HI,
I'm a new LACTNET subscriber.
I am a Family medicine specialist in Israel. I am also the mother of four
children, ages 11.5, 9.5, 6.5 and 3.5, all breastfed (the last one still
is...).
 Since my first child I noticed that nothing I had learned in med school
could help me with BF. I thought that you decide whether to BF, or bottle
feed, and that's what you do. I had no idea that there could be problems or
that the whole subject is so controvertial (everyone says that bf is best,
but many obviously don't really mean it). Luckily I encountered a good book
about bf while still pregnant, and didn't have any serious problems, and so
could nurse my son for 18 months. When he was two months old I first met
LLL and that too helped a lot. Later I became a member of the local medical
advisory board.
I started reading more and more about bf, almost none of it in medical
textbooks, and at the same time I started noticing how much wrong advice
mothers got from doctors, nurses, midwives - a baby doesn't need food for 8
hrs after birth, stop nursing on the side with a plugged duct or mastitis,
never nurse less than 3-4 hrs apart, if your baby is not gaining enough or
crying a lot - nurse for 5 minutes on each side and then give him a bottle
and much more...
Another problem I faced were remarks some mothers heard fro doctors or
nurses - you are starving your baby, after 6 months there is just water
coming out and so on. This made some mothers never want to try and nurse
another baby.
Once, during a meeting with a few other doctors, I started to say something
about bf, and was attacked by two of them (women!) "You and your
breastfeeding! You are trying to drag us a 100 years backward! I was never
nursed and look at me. I nursed my son for two weeks and he was allways
hungry." It was very unpleasant, and taught me how emotional this subject
is. Since then, already 5-6 yrs ago, I am very careful when talking to
health professionals. I do my best to help mothers in my care, or referred
to me by LC or LLL leaders, but only rarely do I remark anything to HCPs.
It made me feel a bit better to read that similar problems occur elsewhere
- many doctors don't know enough about bf, and LCs or nurses (and probably
doctors) trying to promote bf are looked upon as a little crazy, or
feminist, or both.
I would apreciate ideas on how to try and teach HCPs some bf basics without
offending anyone. It's so frustrating sometimes. Reading LACTNET is at
least showing me that I am not alone...Thanks!

Mira Leibovich, MD