This will be perhaps a bit scattered, but the topic just caught my eye in the brief discussion that arose from "lactation" cookies. 

Firstly, I always appreciate encouragement towards professional tone and respectful discourse, so thank you Jaye you are good to remind us of this. For myself, I did not find Eleanor's comments particularly unprofessional or harsh. I have heard much more harsh, inconsiderate and dogmatic tones on this forum on a few occasions. For the very most part, I find the dialogue quite professional and thought-provoking, but I cringe when I read some comments. Nonetheless, I have to just let them go for my own sanity (and my husband and children's as well). Being totally bound to electronic communication on Lactnet means that facial expressions, tone of voice, context of knowing the person in all circumstances is almost completely lacking. I find the online world at times overwhelming, other times incredibly helpful and yet other times detrimental when it comes to relating on a human level. And I find it particularly ironic that those who claim to be family advocates and want to serve mothers and their families could turn around and be harsh to their colleagues (I am not referring to this particular thread, Jaye and Eleanor, just so you know:)). I always have to remind myself that most of the respondents typically are responding very quickly to posts, at times as a gut reaction. Sometimes this fast turn around ends up being more harsh than perhaps we mean it to sound. I also have to remind myself that some personalities are more to the point and some don't like to bother with niceties or seem to find them a waste of time. I find this most unfortunate, and do believe it could be improved upon but realize it is how things are at this time. And please know, I am not referring to this particular thread, but others in the past.

In terms of nutrition counseling, I find it frustrating and at times even humorous when I consider the vast array of opinions on nutrition specifics. Not frustrating as a consumer myself, but as a person who often hears other friends and colleagues giving what they consider to be a gold mine of advice on the subject. I think many can agree on some very basic nutritional principles, mostly fresh, whole foods. The fact is, regardless of whether someone has a PhD in nutrition studies, takes a few college credits or CEUs, receives an online certificate, or simply just reads a lot on the subject, there are as many differing and at times opposing opinions on nutrition specifics as there are "nutritionists." So, while I do agree that nutrition should be more emphasized in many areas of health professions such as IBCLCs, I also consider that being able to come to a consenses as to *what* specifically should be taught/learned is nearly impossible. To reiterate your point, Jaye, everyone seems to have their very strong opinion on what “good” nutrition is and is not. One person thinks a certain group of foods should be consumed heavily, while another person believes those foods should never be consumed. So who decides what is to be taught/learned and then disseminated to families? I realize many people have very poor nutrition and that it hugely impacts health and the health of their families and that they would benefit from nutrition guidance. I also consider that those of us advocating for such things are doing so primarily in industrialized countries, where we don’t have widespread famine, contaminated water, etc, etc. We have the luxury of telling people to eat this and that and to not eat the other, when in many countries its just not an option. We are very blessed to even have these choices. I often ponder if a person coming from a country with extremely limited resources could listened to our debates on nutrition (I mean general debates in the news, etc, not on here) what they would think. I can imagine them being speechless and wide-eyed that we could be so dogmatic about what foods people must and must not eat. (Again, not restricting this to Lactnet, but just how the discussion goes in industrialized countries). Rabbit trail, sorry...
 
I just find most of the *very detailed nutrition “advice” to be based purely on opinions and theories and not generalizable to all mothers and babies. At times the discussion of elimination diets (or any number of nutrition topics, pick your own) has come up and when mothers say they would not want to follow a particular nutrition route because it is so restrictive, others have criticized and made this ultimate standard of “if a mom isn't willing to try the nutritional restrictions that have been outlined for her, she must not be truly willing to do what is best for her baby.” Ouch. Why must we turn eating food into a moral or character issue? That is exactly what we are doing when we call some foods “good” and others “bad.”  I think we’ve lost the big picture of what food is about. Nutrients is only ONE aspect of a larger concept of “eating food.” We acknowledge breastfeeding is so much more than being about feeding a baby, yet we turn around and try to make so many rules about eating food. How is this looking at the whole?

Nutrition is a very important subject to me, so I apologize for going on a rabbit trail.:) All of that monologue to say that I think teaching and implementing nutrition education into the profession will not be able to please the vast array of theories out there, but it should be done. 

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