>And this is the hospital that is hoping to be Baby Friendly, but will not
>communicate with the only IBCLC in a 20 county area.

Which makes me realize there's a *key piece* that should be added to the
BFHI examiners' questions:  What are your community's bfing resources, and
in what ways do you make use of them, tell mothers about them, and maintain
good relations with them?  Then the examiners would need to seek out a
couple local resources and make sure the answers jibe.  I'm constantly
amazed at the suspicion with which some bfing supporter views others.  And I

think one strong measure of a bfing supporter's true supportiveness is
her/its overtures toward other supporters!

Step 10, in my mind, isn't specifically about making sure moms have support
groups in the community, but about making sure moms have informed support
overall once they leave the hospital - access to pumps, to ongoing LC help,
to LLL and other support groups, to bfing playgroups.  I think of us all as
forming a woven net that supports nursing mothers on their mothering
tightrope.  To weave that net, we *must* work together.  And the hospital
that doesn't work with community resources cuts the net right out from under

her, no matter how good its in-house protocols are.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY

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