2014年2月22日，国际母乳会厦门小组的月度聚会与“母乳之美”艺术照巡展——厦门站同时开始。这次活动中，来厦出差的Martin Thuemmel，以一名哺乳辅导的先生和曾经的两个母乳宝宝的爸爸的身份，代他的太太Averil Harrison-Thuemmel给参加聚会的妈妈们介绍了母乳会在国外的活动和发展的情况。在此也非常感谢他后续发来的文字整理！

希望藉此文让中国的妈妈们了解，世界各地的母乳妈妈们虽身处不同的文化环境，但在母乳喂养过程中遇到的问题是类似的。国际母乳会给希望母乳喂养的妈妈们关心和帮助，为妈妈更加自信的履行母职提供切实的支持。

——国际母乳会哺乳辅导LLL  Leader-Xiamen  Missy

在世界各地参加母乳会聚会经历的分享

My Experience with LLL around the world – Written by Martin Thuemmel

大家好！我的太太叫何爱惠(Averil Harrison-Thuemmel)，她是加拿大人，成为国际母乳会哺乳辅导已超过15年。她很可惜今天不能到场参加国际母乳会厦门小组的这次聚会。她让我代她向你们问好。

大家可能以为，中国妈妈和别的国家妈妈生活情况不太一样。但我下面要介绍的是爱惠前天出席柏林母乳会聚会的情况，通过这个，大家可以更好了解中国和国际情况是不是真像大家所想的那么迥然不同。

前天，11位 女士参加了柏林国际母乳会的聚会。这个小组聚会主要是为了给柏林的外籍妈妈提供母乳喂养的帮助，所以聚会使用的语言是英语。前天的聚会由三位哺乳辅导主持，她们分别来自加拿大、美国和德国。外籍妈妈们则来自澳大利亚，美国，英国，德国，希腊，叙利亚和墨西哥。9位女士带着小孩子一起参加聚会，还有两位是孕妇，将在近期生产。最小的婴儿才三周大，最大的孩子也就15个月。

其中至少有7位妈妈的丈夫或者伴侣拥有别的国籍。有几位妈妈并没有结婚，但她们和家人的生活都过得很融洽美满。应该解释的是，非婚生的孩子在德国是一个很普遍的现象。柏林约50%的孩子的爸爸妈妈没有登记结婚。不过，非婚生的孩子的权益在德国受到法律的保护。

妈妈的职业也五花八门。有的是大学在读的本科、硕士或博士， 有一位是音乐家，另一位是老师。不少人正在休产假。

有的妈妈是骑自行车来的，她们的孩子就坐在同一辆自行车上。有的是坐地铁或者公交车，但没有一个人是开车来参加聚会的。大多数的妈妈都用背巾来抱或者背孩子，这些背巾有的很时髦，有的很简单，甚至是妈妈自己做的。不少妈妈已经学会怎样在背巾里喂奶。这样她们在公共场所哺乳时就不会感觉尴尬。

举行聚会的场所是个幼儿园。所有人坐在地板上铺着的垫子上，小组的书在一张桌子上展示。母亲可以从小组借阅的书籍包括母乳喂养、开始进食固体食物、上班和母乳喂养如何协调等等。

前天聚会的主题是 “母亲角色所面临的挑战“。妈妈们谈到了她们生产的经历。尽管有的妈妈并不是自然分娩，但是母乳喂养这件事让她们以母亲的身份为傲。另外，她们提到了照顾婴儿的一些困难，比如说不少妈妈在开始时没想到母乳喂养是那么费时的事情! 她们也谈到了孩子对父母生活方式带来的影响，正面、负面的都有。她们通过这样的交流才意识到，沮丧、无力感、对孩子出生而造成的生活变化一定程度的感到焦虑，都是非常自然的情感。但是她们也发现，对宝宝的爱是她们这一辈子最深切、最正面的情感之一。

聚会的另外一个话题是: 怎样应付家人之间特别是婆媳之间关于育儿的冲突。仿佛所有人对育儿都有一个很坚定的个人立场。怎么应付和婉拒不太正确的指教几乎是所有母亲都曾经面对的难题。

上面所提到的问题，爱惠在世界各地都有遇到，她在中国的北京、美国的纽约、印度的孟买参加国际母乳会的聚会时都曾经听各地的妈妈提到过。尽管各个国家的社会文化背景不一样，但归根究底，妈妈母乳喂养的有关问题其实大同小异。国际母乳会在各地的聚会，都是通过妈妈帮助妈妈的互助方式，为希望进行母乳喂养的妈妈提供信息支持和帮助。

Jennifer Noll
Pass Christian MS USA
From NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 23 No. 3, May-June 2006, pp. 114-115.

Sometimes breastfeeding isn‘‘t about the warm fuzzies, the cuddling up, and looking into each others‘‘ eyes. Sometimes breastfeeding is about survival, about whether or not your baby is going to live to see that first birthday. That statement may seem overly dramatic to some, but to those of us who survived Hurricane Katrina, it is fact. I‘‘ll also warn people. My story will be difficult to read.

有时候母乳喂养并不仅仅是温暖的拥抱和眼神的交流。 在某些时刻，哺乳是关于生存，关系到您的孩子是否能活着看到第一个生日的到来。 这句话可能对某些人来说太过了，但是对于飓风卡特里娜的幸存者的我们，这是事实。 我也提醒人们，我的故事是很令人伤心的。

On August 27, 2005, I awoke to get my children ready to attend the World Breastfeeding Celebration in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA. As always, I watched the news as I dressed and fed my children, three-year-old Betsy, and Aisling, almost six months. What I saw frightened me. Hurricane Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico, churning her way to my Pass Christian, Mississippi home. I knew then that we would have to evacuate. Our home is in a flood zone, and although we‘‘ve never flooded, we evacuate for every hurricane that comes ashore. The storm was the main topic of conversation during the WBW event and at lunch afterward. Although we were all concerned, we had no idea how bad it would be.

