I appreciated Carol's thoughtful analysis of the conf. she attended where
Marjory Meyer Palmer presented her work.  I also have attended such a
presentation, and have to say that it has helped me immensely in terms of
how I evaluate babies.  MMP's method of distinguishing between normal and
immature sucking patterns gave me insights which I now use assessing every
single baby I see.  Since hearing her speak, my assessments have become much
more sensitive in identifying respiratory deficiencies, which I know
recognize as MAJOR reasons for poor feedings in prematures and medically
fragile babies.  I hear what Carol is saying: it would be nice if feeding
specialists in the other disciplines knew more about breastfeeding.  I spend
a fair amount of energy trying to connect with these folks in my own
community to share info.  However I know about breastfeeding, and can
extrapolate from their insights and apply them to our field.  It doesn't
require that they become bfg experts -- I'm just grateful they're sharing
info and insights I can borrow so effectively for my own practice.  My
intuition is that as the dust settles this info may produce a major growth
experience as it has for me.  I know that Kay James, a speech pathologist
from Houston who is very knowledgable about breastfeeding (she's spoken at
the ILCA conf.) credits MMP as her "guru".

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates, Austin, Texas
http://www.jump.net/~bwc/lactnews.html

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