Someone posted to Lactnet and a few of my AP lists awhile back about the
MOBI list -- I forget what the acronym means (Mothers Overcoming BF
Issues?), but it was created to support women who had unsucessful
breastfeeding experiences. I joined it because I failed at BFing my son
before successfully BFing my daughter and still have some lingering guilt.
After two days reading intros I realized the list was *not* for me. I had
recommended it to a friend who hadn't succeeded at nursing her daughter.
She recently sent me this, which she gave me permission to post here. I
wanted to pass it on since MOBI was recommended here.

She wrote:

> I have lurked there for either two or three weeks and I decided to
> unsubscribe for several reasons:
>
>  1). The person maintaining the list has a very poor sense of self and it
> concerns me in that I believe (and this is just MHO) that a person who
> develops a list with a topic such as MOBI should definitely be in a
strong
> place to support newbies who aren't. This person has *NOT* worked through
> her issues with breastfeeding.
>
> 2). From what I've read so far there are a lot of women on the list who
are
> okay with using formula and really believe that there wasn't anything
more
> they could have done to succeed at breastfeeding-this concerns me
because,
> like myself, a BFing newbie might be convinced that something was really
> wrong with her body and therefore be more likely to stop BFing for lack
of
> information.
>
> 3). So far I haven't seen support for women struggling with
breastfeeding.
> Let me clarify: A new mother is desperately trying to breastfeed and it
> isn't going well-she subsequently posts to MOBI. The responses tend to be
> on the lines of "Oh, you think *YOU* have it bad, let me tell you about
> me..." BTDT experience can be helpful if it includes information to try
and
> help the other mother succeed at BFing, but to just try and top someone
> else's "war story" is of no tangible help to a mother struggling to
> establish breastfeeding. Unfortunately there seems to be a "pity party"
> mode going on right now.
>
> 4). The maintainer of the list has found her "bible" in "Bottlefeeding
> Without Guilt." Several others have agreed. (as I run screaming
> "AHHHHHHHHH!" out the MOBI door!).
>
> 5). The list is not focused on tangible ways to increase success at
> breastfeeding. In fact, IMO, it might increase the chance at repeat
failure
> for someone who is not very knowledgeable of or new at breastfeeding.
There
> were a few women who appeared, through their writing, to be very
> knowledgeable and may have been a great asset to the group; however, they
> have all left the list.
>
> I thought that I would give you this feedback because I think the premise
> of the list is really great! Unfortunately it's in a state of infancy
that
> needs to develop quite a bit before it could become a truly supportive
> source for a struggling BFing Mom. I believe that you got the lead on
this
> list from Lactnet, am I correct? I'm not sure this is the type of list,
at
> this point, that the professionals on Lactnet would feel comfortable
> referring people to. I find sah-ap, pgap and Lactnet (through you of
> course) to be much more reliable and supportive with a lot more tangible
> advice on increasing BFing. If you want to post any or all of this info
to
> Lactnet, please feel free. If not, that's fine too. I just thought I'd
let
> you know.

Janice, mom of Zack (11/30/92) and Gina (9/4/96)
[log in to unmask]
http://www.netexp.net/~bpaganin