Hi everyone!
I have been lurking in the shadows for awhile but I have been moved upon to
put forth some thoughts. In short, I am Laura Ehrenzeller,B.A. Breastfeeding
Peer Counselor with the Western Tidewater Health District almost 3 years.
But, the accomplishment I am MOST proud of and want to be remembered for
throughout eternity is that I am a Mom and have been for 7 very short years!
I have 4 beautiful and brilliant breastfed boys and we live on one of our
Christmas tree farms in Suffolk, VA.  Besides my boys, I spend my time
putting in hours in hope to meet the requirements to test for my IBCLC and I
love hunting for antiques and junk!

Commenting concerning Ros Escott's idea about parents bringing their own ABM
to the hospital is not a bad idea since hospitals are in the business of
promoting optimum health.  With the goal of promoting optimum health in
mind, wouldn't ABM really not have a place in the hospitals only in extreme
rare cases?   In my experience in dealing with a few local hosptials, I have
been told that hospitals are often GIVEN the ABM by the ABM companies to
feed the babies in the nursery.  I personally feel there is a definite
conflict of interest here!  A friend of mine is a Neonatal nurse and a
certain ABM company offered her free ABM for the first year of her child's
life.  Later, when she left that hospital to work in a Peds office, another
ABM rep gave her ABM after she weaned her baby to continue out the rest of
the baby's first year of life. She would have been better off with some
freebie key chain or plastic bear!  I really believe it is not unrealistic
to expect to see hospitals making disclaimers about the dangers of ABM
feeding in the near future.  The facts can't be ignored forever-all it takes
is one GOOD law suit!

Laura H. Ehrenzeller-another hazard of formula feeding, "Have you ever seen
a smart cow?"