Dear Friends:
    Alcohol and recreational drugs and sex are topics  that bring medically 
trained people's values and beliefs and judgements into the  mix when making 
recommendations to parents. 
    I have heard a physician quoted as saying that no  mother should 
breastfeed because every mother who has gotten pregnant has had  unprotected sex, a 
risk for HIV transmission. I have heard of a clinic where a  woman was 
discouraged from breastfeeding if she had had more than 2 sexual  partners. I have seen 
articles where physicians say that every baby should be  brought into this 
world via cesarean section, to avoid risks.
    Alcohol is a hot topic. Dr. Ruth Lawrence is quoted  saying that we 
shouldn't be prescribing nor proscribing alcohol during  breastfeeding. Dr. Ruth 
Little was unable to replicate her findings in a study  of 18-month old infants 
whose mothers consumed moderate alcohol.
    I see this change in AAP policy as reflecting  feelings, beliefs and 
social pressure, rather than evidence.
    warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct  Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human  Lactation
Support the WHO Code and the Mother-Friendly Childbirth  Initiative

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