Confidence vs. Technique

Coach Smith

There are arguments about whether "promotion" or "support" is more important. This is not an either-or choice - both are important. Let's look at choosing, participating and succeeding in breastfeeding in another framework: sports. confidence (motivation) gets the players on the field. Technique scores goals; poor technique doesn't and may also cause injury. Without confidence, you have no opportunity to try the techniques in the first place. If you're not on the field, you can't win. Motivation gives us a chance to try and improve technique. Both are needed.

However, "the worst enemy of good technique is good luck." Sometimes we get lucky and can't explain success in terms of good technique. Success DESPITE poor technique sometimes happens - luckily for many of us! The "system" was built to succeed most of the time.

Good technique is repeatable and stacks the decks in your favor. The more we know about good technique and eliminating errors, the more the odds of success increase. Since there are many determinants of all aspects of breastfeeding, the more parts that are "right," the better the chances of success. Some mom-baby pairs need all 385 parts (pick a number) to have success; others only need 6 things right and it works.

But, we don't know in advance how many right elements will be needed for an individual mom-baby pair, so we try to get everything right for everyone and do the best we can for when a situation isn't optimum.