I agree with Valerie.  It isn't the job of the nursing mother to have to
shoulder the burden of educating the general public while she is recovering
from childbirth and trying to settle in with a baby.  Some women certainly
can pick up that burden and feel ready to do so, but to impose it on most
new moms is just not reasonable.  It is the job of policy people (that's us)
to work on the institutional forces in our culture.  We can do this by
joining or forming coalitions and approaching our legislative bodies for
changes in laws, by educating other cultural institutions about those laws,
and by bringing the discussion forward in ways that draw in the culture as a
whole -- not just talking about it amongst ourselves.

Nothing much changed in the smoking debate in the US so long as smokers had
no restrictions placed upon them -- both by law and by mobilized public
opinion.  If it was left up to offended non-smokers to ask smokers to go
elsewhere to foul up the air, politeness prohibited people from speaking up.
But once public and legal policy changed, then non-smokers had rights and
began to exercise them.  So it is OUR job to move this along.

Some ideas to change perception:

        Write an op ed piece for your local newspaper on the subject of
protection of the rights of infants to
         breastfeed whenever and whereever they are.

        Make protection of the right to breastfeed a subject that gets
promoted in your World Breastfeeding
        Week activities.  We had moms and babies visably nursing in front of
the mayor and the tv cameras
         yesterday at our Capitol Steps celebration.

        Bring up the issue whenever you get the chance.  Don't neglect to
talk to your own clients.  I always ask
        women what they do for a living.  If they are powerful, I always
give them a little lecture about using their
        power to speak up on this issue for all the other women who may not
be as powerful.  I've had judges and         religious ministers, and
polititcians and labor organizers, and they've each had that lecture.  I
like to think         they have been politicized by this discussion.

        Send a few of  your coalition people into doctor's offices with
cookies and a Fact Sheet (create a one             pager) listing a study or
two showing how important the physician (and his/her staff) is in terms of
              influencing  bfg.  List the fact that support for bfg is a
stated goal of the AAP (etc) and US Public                 Health Policy.
If they are in  favor of  Leaner, Brighter, Healthier Little (name state),
then they need to             make bfg moms welcome in their waiting  room,
and you have brought them a great poster (make one)             that says:
"Breastfeeding  Moms Welcome to Nurse their Babies Here! Love, Dr. X and
Staff."

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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