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Parenting Site of the Month
November 2001 |
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"Thoughts on Breastfeeding" offers an exceptional
collection of informative essays by anthropologist, researcher
and author Dr. Kathy Dettwyler. Because of Dr. Dettwyler's
academic background, her writing is a valuable resource for
attachment parents who are being challenged by friends and
relatives. Engagingly written, with numerous references to
research findings, the essays cover not only breastfeeding
issues and concerns, but also many other topics of critical
importance to the healthy development and nurturing of children.
Dr. Dettwyler is the author of two excellent books,
Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives and Dancing Skeletons.
Excerpt from "Sleeping Through the Night"
"...being a new parent is a difficult time of
adjustment, especially when our culture has taught us that
children should have certain needs/wants/behaviors, and then
our children don't seem to fit that mold... Sometimes, some
children can be encouraged/convinced/forced to fit the mold of
cultural expectations, and they do fine. Other times, though
they do eventually fit the mold, it is at the expense of their
sense of who they are, their self-confidence, their view of
the world as a safe and trusting place, sometimes even, at the
expense of their health or life. Probably nowhere do cultural
expectations and the reality of children's needs conflict more
than in the two areas of breast- feeding frequency and
sleeping behaviors..."
The well-organized site also includes an extensive list of
supporting references, a bibliography of cross-cultural
breastfeeding references, and a page of WHO breastfeeding
definitions, as well as lists of related links and carefully
selected books.
This is surely one of the most valuable writing collections
on the Internet, and we thank Dr. Dettwyler for making her
important work available.
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/dettwyler.html
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