在2005年8月27日，我叫醒我的孩子准备参加在密西西比州Biloxi举行的世界母乳喂养的庆祝会。 和往常一样，我边看新闻边给孩子们，三岁的Betsy和Aisling，差不多六个月，穿戴衣服和吃早饭。而我从新闻里得知飓风卡特里娜正从墨西哥湾向着我在密西西比，Pass Christian的家而来，把我给吓坏了。 我知道我们必须撤离。 我们的家在洪水区，虽然我们从来未被水淹过，但我们一旦遇到飓风登陆就会撤离。在WBW活动期间和午餐的时候，飓风成为了交谈的主要话题。 虽然我们都很担心，但我们从来没有想到过那会是那么的糟糕。

The next day, my husband and I loaded our children, a few changes of clothes, and the family photographs into the back of our van. My parents along with my sister, her husband, and their 10-month-old, evacuated with us to a relative‘‘s home over 100 miles inland. On August 29, we waited out the storm there. Even as far inland as we were, I watched as trees were blown down in the yard, and we watched news reports until the power went out. The next morning we made our slow, painful way back to Pass Christian to see what remained of our homes. The trip back was difficult. We had to take the back country roads home, as the main thoroughfares were blocked off to all but emergency vehicles. We frequently had to stop and wait for men with chainsaws to cut through the trees that were lying across the roads. During these stops, I would nurse Aisling and comfort Betsy, who was alarmed at what she was seeing from the car windows. We had to skirt fallen power lines, and as we came nearer to the coast, we had to find alternate routes because there would be a house or a pile of cars blocking the way. As we came into the subdivision where we lived, we had to drive around a bit to find a way in. The entrance was blocked by someone‘‘s home that had washed from its foundation and into the road. Our actual neighborhood did not seem to be too badly damaged. The streets were muddy and debris strewn, but most of the houses still had their roofs.

次日，我的丈夫和我把我们的孩子、一些换洗衣物和全家衣物装进了我们的小面包车里。 我的父母则与我的妹妹，妹夫和他们十个月大的孩子一起，跟着我们向100英里外的亲戚家驶去。 在8月29日，我们在那里等待飓风的到来。 既便是在远离海岸的内地，我们还是看到院子里的树被风刮倒。我们一直看着新闻直到断电。 第二天早晨，我们缓慢而痛苦的驶回Pass Christian，想看看我们的家情况如何，还有什么剩下的。 回程是困难的，因为主要公路只对急救车辆开放，我们必须走偏僻的乡间小路。我们必须常常地停车，等待人们将横倒在路上的树锯开。在等待的时候，我就喂Aislin，并安慰被车窗外的景象吓坏的Betsy。我们还要注意避开断落的电线，靠近海岸的时候，我们还必须绕路，因为经常会有倒塌的房子或汽车堆在路上。 当我们进入了我们居住的小区时，我们在周围找了好久才找到一条进去的路。 小区的入口被一栋人家的房子堵住了，这栋房子整个的从地基上给冲到了路上。 咋一看，我们家的周围似乎没有太严重的损坏，虽然路上都是泥泞和残骸，但是大多数的房子的屋顶仍然完好。

However, as we went farther into our neighborhood, we saw things that were quite alarming. A boat had settled into a driveway. Household items were on the roofs of houses. Cars rested in places I knew they should not be left. I held my breath as we pulled in our driveway. My husband‘‘s truck was three feet to the left from where he had parked it. Our front door had been blown off the house by the force of rushing water. It quickly became apparent that the water had actually gone over the top of our roof. Our ceilings had collapsed, and all we had left was the frame of our home. I was explaining to my daughter, who was still in the car, that our house was “broken” and would have to be fixed when my sister came walking up my driveway. We were both crying when I told her that it was okay, I hated the wallpaper in the bathroom anyway. “Oh,” she said, “Did you hate the bathroom, too?” We had started to laugh at the situation when I saw my neighbor, Geno, running up the street.

然而，当我们靠近时，我们还是看到了触目惊心的事： 一艘小船停在了车道上， 家里的物品倒了在屋顶上，汽车停在平时不应该停的地方。 当我们走进我们家的车道，我屏住了呼息。 我丈夫的皮卡从原先停的地方向左移了三英尺，我们家的前门被洪水给冲走了。很明显，水一直漫过了屋顶，天花板塌了，整个房子只剩下了架子。等我妹妹过来的时候，我还在给仍然待在车里的女儿解释说我们家的房子破了要修。我们两个抱头痛哭，我安慰妹妹说一切都会好起来的，“反正我正好不喜欢卫生间的墙纸，正好换了。 ” 噢， ” 她说， ” 你也不喜欢卫生间吗？” 我们开始自嘲起来，这时我看见了我的邻居， Geno，跑过了街道。

She was crying so hard that I had a difficult time understanding her, and it took a few minutes before it became clear what she was trying to say. She had returned from her job to find her husband and three-year-old son drowned in their home. We couldn‘‘t call for help. Our cell phones no longer worked. We actually had to leave Geno holding her son wrapped in a towel while we went to get her help. It was the next day when help arrived.

她失声痛哭，我很难弄明白怎么个情况。几分钟后，我才搞明白她到底在说什么:她下班后发现她丈夫和三岁的儿子在家中溺水。我们没有办法求救，因为我们的手机失灵了。Geno把她儿子裹在毛巾里，我们出去求救，但直到第二天才有救护人员到达。

On August 31, we left my parents‘‘ home, which had sustained only minor damage, and went back to our house to try to salvage some items. I left my children with my mother for the two hours that I would be gone. I actually enjoyed the air conditioning in the car. It was a respite from the 95 degree heat we had been enduring. When we got to our house, we found our 78-year-old neighbor, who had not had water or food for three days. He had survived in the second story of his home, where he had stood in five feet of water for 12 hours. We gave him what food and water we had with us and did our best to talk him into leaving his destroyed home to go to a shelter. I also had to tell the coroner which homes to check for bodies on my street, as I knew who had stayed and who had evacuated. I watched as five of my friends and neighbors were carried from their homes in body bags and placed in the back of a pickup truck. It was at that point that my husband and I decided to take our children and make the long scary trip to stay with family in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. We left with a half tank of gas and no idea where we would be able to get more. We were ultimately able to find gas in Alabama and arrived in Nashville the next day, where we stayed for 10 days until power and water service was restored.

