rob, you are obviously referring to home birth midwives, called lay midwives here in colorado. most of them are licensed by the state here, as well, so they have various protocols they have to adhere to. i don't know if the vit. k is an official protocol, but most (or all, not sure) midwives did not give vit k until a few years ago, when they felt the evidence was compelling enough to start giving it. however, they give it orally. i saw a baby get the vit k orally and he immediately spit it back out, i failed to see how he could have gotten any at all. but that's how it is done here. i would suggest that you try to make a connection with the midwives that serve the amish population and try to convince them that vit k is a good idea, instead of appearing to be confrontational. they could use a connection with a good ped like you. carol brussel IBCLC and friend to lay midwives everywhere, the only birth practitioners that truly require their patients to breastfeed. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html