I have to agree with Deb McAllister's general approach in her reasons to 
breastfeed. I think if LC's get too "militant" in our push to encourage 
brastfeeding, we are going to turn many off and maybe do more harm than 
good in the long run for the general public. I would rather have people 
hear what I say (and maybe decide to breastfeed or continue to breastfeed 
longer than they originally planned) than get turned off by my approach 
and risk not nursing at all.

One of my home visits this morning was a follow up visit to a young woman 
who I took care of both in the hospital and as a follow up VNA referral. 
She is breastfeeding for the first time and is doing very well. As is 
often the case with many young mothers, in the hospital she insisted on 
giving the baby formula after breastfeeding because she was sure the baby 
was hungry. No amount of encouragement or teaching from me or other nurses 
was going to convince her otherwise. She told me early on that she would 
nurse more at home when her milk came in. I was glad to get the referral 
because I was hoping to follow her. I have seen her twice over the course 
of another week now and today was my second home visit. When I saw her at 
home last week, the baby was nursing very well and I went through the 
usual drill about how to watch the baby's cues, feed frequently, etc., and 
continued to encourage her because the baby was doing a great job even 
early on. Today, I went back for a follow up visit and although she told 
me that the baby is still nursing frequently and very well (I observed 
another feeding this visit also), I could see those little formula bottles 
and nipples all washed at the sink.When I questioned her about the reasons 
she felt she needed to use formula, she had no valid reasons at all. 
That's just what she is wanting to do. As usual, no amount of teaching is 
going to change her mindset. She is going to do what she wants and that's 
that.

My point is that I would rather see her nurse the way she is(because 
that's what she is going to do)for a length of time than to have her 
decide to stop altogether, because she feels she is not meeting my 
expectation. OUr patients ofetn follow our leads as we all know.

We as LC's can only do so much and if we make a big deal out of everything 
and present ourselves in a militant fashion, we're just going to turn more 
people off. 

Someone questioned my relaxed approach at the local Babies R Us, because I 
said I didn't worry too much about what they serve for food or give for 
freebees. First of all, there are no formula ads anywhere in relation to 
the breastfeeding seminar where I am and secondly, I am a GUEST in their 
store. I would rather continue to be asked back to speak (and probably 
reach a lot of people as I always do) than to offend the people running 
the store and risk losing the audience completely. Why should I get upset 
that they are handing out those sample Avent breastmilk storage 
containers? I am just happy that they would be encouraging mothers to be 
storing their milk for whan they go back to work. Isn't it better that 
they are pumping and feeding their milk than giving up those feedings and 
substituting formula?

I truly think we need to lighten up a bit and stop trying to reach 
everyone and do the best we can to support those who have any level of 
interest in or commitment to breastfeeding and/or want to learn. 
Successful mothers will spread the word far better than we will. We are a 
part of this, not the whole thing.

Betsy Riedel ENC, IBCLC

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