Area, Germany
From: NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 18 No. 3, May-June 2001, p. 112-113
In 1999, our LLL Group won
the prize for the Most Creative World Walk for Breastfeeding outside
the US. Our tour of the previously walled city of Zwingenberg was a
nice opportunity to think of the mothers who had lived there through
the centuries, and who had breastfed and carried their babies through
the streets and up and down the long granite staircases. Our prize was
a paid registration for the Second European LLLI Conference in Nottingham,
England, during World Breastfeeding Week in August 2000.
I was the lucky one chosen
to use the registration to the conference, and I brought along my younger
daughter, Rachel. This was my first big conference, so it was particularly
exciting for me. One of the high points came on the opening day when
I approached Marian Tompson, one of the Founders of LLL, and asked her
to sign my copy of THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING (Available from
LLLI 144-12, $14.95). I'm not one whose knees go weak in the presence
of famous persons, but this was something completely different. In the
presence of this kind-hearted woman, I found myself feeling quite shy.
Mrs. Tompson was pleased to learn of my Walk prize, and she asked how
LLL had come into my life. What a wonderful icebreaker! She signed my
book, and I now have a very memento of my trip to Nottingham.
I met many new people, and
one woman invited us to dinner in her apartment one evening. Four children
and several other Leaders from many different countries were also present.
There was not one word said that evening that was understood by everyone
in the room. But our commitment to breastfeeding support crossed all
cultural lines, and I was glad to be part of this group.
The conference sessions were
very interesting. The session I came away raving most enthusiastically
about was given by Dr. Carlos Gonzáles, a Spanish pediatrician and member
of the LLLI Health Advisory Council. Dr. Gonzáles and his family were
staying in the apartment beneath the one Rachel and I were in at the
University of Nottingham, so we often rode the bus together to the conference
center. It wasn't long before my little extrovert was engaging him in
face-making wars on the bus and on the street when we met. Dr. Gonzáles'
book is entitled Mi Niño No Me Come (My Child Won't Eat), and
his session was named after the book. One of my children was very interested
in solids and another was very uninterested, so I wanted to attend this
session for my own information. I came away feeling strongly confirmed
in the decisions we had made regarding Rachel's refusal of solids until
13 months; In truth, the majority of her nutrition came from the breast
until about age two and a half.
According to Dr. Gonzáles,
many toddlers resist eating solid foods, and this is more prevalent
among breastfed children. Also, many stop eating solids around one year
of age. He discussed caloric needs of babies and toddlers and compared
some other foods to human milk, based on calorie content. For instance,
100 grams of human milk has about 70 calories. Boiled potato came the
closest with 65 calories in 100 grams, apple has 52 calories, and the
favorite first food of the German mothers I have known, carrot, has
only 27 calories per 100 grams. Dr. Gonzáles says babies have very small
stomachs, and that they don't like low-calorie foods. My pen was flying
as he made bold statements that countered all of the criticism I had
received for fully breastfeeding for so long, then for continuing to
breastfeed for so long.
Dr. Gonzáles gave some very
interesting commentary on the history of advice on feeding babies. At
the beginning of the 20th century, professionals advised that solids
should not be offered until after 12 months. In 1907 every baby (in
Spain) was breastfed. Rich families may have had wet nurses. During
the period from 1928 to 1936, women had more opportunities opened to
them, so there were fewer wet nurses. Wealthy families began bottle-feeding.
Babies began dying. Orphanages had staff wet nurses up to this period,
and once they were no longer available, over 90 percent of the babies
in the orphanages died. In order to avoid tuberculosis, the milk given
to the babies was first boiled. This destroyed the vitamin C, and rickets,
scurvy, and anemia became rampant.
An important point Dr. Gonzáles
made was that you cannot diagnose undernourishment strictly by weight.
To a mother who was upset because her baby was in only the 7th percentile
on the doctor's growth chart, he said this meant that there were 23,000
other babies (in Spain) who weighed less than her baby did. As the mother
of a child who refused solids, I couldn't help turning to my neighbor
and saying, 'That really puts it into perspective." The growth charts
are different in different countries, as well, and Dr. Gonzáles pointed
out that only normal babies are used to calculate the growth charts,
so even babies in the first or second percentage are normal babies.
After this, Dr. Gonzáles
made a statement that I don't believe was in his notes. On the subject
of "normal babies" he said, "Only breastfed babies are normal babies."
I started clapping loudly and everyone in the room joined me. He spoke
a little while longer after this, but this is the last thing I wrote
in my notes on this session. I floated out from this presentation, feeling
confirmed as a mother and as an LLL Leader. I had the opportunity on
our bus rides to tell Dr. Gonzáles how much I had appreciated his talk
and what it had meant to me. At this time his book is only available
in Spanish. If it ever becomes available in English or German, I will
be the first in line.
Thank you, La Leche League
International, for choosing my group for the Walk Prize. Attending the
conference was a great honor.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:30:37 UTC 2007.
