I recently asked for opinions to share with an infertility mom who plans to
wean her not-yet-born baby at 6 mo so she can get maximize her chances of
another pregnancy.  I got exactly the opinions I was hoping for, and
*later* figured out just why I wanted them:

Now I can give this mom opinions from a range of experts in the field, all
saying the same thing:  you may be losing a real relationship to try for
another that never ends up happening.  Then *I* can move back in and
support her in her decision, whatever it is, without having colored her
view of me by being the only one providing cautionary advice.

When we're the only source of breastfeeding info a mother gets, we can't
make that info diverge *too* far from what she earlier perceived to be the
truth, or we lose credibility and thus lose some of our ability to help
her.  Yet if we *don't* give the facts, she never hears them anywhere else.
By using lactnet voices, even unnamed ones, we can reinforce for a mother
that the info we are giving is *mainstream* within the field of lactation,
even if they've never heard it before, and then we can move back in to help
her fit that info into her life.  I like it!

Diane Wiessinger, MS,  IBCLC  Ithaca, NY