Tonight there was a new episode for a show called, "Strong Medicine" on Lifetime-cable. I am sure the episode will be repeated. A mom had a baby that was not gaining well from nursing. The doctor took the mom and baby to see the lactation specialist in the hospital. There were two other moms nursing babies in the room. The 1st mom did not want to breastfeed in front of the other moms. The "specialist" said the breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world. Then she asked the mom to tell her what positions she has been using. The specialist spouted off about three different holds. The mom looked very confused. The main doctor of the show asked the mom to show the specialist how she nurses. The baby is shown crying as the mom tries to breastfeed. The specialist reaches over to help her latch the baby and the mom slaps her hand. The mom wants formula and the specialist yells at her about nipple confusion and that she will ruin the breastfeeding if she does this. The doctor takes the specialist to another room and they have a little argument over the whole event. The specialist says breast is best stuff while the doctor comes away saying that breastmilk is marginally better than formula. The show also had another mom give birth to a stillborn. The mom with the breastfeeding problems ends up with postpartum depression and goes on antidepressant drugs. The mom tells the doctor she is a failure because she has to give formula now because of the drugs. The doctor has an idea about "donor" breastmilk. The last part of the show shows the mom that lost the baby nursing the 1st mom's baby in the waiting room of the clinic/hospital. The baby's mom was sleeping on the couch (on her drugs). I was crying at the end of all this! What a sad way to portray breastfeeding/postpartum depression/lactation "specialists." Thanks for letting me share this lovely episode, Annette Leibovitz *********************************************** 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