I just had yet another reminder of the critical importance of helping
mothers find a supportive sub-culture like La Leche League.

We held our LLL Area Conference last weekend, and I asked a member of our
local group how she liked it.  She *loved* it, she said, and she learned a
lot.

And she said the contrast of her weekend was a real eye-opener for her.  At
the LLL conference, practically all the babies were in slings, and of
course there were nursing babies everywhere.  The enthusiasm for
breastfeeding and attachment parenting was palpable.

The next day, she went to a reunion at the birth center where her baby was
born.  "That's an interesting carrier.  What is it?" someone asked her.
And there were only 2 nursing babies present.  One baby was getting juice
in a bottle.

Now, the birth center gives a lot of information about breastfeeding
prenatally.  Mothers are not discharged until the baby has had several good
feeds at breast.  The staff are 100% supportive of breastfeeding.  They're
not only enthusiastic but knowledgeable.  I believe the facility has signed
a certificate of intent.  The difference is the culture into which the
mothers are discharged.

I think it was Michael Woolridge who described a hospital in which there is
no rooming in.  Babies are not put to breast until 24 hours of age, and all
receive bottles before then.  Formula supplementation continues throughout
the hospital stay.  The breastfeeding rate at a month?  Something over 90%.
This is a hospital in a breastfeeding country, you see, and mothers are
discharged into a culture in which "everybody" breastfeeds.  In contrast,
the birth center above does everything right *except* help mothers find
that post-birth culture.  And so the women fail.

BFHI Step #10: "Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups
and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic."  That
group already exists, and it's called La Leche League.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY, wishing mightily now that
she hadn't forgotten to bring this up in a talk she gave 2 days before
talking to this mother.