Dear all

I would like to respectfully disagree with the following statement which appeared as a general post

MaryAnn,

Speaking in broad generalities, I don't think being a doctor is compatible
with breastfeeding.  Physicians desperately need to feel in control and they
can't control breastfeeding.  They can't measure it, taste it, or prescribe
it.  It is the rare doctor that can let the patient direct the cure.  I
believe this is the root of the overwhelming ambivalence toward breastfeeding.

- Dia

I do not think it is helpful to stereotype - physicians come in all shapes and sizes and so do nurses, lactation consultants, electricians and plumbers. The issue of control is an important one and I guess we all need to guard against an urge to "manage things for patients" and observe our own responses when clients choose an option that we disagree with. Sometimes we fool ourselves when we talk about informed choices when the silent caveat we mutter under our breaths is ... as long as she chooses the option I know is best.

but then I am just another physician who breastfed her babies and struggled with all sorts of things including my incompatibility with the way Western culture views nursing mothers, the way my own profession reacts to it and the way health care professionals "in general" can be very judgemental about the way I try and run my life.

Oops,  now I have gone and generalised about health care professionals....

Mary E Black 
MB BCh BAO FAFPHM MFPHM MRCP(UK) MPH DTM&H DObst DCH
University of Queensland, Cairns, Australia

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