Thanks for sharing, Denise.  May I add to that, that FE Smith in The people's health (Londaon: Croom Helm, 1979), mentions that in the early-19th century in England colostrum was treated with suspicion.  It was the custom to give dibs and dabs of something else (e.g. butter and alcohol)  to clear the meconium and wait for the colostrum to go.  This was custom.  The custom changed.  According to Smith, that was by about (from memory) 1829.  As far as I can recall, Smith didn't offer a specific reason why the custom/fashion changed.
    It is possible to have a whole intellectual debate over the issue of customs.  At one of end of the spectrum of debate is the concept that customs are intrinsic and immutable and must not be influenced.  At the other end of the debate is the idea customs can be in a state of flux, and that what "experts" see at first contact with a group of people may not necessarily be how a particular situation has been handled since the dawn of time, but where it is at that particular stage in time.  I think the point about the increasing number of Baby-Friendly hospitals in Vietnam is a good one.
       Virginia 
in Brisbane,
where the birds are still singing their 
hearts out (but earlier!), and the 
jacarandah trees are still a mass of 
lavenda-coloured blooms.
 

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