8月31日，我们离开了我们父母那受损较轻得家，回到我们的房子想设法抢救些有用的东西。 我把2个孩子留给我的母亲照顾二个小时，我很喜欢汽车里的空调，至少我不用忍受95度的炎热天气。 当我们到家的时候，发现我们78岁的邻居已经3天3夜滴水未进了。他躲在他家的2楼，在五英尺的水里面泡了12个小时。 我们给了他随身的食物和水，并且劝说他搬离已进损毁的房子住进避难所。 我还告诉验尸官哪些房子需要去检查是否有遇难者，因为我知道谁留了下来，谁撤离了。 我看到我的5个朋友和邻居被装在运尸袋里从他们的家搬到卡车的后面，从那时起，我丈夫和我决定带着孩子们去田纳西州Nashville的家。我们开着只有半缸汽油的车出发了，我们不知道那里可以加到油。最后我们终于在亚拉巴马州加到了油，次日抵达Nashville。我们停留了10天直到水和电恢复供应。

Where might the importance of breastfeeding babies and toddlers come in at this point? It helped us survive. My exclusively breastfed baby stayed hydrated in the sweltering heat. I did not have to worry about mixing formula at a time when we could not shower or flush a toilet. Also, as we slept in a pop-up camper in the yard, my daughter‘‘s rhythmic sucking soothed me throughout the night. My three-year-old decided to nurse again for that brief time, and we were able to share that comfort. Later, my friends from La Leche League told me their stories, just as dramatic as my own. One woman even nursed two babies who were not her own, as their mothers were unable to find formula in those first days after the storm. How much better can breastfeeding get than that?

究竟母乳喂养在这个过程中有何重要性呢？首先，它帮助我们生存。我的孩子在闷热的环境里没有脱水。我不需要担心找不到水冲奶粉。晚上，我们睡在院子里的简易帐篷里，小孩的节奏性吮吸让我心情平静。在那段时间，我还决定暂时给三岁的孩子也母乳喂养，这样我们大家都可以分享那安逸的感觉。后来，我国际母乳会的朋友向我讲了他们的故事，正和我自己所经历的一样。一名妇女甚至还喂养了2个不是她自己的孩子，因为他们的母亲无法在风暴过后的第一天找到奶粉。还有什么能比母乳喂养能做得更好呢？

When we returned from Nashville and began picking up the pieces of our lives, we found that our La Leche League members from all over the country had come to our rescue. Those of us who had sustained great losses received food, clothing, shoes, medicine, toys, and even items like strollers, car seats, and cosleepers. I‘‘m grateful that I made the decision to breastfeed and join La Leche League. An already horrible situation would have been even worse otherwise. Thank you, my sisters. Thank you for your thoughts, your prayers, and your help.

我们从Nashville回来了并且重新开始了我们的生活，我们发现全国各地国际母乳会伸出了援助之手。遭受了巨大损失的我们收到了食物、衣物、鞋子、药品、玩具，甚至于婴儿推车、婴儿汽车座位和小婴儿床。我庆幸做出了母乳喂养的决定和参加了国际母乳会。 要不然情况只怕会更糟。谢谢，我的姐妹们。谢谢你们的想法、祷告和帮助。

In modern times, we have gained more knowledge about how breastfeeding works and how to avoid common difficulties, but on the other hand breastfeeding is no longer the norm in many societies, which has thrown up new obstacles. If breastfeeding isn’t the norm where you live, what can you do to help normalise it?

当今时代，我们已经了解了很多关于母乳喂养的机制、如何预防常见困难的信息，但是另一方面，母乳喂养在许多社会中不再是一种常见的现象，这给母乳喂养形成了新的障碍。如果母乳喂养在你的生活环境中并非常态，你如何做能够使之常态化呢？

China and Hong Kong in the 1940s and 1950s

Cheng Li Shuk Kam (now aged 94):

中国和香港，20世纪40年代和50年代

程李淑琴（现94岁）：

It was 1944 when my first son was born. Our family of over 20 people lived in a large house within a town in Guangdong Province. I breastfed my son immediately after he was born. Four months later, my sister-in-law had some trouble breastfeeding her third son. In those days, we believed that she didn’t have enough milk. We didn’t know about supply and demand. She asked me if I could breastfeed him, and I didn’t think it was a strange or unusual request because we were family. I simultaneously breastfed my son and my nephew for two years. My nephew moved from our village to Hong Kong at the age of two, and I continued to nurse my son for another one and a half years, until he turned three and a half.

1944年我生了第一个儿子。我们家族20多个人，住在广东省一个镇的大房子里。儿子出生后，我马上就开始给他喂奶。四个月后，我嫂子给她第三个儿子喂奶时遇到了些麻烦。那时候我们都认为她的奶少。我们不了解供需原理。当她问我能不能给她儿子喂奶时，我没有认为这是什么古怪或异常的要求，因为我们是一家人嘛。所以我同时给儿子和侄子喂了两年奶。在侄子两岁时，他们一家从我们村移居到了香港。而我继续给儿子又喂了一年半奶，直到他三岁半大。

In those days, mothers would breastfeed children for four to five years; three and a half years was considered a very short length of time to nurse a child.

