I'd like to add something to the discussion about Dr.
Greene by relating some of my own experiences &
thoughts on the matter.  I became interested in
breastfeeding science around 1990.  I had already been
a maternal/child nurse for 5 years by that time &
figured I knew the basics. (ha-ha!) I happened to do a
CEU home study project because my unit manager wanted
several of us to try it out & evaluate it for use as
staff education.  Boy, were my eyes opened!  I felt
horrible about how little I knew about lactation in
truth and guilty about how much bad advice I'd given
mothers over the years.  It spurred me on to further
study & new experiences until I decided to go & sit
for the IBCLC exam in 1993.  If my license had been
yanked for being "in the formula camp" for those early
years alot of families would have missed out on what I
have learned over the years since that first home
study course.  My interest in breastfeeding also
helped me with the infants I cared for in the NICU
that were formula-fed to have a better experience by
learning more about positioning, pacing feeds &
identifying reasons by "Johnny can't suck".

Do I want physicians involved in breastmilk substitute
development?  Yes, for those families where it must be
used I would like qualified medical professionals
involved in the development to make it the best it can
possibly be.  I *would* like to have donor milk more
readily available & acceptable.  I am also in favor of
artificial breastmilk (ABM) requiring a prescription.
However, health professionals should not be letting
their offices & media they handout be used to promote
ABM & I wish there was more refusal of the "free
meals" & other various goodies pharmecuetical &
medical companies use to promote their products--that
is different from medical/health professionals being
involved in product development. (I loved my old
allergist's office because he absolutely refused to
have any pens, sticky-notes, tissue boxes, etc., in
the office if it had advertising on it.)  If a
healthcare professional is upfront with me about their
connection to a corporate entity & it is ethical, I
have no problem with listening to their educational
presentation or receiving care from them.

We're all at different stages in this journey.  If
someone had used my lack of knowledge to punish or
insult me, I would have turned them off.  Dr. Greene
has shown he is willing to have a discussion about
this issue & grow.  I've also been blessed to work
with other staff members who have also switched from
denigrating breastfeeding to being supportive--two of
them had much more nursing experience than I did when
they changed positions and a couple of physicians who
came around some once their children were born.

Sincerely,
Linda A. Madsen, BS, CPN, IBCLC

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/

             ***********************************************

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(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html