>
>
>I guess I am willing to sacrifice a lot to defend this statistic; not the
>correctness of it, but its magnificence.  I don't want the 21st century to be
>the one where Norwegian BF initiation rates decline for the first time since
>records started being kept.
>
It is interesting how much responsibility the good are willing to take
to keep good in the world -- we should all be encouraged to recognize
the work of the many who contribute to it.

Poor Rachel is in the same situation as my son, who routinely gets A and
A+ on all his work. That is, there is not a lot of slack allowed at this
end of the scale. Any piece of work that does not get an A (the majority
of work done even by very, very good students) puts my son under a lot
of pressure, since he can't boost the average by getting *more* than an
A+ on another assignment. Students with a B average, however, can afford
to get one C and then get lauded if they show improvement to an A level
on the next assignment. (OK, so I'm marking papers right now :-)

For those of us in countries with a less stellar record of bf stats, the
occasional woman who doesn't breastfeed does not signficantly alter the
averages, and we can be consoled that every one who *does* boosts them
in a proportionately greater way...

For Norway to have those statistics, an incredible number of nursing
mothers, a huge number of breastfeeding supporters, an entire support
system needs to work together towards a common purpose. Such a concerted
effort means that an entire population has to be synchronized in its
thinking and approach. The fact that the situation has remained stable
means that every day for 140 years this many people get up in the
morning with the same idea : that babies need their mothers' breastmilk.

Magnificent, indeed !

Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes

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