Classic Klaus Brings Eloquence to Journal

As we begin the fifth year of the journal, we are establishing another milestone in its development. We will have six issues a year from now on instead of four. This unprecedented move is based on the receipt of many more manuscripts, many more quality manuscripts than we can accommodate in just four issues. An examination of our reading impact displays an increase in readers and a soaring number of hits to our electronic “publications.” The field of breastfeeding medicine has been on the march attracting the interest not just of the original zealots but also other scientists, educators, physicians, employers, and insurance companies. Evidence-based information is fundamental to changing how the world thinks about breastfeeding. It is essential to getting the attention of the doubters and urgent in getting the agnostic nutrition scientists on board.

In this issue we proudly publish as “Maternity Care Re-Evaluated” an assay based on the Fourth Annual Founder's Lecture, “A Sensitive Period for Mother and Baby,” given by Marshall Klaus, M.D., during the 14^th annual international meeting of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine held in Williamsburg, VA, November 5–8, 2009. Dr. Klaus is an internationally renowned neonatologist and is currently Professor of Pediatrics at University of California, San Francisco. The first 8 years of his research career he worked on neonatal pulmonary physiology and co-authored the first textbook of neonatology. We all know him best, however, for his remarkable research on mother–infant interaction at Rainbow Children's Hospital at Case Western Reserve (Cleveland, OH), which resulted in the revolutionary changes in newborn and premature nurseries based on these observations that were quickly dubbed “bonding.” It gave neonatologists the ammunition they needed to banish the old tenets of newborn care promoted by nursing administrations that forbade parental involvement with their newborns.

Dr. Klaus's work with pregnant women included the evolution of the doula as a support person during labor and delivery. It is this concept that he described in his eloquent discussion of maternity care and its impact on the birth process and the ultimate success of breastfeeding. He describes mother's milk not as an excretion but “a response to a stimulus, and the stimulus is the sight and smell and feel of her baby”—the sound of the baby's cry that indicates a need. “It is all one thing,” he says, “the mother's care of her baby, and the periodic feeling that develops as if it were a means of communication between the two—a song without words.” Dr. Klaus reminds us that this is a sensitive time that impacts the lifetime relationship of mother and child and the ultimate success of breastfeeding.

Dr. Phyllis Klaus, who has been a partner in the research and in the life of Dr. Marshall Klaus, is co-author of the article. Her own individual work has been on the impact of abuse on mothering and lactation. Her article, “The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Childbearing and Breastfeeding: The Role of Maternity Caregivers,” will appear in a future issue.

This provocative article is just a sample of the generous spread in this issue that launches the 2010 publication year. Six issues will provide more space for your scientific work and allow us to shorten the time from submission to publication time.