Melissa,

Here's my 2 cents on the "Scenario" post.

The longer you breastfeed - the better for your baby (nutritionally,etc)
The longer you exclusively breastfeed - the better for baby in terms of
allergy/atopy
The longer you breastfeed - the better for mom in terms of reducing breast
cancer risk
The longer you breastfeed - the better for your employer because you're not
out as many days with a child who is sick.
The longer you breastfeed - The better for your budget - artificial human
milk substitutes are  expensive
The longer you breastfeed - the better for the environment - human milk
comes packed in  mother nature's finest packaging - no waste/no cans/ no
factories to process it / no big trucks to deliver it.
The longer you breastfeed - the longer you have that special closeness with
your child that noone else can duplicate.

The time I spent pumping for my daughter I thought of as an investment in
her health and her future.
Parenting requires time at every stage - the needs change, but not the need
for an investment of time.

Many women don't realize that breastfeeding is not an all or nothing
proposition... if they can't pump at work they can still breastfeed when
they are with the baby.

Funny story: When my daughter was a baby I would bring bottles of expressed
breastmilk along when I dropped her off in the morning and usually we would
go into a quiet back room and she'd nurse one last time before I'd leave
for school.  One morning the back room was not available so I was nursing
her where the children were playing.  One 5 five year old asked what she
was doing - I told him that she was having her breakfast. He got this
puzzled look, pointed to my shirt and asked "Are her bottles in there?"

Dr. Gail
[pumped for 1 year while in med school ]
Gail Hertz, MD
Pediatric Resident
author of the little green breastfeeding book - disclaimer: owner of Pocket
Publications










----------
> From: Melissa Jordan Grey <[log in to unmask]>
> To:
> Subject: Re: scenarios
> Date: Monday, September 21, 1998 5:47 PM
>
> Essentially, I'm asking whether it is quantity of breast milk or duration
> that is most important. I ask because this subject has come up quite a
bit
> among working women at Microsoft.
>
> Which makes more sense:
>
> to provide breast milk for the first six months, followed by formula (and
> solids, of course) for the next
> -or-
> to provide a combination (alternating) of breast milk and formula for a
> period of a year.
>
> It is very hard for working women to keep up the extensive pumping
required
> to provide exclusive breast milk.
>
>
> Melissa*
>
>                 -----Original Message-----
>                 From:   Newman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>                 Sent:   Wednesday, September 16, 1998 4:46 PM
>                 To:     Melissa Jordan Grey
>                 Cc:     Lactation Information and Discussion
>                 Subject:        scenarios
>
>                 Why are you asking this?
>
>                 Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC
>