Hi, Debbie and Others:  Over the years I have had the pleasure? (yeah, 
right!) of being the one, or one of the few, who have had to help a mom 
realize that she might not be able to achieve her goal of exclusive 
breastfeeding, or more correctly, being able to provide 100% breast milk 
for her baby.  Unless a mother has had a bilateral mastectomy or the baby 
has such severe facial anatomical defects that it cannot physically nurse 
at the breast, she can NURSE her baby.  This is where I like the perceived 
differentiation between breastfeeding (which in my mind, implies 
food/nutrition) and nursing (which is the warm fuzzies).  I always 
encourage these moms to nurse their baby and work with them to develop a 
feeding plan that gets the baby fed.  This plan may or may not include 
breastfeeding, depending on their situation.  I have not yet discovered a 
negative to nursing one's baby as long as everyone involved is assured that 
the baby is getting the milk it needs to attain optimum growth, either thru 
full, partial, or no actual breastfeeding.
The best examples I have encountered that have helped me form my personal 
philosophy on this are some adoptive moms I have worked with over the 
years.  Some of them never saw a drop of milk, but "nursed" their babies 
for over a year.  In talking with them about their experiences, I did not 
pick up on any differences in their perception of their nursing experience 
vs. mothers who are able to exclusively breastfeed (providing both full 
nutrition/emotional bonding).  Is this something that those of you who 
either nursed adopted babies, or who have more extensive experience than me 
also see?

Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,IBCLC
Clinical Lead, Lactation Services
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
Barrington, IL  USA

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

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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html