This sounds like some of the traditions I saw, in Germany (not about 
breastfeeding) where the local people were amazed that Americans questioned 
something that had been accepted for centuries, but apparently no one knew 
when they even got started.  I wonder if telling anyone about what happens 
in other parts of the world, with adopted babies, might at least help 
encourage some people to think about the tradition of thinking that 
relactation might in some way be harmful.  We see babies who have come to 
their new mothers not only as older babies, but as children several years 
old, and see them blossom from it!  Of course, there are still cultures in 
the world where it is not even considered remarkable for a woman to 
relactate for a child she did not give birth to, and where access to 
breastfeeding is what gives the child a chance for life.  I even know of a 
Kenyan baby girl who was found abandoned at a garbage dump, found by a 
mother who took her home and nursed her, and she did very well!

There used to be a tradition, in the USA, that said that breastfeeding was 
important, and criticised any woman who refused to nurse her baby, but only 
for the first nine months.  The belief was that, when a baby turned nine 
months old, breastfeeding suddenly became harmful!  I don't know how widely 
accepted that was, but it is in some books written by an American MD in the 
1890s.

Maybe Karleen knows of something in the literature that might encourage some 
of the people you work with to question the idea that relactation can be 
harmful.
Darillyn

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