那个年代，妈妈们给孩子喂四到五年的奶，三年半是被认为喂奶时间非常短的了。

Just two months after the birth of my second son, another sister-in-law of mine had her fifth daughter. She had a lot of difficulty breastfeeding and asked me if I could also nurse her daughter for her. We all believed that she was unable to breastfeed because of her age. She was over 40 and we all mistakenly thought that she wasn’t able to produce any milk. Again, I agreed to help her nurse her daughter, and I was also asked to be my niece’s godmother. I nursed her until she was two.

就在我第二个儿子出生两个月以后，另外一个嫂子的第五个女儿出生了。她喂奶也遇到很多困难，问我是否可以替她给她的女儿喂奶。我们都认为是因为她年纪大了所以无法喂奶。她已经40多岁了，我们都错误地认为她已经不会有什么奶了。又一次，我同意来帮助她喂养她的女儿，同时我被要求成为这个侄女的干妈。我给她喂奶到两岁大。

Simultaneously breastfeeding two babies was never difficult, nor did it ever feel like a burden; I was always proud to be such an integral part of their growth.

同时给两个孩子喂奶一点都不困难，也从没让我觉得有负担；能够融入他们的成长过程，我非常骄傲。

In those days, if a woman had a low milk supply, mothers would feed their infants water from which rice was boiled in, otherwise known as congee water or rice water. If the family was wealthy, mothers would feed their children canned milk diluted with water. But for most families, breastfeeding was essential to survival.

那个年代，如果女人产奶少，母亲会给孩子喂米汤。如果家庭富裕，母亲会将罐装牛奶加水稀释后喂给孩子喝。但是对于多数家庭来说，母乳是孩子生存必不可少的。

We had already moved to Hong Kong by the time my third son was born. He was breastfed for only two years because our doctor said it wasn’t good to breastfeed for too long. He said that as my child grew older, the milk that my body was producing had no nutrition left in it. This was probably because there were many new baby formulas being introduced into the market and breastfeeding was no longer the only option. Formula feeding was quickly becoming more widely accepted. I would have continued breastfeeding my son but I believed the doctor’s“expertise” and advice and weaned him at the age of two.

在第三个儿子出生时，我们家已经移居到香港。他只吃了两年母乳，因为医生说母乳喂养时间太长不好。他说随着孩子长大，母乳里就慢慢没有营养了。这可能是因为许多新的奶粉品牌涌入市场，母乳喂养不再是唯一选项。奶粉很快被大众接受了。我本可以继续喂奶，但是我错信了医生的“专业”意见，在他两岁时就断了奶。

Japan and the USA, 1960s to 1980s

RuthAnna Mather:

日本和美国，20世纪60年代至80年代

露丝•安娜•马瑟：

I grew up in Hokkaido, Japan, during a time when breastfeeding was a part of life in most of Japan, including in larger cities. Mothers nursed their children in public without embarrassment, for nourishment and for comfort. Mothers carried their babies and young children on their backs and took them wherever they went. Although hospital births and formula feeding was slowly increasing, it was not yet commonplace throughout Japan.

我出生于日本北海道，那时候母乳喂养是大多数日本人生活的一部分，包括大城市的人。母亲在公共场合喂奶无需羞怯，喂奶可以给孩子带来营养和舒适。母亲不管去哪里都背着他们的宝宝。尽管在医院分娩和奶粉喂养的现象逐渐增多，但没到非常普遍的程度。

As I became a young adult and started thinking about marriage and having children, my dream was to have at least five children and to breastfeed. When I went to college in the USA and mentioned this to my friends there, they were horrified. I was very surprised at their reaction. I found out that they had grown up at a time in the USA when breastfeeding was not a normal part of everyday life and mothers did not take their babies everywhere with them. In fact, mothers were encouraged to formula-feed by doctors, to not hold their babies too much lest they become too dependent, and to leave their babies and young children in nurseries and with babysitters so that they would not feel tied down. I realised then that I was very fortunate to have grown up in a culture where breastfeeding was the norm.

在我刚刚成年，开始考虑结婚生孩子的时候，我希望至少生五个孩子并且用母乳喂养他们。后来我去了美国上大学，把我这个想法告诉了朋友们，她们都吓到了。我对她们的反应非常惊讶。我发现在她们成长的时期中，在美国，母乳喂养已经不再是日常生活的组成部分，母亲出行也不会随时带着孩子。实际上，医生鼓励母亲用奶粉喂养孩子，并且鼓励母亲少抱孩子，否则孩子无法独立，他们也鼓励母亲把婴幼儿留在托儿所里，由保姆照顾，这样母亲们就不受约束了。所以我意识到，我能够在母乳喂养是常态的文化中成长是多么幸运。

Western countries in the 1950s

西方国家，20世纪50年代

The situation in Western countries highlights a trend which started in the USA and was soon to hit Asia.

始于美国，流行于一些西方国家的喂养潮流很快将侵袭亚洲

This was the era when formula milk became king. Huge improvements in hygiene meant that bottled milk for babies was much safer than before in economically developed countries, and parents trusted their doctors’ advice that formula was better for their babies than breastfeeding.

In 1956, a time which could be regarded as the lowest point in breastfeeding history, La Leche League was founded by seven women who saw the huge need for better breastfeeding support. One of the founders, Mary Ann Kerwin, observed:“In 1956, breastfeeding was a lost and dying art. I believe that never before in the history of the world had a resource as valuable as human milk been so widely discarded.”

这是个奶粉称王的年代。在经济发达国家，随着卫生条件的改善，奶瓶喂养对婴儿来说比以前更为安全，于是父母相信医生的建议，认为奶粉比母乳对宝宝更好。1956年，被认为母乳喂养历史中最为艰难的那一年，七位女士看到了母乳喂养的母亲们急需支持，于是成立了母乳会。其中的一位创始人，玛丽•安•科文说道：“1956年，母乳喂养是一门被遗忘、即将消失的艺术。我相信世界历史上，以前从未有过放弃母乳这种珍贵资源的情形发生。”

At that time, 80% of US mothers were using infant formula, which became a trend in developing countries as more mothers abandoned breastfeeding.

