Hi! I am a nutritional anthropologist and work in public health in Kentucky. I don't have any references at hand, but (I suspect Kathy Dettwyler might post similar info to you, too) there will be a lot of CULTURAL issues that will play into this. -- New immigrants to the U.S. perceive ABM as the 'modern' and 'U.S' thing to do. -- WIC provides ABM free, so cost is not necessarily a difficulty for low-income moms (especially since they can often get the extra through Food Stamps or food banks). -- In some areas, use of ABM is a status symbol, especially if only poor people breastfeed (I had a friend tell me a story of counseling a young mother with her father present about breastfeeding. The father said,[sic] "we aren't poor -- we can afford to buy you formula. You don't have to breastfeed." -- Of course, people self-select onto WIC in order to get free ABM -- they do recognize the cost, but WIC makes it less an issue. Bravo that your folks are interested in a paper. How about having them talk to the moms themselves? Then, it's primary research and local. Furthermore, it could be used for World Breastfeeding Week activities (since WBW 1998 theme is "Breastfeeding: The Best Investment." I've been doing a lot of work on this, and there are a lot of other issues in infant feeding decisions besides 'cost.' In addition, breastfeeding can be seen as having 'cost': "I can't go back to work and breastfeed" (loss of income); "I have to buy an expensive breastpump/bf clothes" (outlay costs). It seems to me that people with a little too much money to qualify for WIC (typically working poor) are more concerned with costs because they have less of a safety net. As health educators, we don't do enough talking about costs, either (direct cost of feeding, but also indirect costs of infant/maternal health care and associated costs for transportation, medicines, etc.). Of course, folks also spend money on a lot of 'wants' -- how much stupid plastic stuff will folks buy for their kids because they are 'necessities' for child rearing? Ah, money makes the world go around! --Doraine Bailey, MA Breastfeeding Support Services Lexington-Fayette County (KY) Health Dept. ILCA WBW Coordinator ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com