On Wednesday 6/26 Valerie King, M.D., wrote “I’d like to hear your wish 
list....”  Wow, what a great thread!  If we could envision the perfect 
world for breastfeeding mothers and babies....

First of all, from the perspective of someone who first became a mother 
almost 23 years ago and has been working with breastfeeding mothers for 
about 21 years, it has been rewarding to see some of the changes which 
HAVE occurred during that period.  I believe that more people, HCPs and 
the general public as well, have become aware that there really IS a 
difference between human milk and the available substitutes, and 
encouragement of breastfeeding is getting at least more lip service.

In a perfect world, all of those people working with new mothers and 
babies would get much more than a cursory education in the advantages of 
breastfeeding and the management of normal lactation.  This would be 
taught as an important topic, with more than an hour or two on the 
subject, and preferably by someone with a real passion for the topic!  
They would learn what interventions on their part may interfere with the 
initiation of a successful breastfeeding relationship and would do their 
best to interfere as little as possible.

They would also get a good background on what to do when difficulties DO 
occur, instead of seeing a bottle of BMS as the ‘easy’ solution.  I’m 
sure that most of those HCPs who advise a mother to use BMS in a bottle 
when the going gets difficult do so simply because they don’t have the 
knowledge and experience to help her succeed at the breastfeeding.  In 
our ideal world, they would also be comfortable referring mothers to 
those with more knowledge and experience in the field of lactation.  

Those HCPs who had contact with the parents-to-be before the birth would 
educate those parents to the advantages of human milk and the 
breastfeeding relationship and strongly encourage them to breastfeed 
their babies, helping them to realize that this is much more than just a 
‘lifestyle choice’, but something with long-term impact!  I wish every 
HCP would realize that helping new parents to successfully breastfeed is 
one of the most important things that they can do for the short and long 
term health of that baby (and also impacts the mother's future health)!

I wish that the HCPs could also be convinced of the advantages, or at 
least the normality, of long-term breastfeeding.  HCPs are a product of 
our culture, and much of our culture at this point in time sees 
breastfeeding for more than a few months, or certainly more than a year, 
as a real anomaly!  I love the attitude of the pediatrician with whom I 
personally deal who says that he figures that it is strictly between the 
mother and her baby how long the breastfeeding relationship continues!

There are more and more HCPs out there who do have many of the above 
characteristics, and we appreciate you all!  Thanks so much for caring 
and for asking, Valerie!

Alice Ziring, Mercer Island, WA (yes, it is really an island...in Lake 
Washington which borders the east side of Seattle)