I want to thank Barbara for coming out in the open with an area of
discussion that needs to be aired....

     I too think that we all need to judisiously choose our tools according
to the needs and abilites of the mother, fathers, and babies that we work
with.

     If we are going to achieve our goal of making breastfeeding part of our
culture than we muct acknoledge that there are many peoples in our culture
and there will therfore be many "ways" of breastfeeding.

     We need to tailor our assistance of a family to that family not try to
tailor that family to "our" way.

     Yes, there are families that will pump and finger feed for six months in
order to ultimately breastfed their baby but there are also families that
will not do either and we have only the time in our office to "make it work".

'
     It is equally important for both families and we must meet each where
they are.

                                              patricia