Dear Heather and Everybody:
   Thank you for your thoughtful response to my post. I agree that often the
hospital system is guilty of resisting change and ascribing that resistance to
the clients, in this case the mothers. However, in this particular situation,
there were complaints to hospital administration from mothers who wanted to
send their babies away.
   Far too often, in childbirth classes and in the postpartum, women view
their babies as a nuisance. This attitude makes me sick, but I encounter it
far too often! Women here are a product of their cultures. Babies are seen as
a nuisance; emphasis is placed on sending the child away to day care, and then
"pre-school" when they are still babies. People seem to be afraid of babies. I
know that I am generalizing; there are plenty of wonderful mothers out there.
However, the idea that any mother would want to send her baby away after
delivery is far too common, and reflective of a greater disturbance at the
societal level.
  I took care of a woman once, the wife of an obstetrician, who had her
scheduled cesarean, and then told the nurse to take the baby away, that she
didn't want to see him for 24 hours because she was tired.! Wasn't anything
any of us could do about it. Her mind was made up.
  This attitude is shocking and serious and bodes ill for humanity. Thank
goodness for the warmth of the LACTNUTs! Warmly, Nikki