那个年代，80%的美国母亲使用奶粉喂养，并且这种潮流开始扩展到发展中国家，越来越多的母亲放弃母乳喂养。

Mongolia in the mid‐2000s

蒙古，21世纪初期

Ruth Kamnitzer:

露丝•卡姆尼泽

In Mongolia, there‘‘s an often-quoted saying that the best wrestlers are breastfed for at least six years – a serious endorsement in a country where wrestling is the national sport.

蒙古有一句俗语，最好的摔跤手至少吃了六年母乳——在这个摔跤被称为国技的国家，这句话是对母乳喂养最郑重的认可。

Raising my son during those early years in a place where attitudes to breastfeeding are so dramatically different from prevailing norms in North America opened my eyes to an entirely different vision of how it all could be. Not only do Mongolians breastfeed for a long time, they do so with more enthusiasm and less inhibition than nearly anyone else I‘‘ve met. In Mongolia, breastmilk is not just for babies, it‘‘s not only about nutrition, and it‘‘s definitely not something you need to be discreet about. It‘‘s the stuff Genghis Khan was made of.

养育儿子的最初那些年，我是在一个母乳喂养态度完全不同于北美地区的地方，在那我看到了母乳喂养的真实所在。蒙古人不仅母乳喂养时间长，而且和我看到的其他地区的人相比，他们对此充满热情，而且很少有这方面的限制。在蒙古，母乳不仅仅是喂给婴儿，也不仅仅是给孩子提供营养，显然也不是需要谨小慎微对待的事物。她是成吉思汗国的组成部分。

When I breastfed in the park, grandmothers would regale me with tales of the dozen children they had fed. When I breastfed in the back of taxis, drivers would give me the thumbs-up in the rearview mirror and assure me that my son would grow up to be a great wrestler. When I walked through the market cradling my feeding son in my arms, vendors would make a space for me at their stalls and tell him to drink up. Instead of looking away, people would lean right in and kiss my son on the cheek. If he popped off in response to the attention and left my streaming breast completely exposed, not a beat was missed. No one stared, no one looked away – they just

laughed and wiped the milk off their noses.

我在公园喂奶时，前来打趣的姥姥奶奶们会讲他们养育一大堆孩子的故事。我在出租车后座上喂奶时，司机在后视镜中翘起大拇指，还向我保证我的儿子将来会成为一个伟大的摔跤手。我怀抱在吃奶的孩子穿过集市时，卖家会在他们的货摊中给我腾出坐的地方，还对我儿子说：“好好吃完奶吧！”人们看到我喂奶时，不是转移目光，而是靠近我，在我儿子脸颊上亲亲。如果孩子离开乳房回应这些来问候的人，让我喷奶的乳房就那么露在外面，这也无关紧要。没有人盯着露出的乳房看，没有人转移目光—他们只是抹着自己沾满奶水的鼻子大笑着。

From the time my son was four months old until he was three years old, wherever I went, I heard the same thing over and over again: “Breastfeeding is the best thing for your baby, the best thing for you.” The constant approval made me feel that I was doing something important that mattered to everyone – exactly the kind of public applause every new mother needs.

那时我儿子四个月大，一直到他三岁大，不管我到哪里，一遍又一遍听到的都是：“母乳对你宝宝是最好的，对你自己也是最好。”这些不断的确认让我相信我正在做一件事关所有人的大事——这正是每个新妈妈都需要的社会认可。

（馨妈 翻译 Daisy、Missy审稿）

在经历了280天孕育生命的洗礼后，随着婴儿的第一声啼哭。母亲的身体便产生了那最初的、最香甜的乳汁，就是那一声声的啼哭轻松地唤起了妈妈心底最柔软的爱。

当怀抱起婴儿的那一刻，时间凝结了，仿佛从未有过的力量从心里迸发“宝贝，我是你的妈妈，我将用我的一切来抚育你，无论世界如何改变，我对你的爱将始终如一。”

我将领口拉低，将目光凝聚，环抱着你那柔弱的身体，轻轻地、轻轻地将乳头捏起，你的小嘴居然马上就含了上去。那一刻，是痛？是兴奋？是喜悦？还是感动？随着你鼓起的腮帮一起一落，紧闭的双眼微微地闪动，从鼻中呼出的你的体温，我知道了母乳的意义。

一切都是这样自然的发生了，可是人生哪里会如此地顺利，接下来，乳头的疼痛，孩子的脾气，乳汁需求的巨增，这突如其来的变化打破了本来安逸幸福的时光，我如何才能坚持下去？

家中的留言小白板成了我情感的加油站，“我可以，孕育了生命的我怎么能够无法哺育我的孩子？”“第12天了，好像更多了些，伟大的妈妈加油！”“宝宝今天睡的很甜，不枉费我胳膊都抽筋了。”

姥姥递来一碗又一碗美味的汤、饭，一声声嘱托，带给了我前行的力量，她成功的经验好像告诉我“你可以，因为你是母亲。”

乳头破了，好了，又破了，当那烦躁的情绪到来时，家人无条件的接纳着我，包容着我，老公一次又一次将襁褓中的你递给我，看到你轻轻皱起的眉、微微撅起的嘴，小小的手在空中挥舞寻找妈妈的怀抱，我又一次燃起了希望，看到你努力的吸吮，疼痛都不算什么了。

这时我想起了我的妈妈，想必您也是这样痛并快乐着，原来母爱的传承可以这样直接与真切！

30天就这样恍然过去，不到两个小时就要哺乳，一吃就是一个小时，在这段黑暗与光明分不清楚的日子里，家人用鼓励使我不断前行，哺乳的幸福使我不曾放弃，终于我迎来了曙光。

