Linda Shaw wrote:

> It's hard to say which profession would have the most influence.  I AM a
> pediatrician and I really enjoy my profession.  Pediatricians are in a
good
> position to encourage moms to keep on breastfeeding (if, that is, they're
> knowledgeable and supportive); we can/should be able to pick up
breasfeeding
> problems and refer to LC's when indicated.  We often don't have much
> influence on whether a mom initiates breastfeeding, but sometimes we can
do
> that when we give talks to the childbirth classes at the hospital or try
to
> talk a mom who didn't breastfeed her first child into breastfeeding the
> second or third when they're in our offices.
>
> The problem is:  many peds in practice don't know much about breastfeeding
> and aren't supportive.

Do you and the other doctors on the list (or anyone, for that matter!) have
any ideas about what are the best ways that breastfeeding mothers can help
bring their less knowledgeable pedis along -- to help them become more
knowledgeable and supportive?

I work with my FP (who is my children's doctor and also delivers babies) a
*lot*. I talk to him about the joys of BF and my daughter's excellent
health. (She's a 2.5yo nursling now.) I nurse her happily. I bring him
interesting articles. I turned him onto Dr. Hale's book. I bought him one of
the Best Start Physicians Support kits as an office-warming gift when he
started his new practice. (I also brought him catalogs of pamphlets and
publications covering breastfeeding, in hopes that he would buy some
materials. And he did!) Every time my husband and I come in, we start up a
discussion on *some* BF-related topic. At the practice he was formerly in,
they supplied pamphlets from the formula companies. We had long chats with
him and convinced him that it wasn't ethical to advertise the formula that
way. No formula paraphernalia can be found in his new practice. :-)

Janice Berry
Westerville, OH

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