Unfortunately, a lot of doctors, especially those early in their
training, don't think they have anything to learn from non-physicians.
In our residency, we see this a lot with our first years who learn about
birth from CNM's.  It's going better, but I understand there was a lot of
conflict in the early years of the program.  I don't want to discourage
anyone (LC's, RN's, etc.)from trying to teach med students and doctors about
breastfeeding, just pointing out a sad fact.  You may find you increase
your credibility by finding a physician to assist you or at least
introduce you and tell them how important it is that they learn how to be
supportive of breastfeeding.

I spend a lot of time on my soapbox, and I think it helps some, but
there's always farther to go.  I gave a talk this past week on pain
management in labor (started and ended with psychoprophylaxis and
doula's, so I hope that's the part they remember--most questions of
course were about narcotics and epidurals). I included info about the
effects on breastfeeding, complete with references, and I sure got some
surprised looks.  I think they listened, though.  I'm preparing my annual
talk on breastfeeding and can't decided whether to do my "why I am a
breastfeeding fanatic and why you should be one too" talk, or my "how to
help moms bf (practical stuff)" talk.  I'm afraid if I try to combine them
into one in just one hour, I won't say much of anything useful...

By the way, thanks for the input on the mom with the persistent lump.
I've passed it on to my colleague.  She says the mom plans to wean soon
anyway "so she can go back to work". :(  I'll let you know if I get any
more info.

--
Anne Montgomery, M.D.
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Olympia, WA