Youmight try this.  Change the topic of the discussion and rewrite it as
you have for breastfeeding.  Then try on the suggestions they have made. I
suggest you pick something like smoking (or stopping same) or
importance/value of immunization for children.  Then ask them if they would
be comfortable with the changes they have suggested.  That may help them to
see that some of their own biases (fears, perhaps) are dictating the
suggested changes they have made.

If you have access to MEDLARS, go in and search on La Leche League.  You
should get a bunch of references that refer to how helpful this group
is/has been for breastfeeding mothers. Many are written in PEDIATRICS. Once
the group sees that these things actually have appeared in a gosh-darn
legitimate MEDICAL journal, perhaps they will set aside this objection.

Since you mentioned the 10 steps, have you sought help from the US
Committee for UNICEF that is assisting hospitals seeking BFHI
certification/intent to commit, etc?  They have LOTS of references for each
of the 10 steps.  You might try them.  Write to:   Minda Lazarov at
Vanderbilt University Shcoll of Nursing. (If you need her phone or fax,
write me privately, please. I do not have her permission to post it here.)

Is suspect the "inconvenience" of bottles and formula may be a sticking
point for some of the committee. Perhaps they found them "convenient!"  You
may wish to suggest that other feeding alternatives often *require*
stocking/carrying around all kinds of *additional* equipment that many
mothers find *unnecessary* or *less helpful* than originally expected.

Finally, they arecorrect. Most pamphlets should be written at the 5-8 grade
level. Are you familiar with the SMOG index? If not, ask your reference
librarian for a reference to it. You might also look at Valaitis and Shea's
article in Can J Public Health (1993, I believe). They evaluated pamphlsets
produced by commercial sources (you can guess what most were!) and
non-profit sources and the non-profit sources won out in all parameters,
INCLUDING the one on positive messages about breastfeeding. That might give
you some additional ammunition re: some of the changes they made from
positive to negative.

Good luck and let us all know what happens.



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 %% "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities      %%
 %% brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."            %%
 %% definition of a lactation consulting service.               %%
 %% Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC - [log in to unmask]          %%
 %% Homewood, Illinois USA                                      %%

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