Hello Lactnetters,
     I'm back, temporarily, and would like to wish all of you, and your families, a happy and restful festive season, according to whatever holidays and traditions you celebrate.
    May the year 2000 be a year when we can help more and more mothers to breastfeed their babies successfully, and exclusively.  I hope we all can make greater inroads into the internationally widespread belief that breastmilk needs early supplementation, and raise awareness in our own communities of the strong case for *exclusive* breastfeeding.  Perhaps this will mean sharing this important message with children and teens, the parents of the future.  For some of you, it might be getting the bottles out of the dolls' corner of your child's kindergarten.  Small actions, repeated by many, do add up, especially if they are continued longterm.
    So, I hope we can spend the holidays refreshing ourselves for the work ahead in 2000 - whether it is lecturing or giving in-services, working one-on-one with mothers, running a human milk bank, or whatever.
    Have a happy and productive year 2000.
                  Best wishes,
                        Virginia
                         Virginia Thorley  (Private practice)
                          in rainy Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
                          (but it didn't rain on the weekend)

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