Susan,
I would refute absolutely that Australia is a breastfeeding friendly culture
where we really don't have big breastfeeding problems because let me tell
you that we do! and my years on Lactnet have not indicated to me that the
breastfeeding problems that LCs in the US deal with are any more
complicated/difficult than what LCs deal with here. It just aint so. Things
are better here in lots of way but this is still a society very hostile to
breastfeeding and hostile to mothers, though not as bad as the US by any
means. Our breastfeeding rates are appalling! and if you look at my local
area it's 87% initiating but 27% at 6 months, what's happening in between
birth and 6 months? everything from couldn't be bothered to train wrecks.
The US does not have a monopoly on breastfeeding problems (and something
that I have learnt here is that even in true breastfeeding cultures there
are still women who have huge problems) and yet as we keep saying, here in
Australia it is rare for an LC to even own a scale let alone us one for test
weighing and lay breastfeeding counsellors (who here are often dealing with
the train wrecks, sometimes in concert with an LC, not always, and referrals
go both ways) certainly do not weigh babies.
Karleen Gribble
Australia


> I'd say that many of us in the United States are in the position of those=
>  working on emergency=20
> refugee situations and some of us in the position of working in the long-=
> term programs.  I'd say=20
> many of those who work in Norway and Australia are in the long-term progr=
> ams and rarely in the=20
> short-term programs. In the US we are just band aids until we fix the lar=
> ger problem of societal=20
> support.

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