Dear Karen,

I think I know what you are saying.  It is similar to what happened in
some LLL groups years ago, when I was having babies.  This was during the
height of the "natural childbirth" "back to the earth" movement.  There
was one group in particular that I attended several times.  There was
never anything overtly said condemning certain ideas, but it became very
clear that not only was breastfeeding very important, but that other
things were expected as well of the "ideal" family - midwifery care and
homebirths, co-sleeping, vegetarian or near vegetarian meals with no
white sugar or white flour, etc., nursing until the child was at least
several years old (preferably longer), homeschooling, cotton clothing,
......   Even though many of these things were, in fact, part of my
lifestyle, this group made even me uncomfortable at times, and definitely
turned off more that one new mom to LLL.   Again, noone said that you
were "bad" if you didn't do these things, but the general atmosphere made
it difficult to engage in conversation that was not very supportive of
these ideals.  Thankfully, LLL really started to clamp down on the
"mixing ideas" thing and I don't think this goes on very much any more.
We try very hard to support everyone where they are and try to offer
exposure rather than indocrination to various ideas about feeding and
parenting.

It is not difficult to imagine that a "mainstream" health professional
beginning to monitor this list would feel very uncomfortable after
reading posts that call formula "poison" or label standard medical
practices as negligence or malpractice or worse.  Look at what happened
when a newcomer, Dr. Andrew, proferred a few comments/questions that were
a bit more mainstream - and he seems to be very supportive of
breastfeeding and some of the other stuff that we talk about here.  Which
is not to say that comments shouldn't be made - it's the way in which
they are offered.

The hard part for me is to offer an alternative.  This list is different
from some other "professional" type lists in that we get into a lot of
personal stuff here as well as the more nitty-gritty breastfeeding case
history discussions.  A health professional looking for information about
breastfeeding will most certainly get that if he/she stays around for a
while., but a lot more as well.  Is this a bad thing?  It depends on
which perspective you are coming from.  As a member of a fledgling
profession that often brings much more frustration than satisfaction, it
is great to hear about how everyone else is doing in the trenches.  It is
nice to have a place to vent when necessary and know that you all
understand.  It is interesting and helpful to know what really is
"normal" behavior.  But it is disquieting to know that health
professionals at a different place than we are right now are reading
these posts and forming ideas about us (lactation consultants) and about
breastfeeding that will not be helpful to our cause.  I am very careful
in my dealings with those that are "uninformed" about breastfeeding.  And
although I am very tired of having to tread lightly with many physicians,
I know how much damage can be done by offending the wrong persons in
positions of power.

Perhaps the best thing right now is to simply keep in mind while posting
that our audience has become quite large.  I think it is fine to voice a
strong opinion, but we should read our posts several times before sending
and be sure we really want a thousand plus people or more to hear what we
are saying or that we are saying what we really mean.  I myself have
completely deep-sixed several posts that, in the light of day, really
served no purpose other than to condemn or inflame. And there were a few
I should have stopped, but didn't.

For those who are new to our list, I hope that you do stick around and
also delve into the archives for some of the most important and
up-to-date info about breastfeeding that there is to be found anywhere
today.  And remember that all lactation consultants are unique and just
like in any profession, they can range widely in ideas and personalities.
 What we all share is an abiding desire to learn and then educate as many
as possible about breastfeeding and to give as many babies as possible
the opportunity to receive the unique and very important gift of mother's
milk.

Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC in Newark, New York (near Rochester)
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