I would like to quote from the latest Indian child care book for mothers
(1997), which is totally supportive of exclusive and sustained
breastfeeding.
"Let your husband accompany you to meet...the paediatrician who will
look after the baby.  You must request the doctor that after the baby is
delivered, you both would like him to be exclusively breastfed and not
given anything other than colostrum,the first milk.  If the doctor says
that the milk 'comes in' after a few days...and till then the baby may
need a few bottle-feeds with milk or glucose water, you can
rest...assured that you [are] not with the doctor you were looking for.
You had better choose another."
The author of this book along with many other Indian doctors (of all
social origins) have joined to form the Breastfeeding Promotion Network
of India, which has branches in every region and most states, includes
many obstetricians as well as pediatricians and general practitioners,
and has done much toward achieving over 1,000 officially assessed and
designated Baby-Friendly Hospitals in India.
That said, Jack Newman is not wrong in observing that in many societies,
perhaps the majority, the people of highest social status and income
(including doctors) tend to do less breastfeeding.  It is ironic to see
a family that owns their own business, a Mercedes and two other cars, a
stay-at-home mother with household help, and has the very latest VCR and
CD players, giving their infant second-rate feeding -- but we see this
non sequitur in industrialised nations too, don't we?
We have much to learn from the way in which courageous and hard-working
doctors, in India and many other countries, have banded together to
become experts in breastfeeding and to work very effectively against
deleterious infant feeding customs whether old or new.  There is
strength in numbers and alliances; let's use LactNet to reinforce ours.