Re: thrush discussion

[Guest guest]

That was beautiful, as truth always is

>

> This entire discussion seems to have degenerated into a world-class cat

> fight, in my opinion. The original question seems to have been asking for

input

> on how to help a client w/reoccuring thrush. Or so I thought. The goal of

> my original reply was to openly share the fact that I was aware that

> nutrition can influence that condition. I did try to provide a reference, one

from

> LLLI, although I did not have the url handy. I know that LLLI is very careful

> about the information given in their articles, and it seemed to me that if

> references were needed, they could be located in this article.

>

> Jaye did not specifically ask for references, nor did Becky. Becky did make

> the comment, " How does your body know the difference between OJ bought at

> the store and juice you made yourself? " . Excuse me for ignoring that

> question, as I did not feel it needed answering. I never had a reference for

my

> opinion that juice, purchased at a store, was not as nutritious as juice you

> made yourself. (Thank you, , for taking the time to find a reference

> for this particular issue.) In fact, when I brought up the issue of juice, I

> was actually thinking more of vegetable juice, (such as a do-it-yourself V8),

> which I do make for my family. And by the way, we keep the pulp, so the

> veggies are not separated into components and discarded.

>

> Now, as for why I included the statement, " I'm pretty sure that I didn't

> mention anything in my original posts about thrush that could be conceived of

> as falsehoods, but if you need information on which to attack me, you can

> pick and choose from the above list " - I was attempting to share the fact that

> I realize I have a unique lifestyle. I was not actually asking to be

> attacked, as I assumed we were still discussing thrush, but was throwing it

out

> there that, Yes! I could be considered to be extreme (in what I believe is a

> good way, directly related to child rearing, breastfeeding, and occupations. I

> honestly was being sort of sarcastic, that yeah, you might criticize me for

> being so extreme in my beliefs, but that I was pretty sure I was standing

> on solid ground about saying that nutrition does effect thrush.

>

> Now, onto cultural nuances. In Texas, when someone asks " Where are you

> from? " , they actually mean (and sometimes say)- " you aren't from around here,

> are you? " Native Texans are very proud of being natives, and those 2 questions

> mean a whole lot of other things than a polite, inquisitive, I'd like to

> know more about you. And although I have lived here more than 30 years, I am

> intensely aware that I am not, and never even *could* be considered to be a

> Texan.

>

> Now, as for asking about my clientele, I also am aware that I do not have a

> super practice, and purposely limit my consults to those I can actually

> assist. I don't believe its against the law, or even immoral to refer out

those

> cases that I do not feel I can work with, considering my extreme views of

> anti-formula, and I-don't-do-exclusive-pumping. You note that I never made

> any derogatory remarks, either, about both of those subcultures.

>

> I think what really happened here, is that I pressed some rather touchy

> buttons, judging from the amount of replies to my comments. You all have my

> genuine apology if you, in any way, thought that I was saying, I don't do

> 'this', therefore, I'm better than you.

>

> Maybe it was the comment about sugar. Yes, I know that people do have

> cravings for sugar, and I also will openly state that I don't know ANYone else

> who doesn't eat sugar. Well, I also don't do alcohol. For whatever its worth,

> it took a long time to get rid of that craving, but I did beat it a long

> time ago. And yes, I am proud of myself, as alcohol and sugar were both

ruining

> my life. But I don't have a sign on my head that says I abstain, and I

> don't tell other people to do as I do. I took care of my own cravings and its

> not my place to judge others for theirs.

>

> Maybe it was the comment, " Most of what is for sale in a grocery store is

> about as nutritious for adults as formula is nutritious for babies,' which

> went right along with the comment that I don't know people who don't cook. I

> have taken great effort in my own life to develop an environment where I can

> be mostly self-sufficient in terms of food. I don't trust manufacturers to

> supply me with unadulterated food, and I don't trust restaurants, either. Its

> a lot of work to grow a garden, and preserve it for later, raise animals

> and butcher them, (if you eat meat), but I willingly trade that effort to

> know exactly what I am eating. I realize that its almost unheard of for a

> family to do this, and I realize that most everyone else does not do this. At

no

> time, did I ever insinuate that my way was the only way, as it obviously is

> not.

>

> Which brings me to the comment, that life is full of trade offs, and we

> choose what we are willing to trade for and what we are willing to give up to

> achieve that. Maybe that's the real issue here? I believe that breastmilk is

> the perfect food for my own children, and that they were entitled to it for

> as long as they needed it. I believe that formula is poison and that if I

> were unable to provide breastmilk, I would find breastmilk from a milk bank,

> or another mother. I would even use goat milk before I would ever use

> formula, and I know that goat's milk is made for baby goats, not infants.

>

> I never said that women who use formula are lacking. I never even said that

> women who feed expressed milk from a bottle are lacking. But I know and

> recognize that babies need more than milk from their mothers.

>

> I take issue with the entire culture of IBCLCs who do not share information

> on the superiority of breastmilk, the inferiority of formula, and the

> biological needs of babies with the mothers they are helping. I believe IBCLCs

> are making tradeoffs when they do not uphold the very thing that they are

> trained to do, especially when those tradeoffs are going to keep infants from

> developing to their full potential.

>

> I also am pretty wary of the entire evidence-based issue. I'm not a super

> computer and don't have references categorized for every thought I ever come

> up with. I don't understand how LCs are constantly asked for references when

> medical personnel can pretty much say whatever they want without being

> asked for a reference. I don't view breastfeeding as a medical situation, most

> of the time, but know that it can be, and that references are entirely

> appropriate, in that context. I don't know how we, as a culture, came to the

point

> of having to prove that breastmilk is superior to formula, or how the vast

> majority of children are not exclusively breastfed. I'm not a scientist,

> although I am educated in Biology, and also have years of direct experience

> observing biology. I am able, usually, to locate a reference, if I need to. I

> also do not claim to be a nutritionist, although I have learned which

> nutrients come from which foods, and how to balance them appropriately. To be

asked

> for a reference on orange juice really didn't seem terribly important to

> me, and I apologize if this means that in any way, I was not capable of being

> a good lactation consultant.

>

> You know, I'll just go ahead and admit that I don't see LCs making a very

> big dent in American culture. We're very concerned about medical background

> as a prerequisite for being capable of being an LC. We're very concerned

> about being culturally sensitive. Most of us are very concerned about job

> security. We don't seem to be making much headway on exclusive breastfeeding

for

> an appropriate amount of time. The government puts more money into buying

> formula than it does into supporting breastfeeding.

>

> Here in the country, I mostly concerned with helping the next woman who

> needs help. I know that my son will insist that his children are breastfed, my

> grandchildren were all exclusively breastfed, and I've made my contribution

> to my own gene pool. I'm not able to do much else than help the next woman

> who reaches out to me. I've pretty much given up on changing the world, or

> being able to afford to hire a live-in chef. I don't care to discuss how much

> money I make. But at least I make an honest effort to share what I can with

> the women who ask me for help. I don't post often, and don't know why I

> bothered to go on and on with this particular post. I thought I was

contributing

> some information about nutrition and thrush that hadn't been brought up

> yet.

>

> I'm not sure why I even tried, at this point. I promise to stop clogging

> the list. Now.

>

> In closing, I want to share a remark that my son uses frequently, and one I

> don't agree with, but it will probably resonate here. When I tell him that

> he needs to eat 'good' food, he tells me that he defines good food as food

> that tastes good.

>

> Niki Konchar

>

>

> </HTML>

>