Thanks to Barbara Hayes and Kathy Dettwyler for mentioning the American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) newest breastfeeding initiative, Breastfeeding
Promotion in Pediatric Office Practices (BPPOP).  I took on the responsibility
of managing this 3-year federal Maternal & Child Health Bureau-funded grant
program about a year ago after 10 years as the Director of the Center for
Breastfeeding Information (CBI) at La Leche League International (LLLI).
Also, I staff the AAP Work Group on Breastfeeding (authors of the incredible
December 1997 AAP breastfeeding policy statement "Breastfeeding and the Use of
Human Milk") and track the activities of & produce a quarterly newsletter for
the approximately 70 dedicated AAP State Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinators.

My academic and professional backgrounds are in biochemistry, basic research,
and education, and I have been an LLL Leader for 22 years.  I was employed by
a team of obstetricians back in the late 1970s as a breastfeeding consultant
and was one of the ones interviewed in the early 1980s about the creation of a
new allied health profession called lactation consulting.  I became an IBCLC
in 1987 and sat on the IBLCE Examination Committee (helped to design portions
of the examination) in 1996.  In addition to my years in the CBI at LLLI and
my current position at the AAP, I was a charter member on behalf of LLLI of
the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in 1991, an original member
of the National Breastfeeding Leadership Roundtable (1996) turned US National
Breastfeeding Committee (1998) first for LLLI then AAP, and a representative
of the AAP on the USDA Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium beginning in 1998.
That's more than you ever wanted to know about me!

The BPPOP program is in its second year of service for national AAP-member
pediatricians.  While the original hope was to attract 300 pediatricians into
this educational resource and technical assistance program, 1,000 had signed
up halfway into the 6th-month enrollment period!  I've got a waiting list of
300 more to date, and the enrollment period isn't scheduled to close until the
end of February.  For further information about the program to share with the
pediatricians with whom you interface, please see the AAP Web site:
www.aap.org  .  Click on Advocacy, then on the name of the program.  There's
lots of background information and even an online application form.  I intend
to use the total number of pediatricians who apply as ammunition to seek
further funding for either the current grant or future ones.  Many many
pediatricians really want to learn about breastfeeding, and I feel humbled and
honored to have been chosen to help them, especially coming from a lay
background.

Thanks for your reading patience in allowing me to finally properly introduce
myself after being a very sporadic LACTNET lurker for a year and share news
about the exciting and well-received Breastfeeding Promotion in Pediatric
Office Practices program.  Wish me luck as the Academy dedicates its effort to
making pediatricians' offices truly more breastfeeding knowledgeable and
friendly!

Betty L. Crase