Thanks Diane for including this topic: I was a new registered nurse when we had our first daughter almost 31 years ago. I wanted to breastfeed her from the time I became pregnant with her. After a long labor ending in a CS , I was not allowed to put her to breast for 2 days due to being overmedicated with pain medication (not requested). I finally had to insist upon being able to nurse my baby. The nurses made a lot of excuses, but brought her to me. I was told that nobody was doing this much anymore and why was I wanting to breastfeed. I was also told that I was the only mom on the maternity floor at the time breastfeeding. To make a long story short, we struggled a lot with fussy baby, told to put her on a 4 hour schedule, give water, sore nipples for 6 weeks. I was determined not to give up and finally got her nursing without problems and breastfed for 10 months. All this was my motivation to learn more about breastfeeding, and become an advocate for other mothers. My other 2 daughters were successfully breastfed for 18 months, and 3 years. When a job in our local hospital came up in 1980 for a breastfeeding educator, I applied for the job and thankfully got it. I am still working as a Lactation Consultant in this same job. I am grateful to God each day that I was able to succeed with the best for my children and amable to help other mothers today. Thanks to everyone for caring about moms & babies.. Helen Curless,RN,IBCLC *********************************************** 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