Hi, Debbie and Others: Over the years I have had the pleasure? (yeah, right!) of being the one, or one of the few, who have had to help a mom realize that she might not be able to achieve her goal of exclusive breastfeeding, or more correctly, being able to provide 100% breast milk for her baby. Unless a mother has had a bilateral mastectomy or the baby has such severe facial anatomical defects that it cannot physically nurse at the breast, she can NURSE her baby. This is where I like the perceived differentiation between breastfeeding (which in my mind, implies food/nutrition) and nursing (which is the warm fuzzies). I always encourage these moms to nurse their baby and work with them to develop a feeding plan that gets the baby fed. This plan may or may not include breastfeeding, depending on their situation. I have not yet discovered a negative to nursing one's baby as long as everyone involved is assured that the baby is getting the milk it needs to attain optimum growth, either thru full, partial, or no actual breastfeeding. The best examples I have encountered that have helped me form my personal philosophy on this are some adoptive moms I have worked with over the years. Some of them never saw a drop of milk, but "nursed" their babies for over a year. In talking with them about their experiences, I did not pick up on any differences in their perception of their nursing experience vs. mothers who are able to exclusively breastfeed (providing both full nutrition/emotional bonding). Is this something that those of you who either nursed adopted babies, or who have more extensive experience than me also see? Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,IBCLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html