Hi, Debby. Don't feel bad about your note being sent back. I was growing quite a
collection for a while!
How does your late fee work? Is it a percentage or flat fee? How and when do you
collect it? Seems like I'm continually trying to collect money that should have
been here already. Fortunately I have only lost out on that one mom who lost the
pump. I've been especially pleased over the last 6 months that I have managed to
keep things up with my GA pumps after my move. I sent all my folks letters
saying they could keep the pump as long as they wanted and send me money and
then return the pump to one of 3 people when they were thru. The last one came
back this week and all have been turned over. Hallelujah!

I am relieved to hear that I am not the only one with significant reservations
concerning blis. I looked at the listing in Kittie Franz's book for it, and it
is basically favorable, although it does include a caution that it shouldn't be
"allowed to produce too much undue pressure on the breast itself" so it
shouldn't be used for engorgement, mastitis, plugged ducts, or tight ill-fitting
bra, or have sore nipples for any reason. "Too much undue pressure"? Does this
mean that there is an exceptable amount of undue pressure?

KF also says "This device is designed for women without any breast feeding
problems, who have nevertheless found that ordinary breast cups and pads are not
sufficient." If pads and cups aren't sufficient, isn't that a bf problem? And
should we as LCs be treating leaking as a problem, a symptom of a [potential]
problem, or as just an acceptable nuisance of bf? Seems like we lose a lot of
moms who either won't bf because they don't want to leak bodily fluids, or who
quit because of the leaking. Are we SUPPOSED to leak? I can't think of any
evolutionary advantage to leaking--except perhaps as a by-product of a
conditioned letdown reflex. And even that (such things as letting down in a
store in response to another baby crying, for example) is still an artifact of
our own culture that urges moms to separate from baby early and often. In a
natural setting, baby would be with mom, and baby's cues for hunger or desire to
nurse would be met with the breast immediately and so any leaking would only be
an enticement for baby to take what he's already decided he wants.

Pressure on the breast stops the flow, just as pressure on a bleeding cut stops
that flow as well. But that doesn't mean that the bleeding is something that is
supposed to be happening--only that our bodies have this marvelous mechanism for
stopping blood (milk) loss when something goes wrong.

And the view from the soap box is still lovely.... Perhaps leaking is not a
major problem that should take precedence over other more serious problems, but
we all know that for many women, the little problems will cause a woman to wean
at least as fast as the large ones!

And I hadn't even considered the PVC plastic angle. Lovely...

Melissa