当孩子碰到乳头的瞬间，奶水便随之即来的畅快；当宝宝安稳满足的睡在我的身旁；当我的眼中有你，你的眼中有我。

2022年9月8日，英国女王伊丽莎白二世去世，享年96岁。当日伦敦双彩虹当空，至此女王跨越世纪的传奇一生完美落幕。

在我很小的时候，这位优雅的老太太就时常活跃在新闻联播里，她辞世的消息更是占据了所有平台的热搜榜首，几秒钟就是几百条相关评论：手握权杖70年，任命过15位首相；70年间跌宕起伏，突破重重险阻，沿袭和保全了传统的观念、礼节和仪轨，赢得了包括政敌在内无数人的尊重。

鲜为人知的是，作为母亲，女王还是皇室母乳喂养传统的开创者。

和历史上其他的王朝一样，皇室女性的重要使命是尽可能多产下继承人，确保王朝的延续。女王的第一个儿子，如今的查尔斯三世国王出生前，英国王室的传统是将新生儿交给奶妈喂养。

尤其在过去，无论皇室还是民间，婴儿的死亡率都很高。皇室的女性只能一个接一个的生孩子，保证至少有活着的下一代。

母乳喂养的避孕效果阻碍了母亲尽早怀上下一个孩子，新的皇室成员于是被交给奶妈，以便亲生母亲赶快怀上他的弟弟妹妹。

女王伊丽莎白二世打破了这一传统。当查尔斯出生时，她决定亲自母乳喂养自己的儿子。她为查尔斯哺乳了两个月，因为患病中止。而后，她亲自喂大了接下来的三个孩子，安妮公主、安德鲁王子和爱德华王子。

这一举动在当时的王室恐怕也引来不少议论，女王顶着这样的压力实现了自己最原始的母职。

这番努力也为后来者铺平了道路。戴安娜王妃以及这几天新任的威尔士王妃凯特·米德尔顿都选择了用母乳喂养这样更亲密自然的方式养育新出生的王室继承人。

在中国，许许多多母乳喂养妈妈也和睿智的女王一样，做出了育儿路上第一个智慧的选择：怀抱婴儿亲自哺乳，以亲密的爱意与独一无二的养分开启小宝宝美好的人生旅程。

纵观将近百年的人类发展，婴儿的食物发生了很多变化。奶妈的出现，各种奶制品、辅食层出不穷,看似妈妈们可以有更多的选择，实则被所谓的科学喂养裹挟着与自然、本能渐行渐远，新手妈妈往往被育儿焦虑与自我怀疑折磨着。

其实我们的孩子只需要妈妈，母乳喂养的意义已然不仅仅是物质上的满足，更多是精神乳汁的滋养。肌肤之亲耳鬓厮磨不仅是爱人间的需求，事实上婴儿对肌肤接触的需求更高。

请记得乳房的后面就是心脏，当小婴儿吸吮着能填饱肚子的乳汁，感受着从生命伊始就熟悉的跳动，就只是这样，不管周边发生什么都不能撼动TA的茁壮成长。正因如此，袋鼠式护理被公认为全世界最好的护理早产儿的方式。

历史长河漫漫，一定还有许多与母乳喂养相关的故事，欢迎评论留言，分享你知道的一切。

From Breastfeeding Today 2013 Issue 20

Julia Lehman Caldwell, N Hubbard, WI, USA

翻译|Chris

审核|Daisy、Shiuh-jane

呜哧、呜哧、呜哧

我的夏天是在一间漆黑的屋子里度过的。那里仅能容纳一个水槽，一把摇椅和一台整天呼呼作响的机器。那台机器是一个浅黄色的圆筒挂在一根三英尺长的杆子顶端。而房门外是一个已清洁消毒的、让人感觉冰冷的世界——新生儿重症监护室。

弱小的早产儿睡在透明的保温箱里，里面塞满了模拟子宫环境用的白色羊绒织物。报警器的鸣响声日夜不休，监测着各种微弱的生命征兆。

呜哧、呜哧、呜哧。在这间呼呼作响的屋子里，这台不停发出闷响的医用电动双泵吸奶器成了我忠实的伙伴，不论白天黑夜，每隔两小时吸一次奶。甚至是在睡梦中，我依然能够听到呼呼的吸奶声。

我怀孕27周的一天晚上，我正坐在分娩球上，上我的第一堂生产课，突然我感觉到一股热流涌出。在随后的短短几分钟内，我被抬上直升机送到了一家大型医院。我们的孩子提前12周降临了。

生产前，一个男人出现在我身边，手上托着一块蓝色的毛巾，解释道：“我要将您的宝宝放在这块温热的毛巾上，带他去另一个房间。”随后他走开了。差不多两小时后，他们把Wesley宝贝带进我的病房，他浑身插着管子，被固定和安全地放入了一个手推车上的小保温箱，准备进入新生儿重症监护室。

我只能通过手推车上的小窗子看看他，不能摸他。Wesley体重1磅15盎司（注：约879克），12.9英寸（注：33cm）长，只比我的手掌大一些。他的头像只小桃子那么大，表面覆盖着一层薄薄的金色绒毛。

我曾经期盼着喂养一个足月的宝宝，像普通妈妈一样表达爱意——给他喂奶、抱着他、帮他洗澡。但是这一切在一段相当长的时间内都无法实现了。Wesley不能自主调整体温和呼吸，也不能自己进食。

“早产儿需要母乳”一位儿科专家这样给我们解释道。他说早产儿不能消化配方奶，而我的母乳是为早产儿量身定制的。虽然我不能像普通妈妈那样表达爱意，但是我能够提供他人无法取代的营养食物给我的小宝宝，以满足其生存和生长需要。

