IMHO it is hard to convince people that breastfeeding is the best
thing to do for their child because that's not really the issue for  a lot
of people.  Our society has very hard mores about what is expected of women
and children and it is reinforced in so many ways, that people don't even
know why they believe things.  Take for example the sexual attitudes towards
the breast.  Its completely okay to walk around in a very revealing bathing
suit, including firm nipples outlined under the thin material, or a very
revealing open to the waist dress with no bra but if the same woman, after
receiving lots of stares and complimentary eye contact picked up a baby,
covered herself so that no-one could see half of what they were just looking
at, everyone would suddenly leave, look away or look embarassed.
         The drive for "independence" is another area that pushes everyone
to push their kids away.  Talk about "if some is good then more must be
better"...many parents try to make their newborns independent of the need
for comforting at bedtime so it seems contradictory to them to hold a baby
close for so long.
        There is also the so called "feminist" idea that really liberated
women wouldn't be tied to their babies or let their brains go to mush by
staying with them and breastfeeding (I even hear people say that when they
were breastfeeding their intellect and ability to think decreased!).
        We have a lot more work to do than just educate people about the
benefits of breastfeeding in order to really have an effect.  We have to
change our entire way of looking at women and children.  Already there are
pockets of change that are encouraging women to look at feminism as
completing their feminity and all it entails but it is a slow process.
        For us to be truly effective we have to be working on all fronts.
So much to do...
        There are also, of course, the people who have other issues and
aren't really listening, so we need to spend a lot of time finding out what
their problem really is before we can address it.  We can report all the
studies in the world but if their problem is that they are concerned about
something else then we have just wasted our time and theirs.  Active
listening can't be overstressed in finding out what we need to do to make
changes.  It seems to me that we waste an awful lot of energy informing when
we should be listening and reflecting.