It's that old chestnut; does being a mother make a midwife a better
midwife? Does being a breastfeeding mother make one better at supporting
other breastfeeding mothers?

Not necessarily! - can be a positive influence - more often, IMHO and
experience, can be neutral or even negative (subconcious thoughts of "I did
it...why can't you?") What counts is the quality of 'debriefing' of ones
experiences and degree of self-awareness of the effect of ones personal
experiences, be they good or bad.

I'm going 'no mail' for a while. Maybe it's time of the year or time of the
month, but I'm feeling  overwhelmed, very tired and generally a horrible
person. (Private emails still very welcome!)

See you all sometime soon! Best wishes -
Hannah
(midwife and National Childbirth Trust breastfeeding counsellor, UK)
[log in to unmask]