I attended an inservice program at work yesterday, with a nutritionist from
WIC. I work for Visiting Nurse Service of NY in a maternal and childhealth
program. While I did find this woman to be *somewhat* breastfeeding friendly,
I did find the presentation frustrating.
She did say that New York State does not spend much money on breastfeeding
support, certainly not as much as some other states. This was not new
information, most of us in NY know this to be true. She also said that the
clerks in the WIC centers don't like to process the paper work for bf moms,
because they then change their minds and the clerks have to reprocess the
information. This is why they give the bf moms vouchers for formula!!! She
also said she does promote bf *since this is the more positive way to feed a
baby*.

She gave us some literature including a brochure from National Institutes of
Health titled *Milk Matters*. In it there is a graph telling how much calcium
is in milk. Guess what, in the section birth to 6 months there is a picture
of a bottle! No mention in this book at all  about breastfeeding.  Again, a
violation of the WHO code put out by our own US Department of Health and
Human Services. Dated May 1999
It is NIH Publication No. 99-4521 if anyone is interested.

Someone in the group asked about a teenager bf when her nutritional intake
was not so good. I tried to say the quality of the milk is not affected, her
nutritional status could affect the moms health. This woman tried to stop me,
saying *I am the nutritional expert.* My response was, yes but I am the
breastfeeding expert!!!! Even she agreed with that one.

This is what I deal with on a daily basis at work. I have made progress with
most of my peers. At least they now turn to me with questions about bf.

Roni Chastain, RN, LCCE, FACCE
Long Island, New York and happy to have this day off since I worked  the
weekend!!!

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