Thank you Kathleen for a timely post.

I'm doing breastfeeding talks for a hospital with a high Southeast Asian
immigrant population.  This group badly wants tall, "American" sons.  For
years this has been THE reason for not breastfeeding.  Americans feed their
infants formula, Americans are tall, therefore, we'll feed our babies
formula.  I've never known quite how to explain the difference beyond
explaining the dietary differences.  Most of these fathers grew up during
wars where food was scarce and medical help non-existant.  The pediatricians
these families tend to use write orders for ProSoBee from day one.

Any chance the A&M Vietnamese football player was breastfed?

I've been thinking about covering height differences during the talk instead
of awaiting the comments and questions.  If it's presented first, maybe my
explanations will sound less like an excuse.  Their concerns are heartfelt.
 Height is a big, big deal to them.  They also circumcize their sons.
 They're always surprised to hear I didn't circumcize my (white American)
son.  They also like to hear that he's 10 years old and taller than his mom.
 I get lots of murmurs of approval.

Does anyone out there have suggestions on how to present this sensitively?
 I'm really comfortable talking about cultural differences in mothers' diets,
 but genetic potential just seems tougher to me.  These fathers are so
hopeful for tall sons.

Elizabeth Novelo Puzar, with a Sicilian mother and a Central American father,
married to a 6'6'' Polish/Lithuanian man so my children would have a chance
at normal height.