Wesley出生的那天，护士把一台呼呼作响的机器推进我的房间。跟机器连在一起的还有一袋子设备——橡胶管子、塑料连接器、阀门和瓣膜以及不同型号的瓶子。她给我演示如何将这么零件与机器装配在一起，形成一个泵，模拟宝宝吸吮乳房的动作来吸奶。

早产儿的母亲往往存在没奶的风险，因为他们的宝宝吸吮力不足，不能直接亲喂，甚至连最高级的电动吸奶器都不如宝宝的嘴那样有效地吸奶，它也不能复制宝宝吃奶时释放荷尔蒙的情况。“立刻启动”，护士边鼓励我边冲那台机器比划着。

我的初乳来了，一开始只是几滴金黄的粘稠液体，又称为“液体黄金”，因为它富含养分。随着每次增加一些乳汁，乳汁分泌越来越多，很快就装满了1盎司(注：约20克)的初乳奶瓶。我亲手将奶送给住在NICU的Wesley，在那里，乳汁会通过经嘴插入他胃里的饲管喂给他。

这间狭小黑暗的房间成了我的避难所，远离那些没完没了的各种治疗、做艰难的抉择和可能出现的风险。B超监测着他的脑出血情况。超生心动仪对他心脏上的洞进行评估。呼吸管、抽血、输血、胸透……我试图把精力集中到能为他做的唯一一件事上，那就是持续走进那间狭小黑暗的房间——像一项永恒的仪式，不分昼夜——我才能为他提供一些乳汁。

在我初次能肌肤相亲地抱着Wesley前，等待两名护士摘除与他相连的那些监测仪器的管线，比如监测心脏、呼吸、氧气水平的仪器，再加上脐静脉滴注管、饲管和呼吸管。当她们终于把他抱到我怀里、包裹在我雪白的病号服里时，他只穿着尿布，小小的、粉嘟嘟的、轻飘飘的没什么份量。但是这一切已经让我感到无比震撼。

直到那时我才意识到情况是多么的紧要。我不仅仅是为他提供乳汁这么简单，我是在为一个虚弱到不能自己进食、甚至不能自主呼吸的宝宝维持母乳的供应。经受母子分离的煎熬，不能以寻常方式表达爱意，母乳成了我和他之间维系情感的生命线。当时我幻想着用早产的乳汁滋养着他，以我体内的活性抗体保护着他，于是我继续坚持不懈地走入那间狭小黑暗的房间。

两个月过去了，Wesley就这么一盎司一盎司地积攒着体重，逐渐接近6磅时，他再也不需要使用呼吸机了，并且进步到从保温箱里搬出、挪到普通的婴儿床上。我们的小沉睡宝宝开始醒过来观察四周找奶吃了。他已经准备好大吃一顿了。

我们试着母乳喂养了几星期。他的啼哭令我倍感挫败。我致电给哺乳顾问。她们对我说，继续尝试。我担心会回奶，因此尝试了所有能做的事情：喝草药、胸部按摩、用手挤奶、放松、肌肤相亲，吸奶、吸奶、不停地吸奶。她们鼓励我说，奶量通常在宝宝开始吃奶后增加。我开始反感与那台吸奶机的定期“约会”。我想自己喂孩子，并开始相信这只是众多计划外事件的其中一件而已。

恰巧在又一次母乳喂养尝试失败的时候，一个护士问我：“你试用过乳头保护罩吗？”[1]她向我展示如何使用这小小的、透明薄硅胶做的乳头保护罩。此后不一样的事情发生了。他衔住乳头，下巴开始有节奏地颤动，并不时停顿伴随深呼吸。我感觉到一股刺痛穿过我的胸部和身体。我看到他的嘴角有溢奶，顺着流入他的脖子和耳后。后来他闭上眼睛仍继续有节奏地吮吸、呼吸和吞咽。吃完后他推开乳房，张开的嘴里满是乳汁，流到下巴上。在我轻柔地为他拍嗝时，他带着竭力之后的满足与放松，在我的怀里沉沉地睡去。

那天的晚些时候，一位护士从冰箱里拿出一些我的乳汁。“你的奶太好了”她指着一瓶装有我乳汁的瓶子说道。我的美妙的乳汁啊！

在医院住了三个月后，我们把他带回家，正好是预产期之前的两周，他的体重刚好超过了6磅重。经过了几周的过渡，我们再也不用乳头保护罩了。这三个月来的每隔两小时日夜吸奶的历程，让我终于能够母乳喂养我的宝宝了，一直到他一岁大。

我的小宝宝教会我生命的意义并不是以常规的方式来表达爱，而是以不平凡、非计划的方式来表达爱，甚至当事情不在计划中时，如何表达和展现你能做的一切。如今我能以平常方式来表达爱，然而最初的三个月，日日夜夜，我的爱就是呆在那间狭小黑暗的房间，用那呼呼作响的机器生产源源不断的乳汁，提供给我那极度虚弱而无法自主进食的小宝宝。

编者注1: 不是所有的宝宝都需要使用乳头保护罩，乳头保护罩也不是解决宝宝吸吮问题的唯一方法。如果您在考虑自己和宝宝是否需要使用乳头保护罩，请咨询身边的国际母乳会的哺乳辅导或者其他母乳喂养专业人士。

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

I spent the summer in adark room, barely large enough to hold a sink, a rocking chair, and thewhooshing machine: a canary-yellow cylinder perched on a three-foot pole. Justoutside the door was a chilled, sanitized world: a neonatal intensive care unit(NICU), where tiny, premature babies slept on pods of white fleece insidemakeshift wombs—transparent boxes known as isolettes. The dinging of alarms couldbe heard day and night, monitoring delicate vital signs.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. In thewhooshing room, the muffled, repetitive suctioning of a hospital-grade electricdouble breast pump became my constant companion, every two hours, day andnight. Eventually I heard the whoosh even in my sleep.

