Yesterday I presented a 2 hour lecture/discussion on breastfeeding to
Physician's Assistant students and also some pre-med students. There was also a PT
student. It was a class on Health education methods.  We discussed why
breastfeeding is important, common myths and barriers and how health care professionals
can address those, examples of breastfeeding services and community
resources. I then had the students divide into groups of 4-5 and design breastfeeding
services in their particular discipline. It was a great class, with lots of
discussion. One student said that if you stop to think about how little they knew
about breastfeeding, is it any wonder that the general population doesn't
know how to do it.  The most spirited discussion was about nursing in public--one
male student works at a restaurant and has seen women nursing there and had
listed that as a barrier. The students weren't opposed to women nursing in
public, they thought women would appreciate more private areas and not having to
nurse in the open areas such as restaurants. We discussed how American cultural
views of breasts may be different from other countries and from other
generations. I also gave them a brief introduction to the legal scene in North
Carolina (bfing is protected here).
Since I have been injured and am now out of work, this class gave me a huge
emotional boost! I love teaching about breastfeeding!

Barb Whitehead, IBCLC, RLC
Eastern NC
(my grandson is still exclusively nursing, and weights over 18 lbs!)

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html