Hi everyone!
  I need some support today...within the last 24 hours I've
had 2 moms decide to quit nursing.  The first was the
worst...she said, "My doctor said it was okay if I didn't
breastfeed, that my baby would be just fine, and that there
really wasn't any difference."  Well, before I could stop
myself, I blurted out, "that's a lie."  Then I proceeded to
try to soften that a bit by saying that perhaps her doctor
was just uninformed about the benefits of breastfeeding.
Can you believe she said, "Is there any proof that
breastfeeding is really better?"!!!  I quoted lots of
statistics, then dropped a couple of LLLI's Breastfeeding
Fact Sheets in the mail to her.
   Today I had another mom return a pump because her
5-week-old baby was nursing every 1 1/2 hours, and she could
*only* get 4 ounces twice a day with the pump, and she's
going back to work in another week.  Yes, ladies this mom is
pumping an additional 8 ounces a day in addition to the fact
that her baby is nursing full-time!  She had so many
"reasons" why she just couldn't do it.  Was she just making
excuses, or did she really think that those were legitimate
reasons?
   How do most of you handle it when a mom tells you she's
quitting, and then proceeds to spout off a bunch of "dumb"
reasons?  I see lots of pros and cons to various approaches:
 just nodding and smiling, smiling and saying something
like, "oh, that's too bad," or actually discussing the
reasons that they are giving.  Does it really matter what we
say?  I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone's
experiences have been.
                               Thanks,  Debby Boehle, IBCLC