One evening, 27 weeks into mypregnancy, I had been sitting on a birthing ball in our first labor and deliveryclass. Suddenly I felt a warm gush. Within minutes I was on a helicopter to alarge hospital. Our baby was coming 12 weeks early.

Before the delivery, a manappeared next to me, cupping a small blue towel in his hands, “I will placeyour baby in this warm towel and take him to another room,” he explained, andthen he disappeared. Almost two hours later, they brought baby Wesley into myhospital room, intubated, stabilized, and secured inside a small isolette on a cart,ready to be transported to the NICU.

I looked at him through a smallwindow in the cart, unable to touch him. Wesley weighed 1 pound and 15 unces,and was 12.9 inches long. He was not much bigger than my hands; his head wasthe size and texture of a small peach with just the thinnest layer of fuzzyblonde hair.

I had expected to nurture afull-term baby, to show my love in the usual ways—nursing, holding, bathing—butnone of that would be possible for a long time.Wesley was unable to regulatehis body temperature, breathe, or eat on his own.

“Premature babies needbreastmilk,” a neonatologist explained to us. He said premature babies have troubledigesting formula, and that my breastmilk would be custom-made for my prematurebaby. Although I couldn’t show my love in the usual ways, I could providesomething that no one else could: the nourishment that my tinybaby boy neededto survive and thrive.

The day after Wesley was born, anurse wheeled the whooshing machine into my room, along with a bag ofequipment—rubber tubing, plastic flanges, valves and membranes, bottles ofvarious sizes—and showed me how to hook all the pieces together with the machine,to create a pump that mimics a baby’s suctioning.

Mothers of premature babies areoften at risk of losing their milk supply, because their babies are not able tobreastfeed and even the highest quality electric pump cannot remove milk fromthe breast as efficiently as a baby, or replicate the release of hormones thatoccurs when a baby nurses. “Start right away,” the nurse encouraged me,gesturing toward the whooshing machine.

My milk began as a few tiny dropsof a golden, thick liquid known as colostrum, sometimes referred to as “liquidgold” for its rich nutritional properties. A few more drops each time, and soonI was filling one-ounce colostrum bottles. I hand-delivered milk to Wesley inthe NICU, where the milk was fed to him through a feeding tube inserted intohis mouth and stomach.

The small, dark room became myrefuge from endless procedures, decisions, and risks. Ultrasounds to check forbleeding in his brain. Echocardiograms to evaluate a hole in his heart. Breathingtubes. Blood draws. Blood transfusions. Chest x-rays. I tried to focus on theonly thing I felt I could do for him. I kept going into that small,dark room—anendless ritual, day and night—so I could provide a few tiny bottles of milk.

Before I held Wesley skin to skinfor the first time, I waited while two nurses untangled and redirected thecords for machines that monitored his heart, respiration, and oxygen levels,plus his umbilical IV line, feeding tube, and breathing tube. When they finallyset him on my chest, tucked inside my white hospital robe, he was tiny and pinkand naked except for his diaper, and it was the absence of weight, of anysubstantial mass, that was so shocking to me.

I hadn’t understood how seriousthe situation was until then. I wasn’t just providing breastmilk. I was maintainingmy milk supply for a baby who was not strong enough to eat or even breathe onhis own. With so much separation, unable to show my love in the usual ways,milk was my lifeline as well as his. I imagined my special preterm milk nourishinghim, my lifetime of antibodies protecting him, and I kept going into thatsmall, dark room.

Two months passed, and ounce byounce, Wesley approached six pounds, shed his breathing support, and graduatedfrom his isolette into a bassinette. Our tiny, sleepy baby began to wake, lookaround, and suck. He was ready to eat.

We tried breastfeeding for severalweeks. He would cry and I would get frustrated. I called lactation consultants.Keep trying, they said. I worried about losing my milk supply. I triedeverything. Herbs. Breast massage. Hand expression. Relaxation. Skin-to-skintime. Pumping, pumping, and more pumping. They encouraged me, saying that milk supplyoften increases on its own after the baby starts nursing. I began to resent myround-theclock appointments with the whooshing machine. I wantedto feed my baby, and I began to believe that this was just one more thing thatwouldn’t go as planned.

“Have you tried a nipple shield?”[1]a nurse asked me one day, during another failed attempt at breastfeeding. Sheshowed me how to use the shield, a small, disc-shaped object made of clear, thinsilicone. Then something different happened. He latched on. His jaw beganmoving in a rhythmic pattern, punctuated by pauses for big, deep breaths. Ifelt a tingling sensation through my chest and body. I saw milk surface aroundthe cornersof his mouth, sometimes running in small streams down hisneck and behind his ears. Eventually his eyes closed yet he continued hisrhythmic sucking, breathing, and swallowing. When he was done he pulled away,his open mouth full of milk, running down his chin. He collapsed in satisfiedexhaustion, sleeping deeply on my chest as I gently patted the burps out ofhim.

Later that day, a nurse was takingsome of my milk out of the refrigerator. “You have beautiful milk,” she said,holding a bottle of my milk and pointing to it. My beautiful milk!

After three months in thehospital, we brought home our baby boy, two weeks before his due date, weighingjust over six pounds. Within a few weeks we didn’t need the nipple shield atall. After three months of pumping every two hours, day and night, I was ableto nurse my baby and provide breastmilk for the first year of his life.

My tiny baby boy taught me that life isn’t aboutshowing your love in the usual ways. It’s about showing your love in unusualand unexpected ways. It’s about showing up and doing what you can, even whenthings don’t go as planned. Today I can show my love in the usual ways, but forthree months, day and night, love was the whooshing machine and the small, darkroom; love was protecting my milk supply for a baby who was too weak to eat onhis own.

Editor’s note[1]：Not all of the babies need to use nipple shield，and nipple shield is not the only way to solve sucking  problems. Please consult a La Leche League leader or other professional breastfeeding helpers to know if the nipple shield is suitable for your baby or not.