<I found Nofia's description of Orthodox
families to be quite ugly and inaccurate. We can always point fingers if
we want to; shall I tell you about a day at the WIC program???>

Sorry Pearl, but if I didn't live in an orthodox community myself, and I
didn't have a headache dealing with this issue myself, perhaps I wouldn't
be so bitter.

I even talked to a Rav about this issue this past week, and he conceded
that he knows BCP's are contraindicated for Bf, but he still is going to go
on recommending them.  AT the same time he recommends Bf for 24 mos.  But
for many women, including myself that style won't work and when I turned to
him because it wasn't working he told me to go get an IUD.  I told him that
the idea of an IUD scares me to death.  That was it.  He didn't offer any
other options, and I found myself going to three other rabbis before I got
a posek that took both my fears and concerns and halacha into
consideration.  One is not supposed to go running from rabbi to rabbi,
which made my aggravation even greater because I felt like a heretic doing
that.

Meanwhile my very good friend and partner here gets a lot of wise cracks
because her baby is 18 mos old, still breastfeeding and she's not pregnant;
so maybe it does say in our tradition that a woman is considered
breastfeeding for 24 mos., but in reality she is not treated with the
respect she deserves.

If your community isn't like that then good for you.  It must make your
life a hell of a lot easier.

Nofia