I, too, heard a report on the local news about the statistics of nursing women. It stated that women of higher social classes and higher educations were likely to breastfeed and to do so for longer than women of lower social classes and education levels. I once read a joke about women being measured in numbers (weight, height, breast and waist sizes etc.). It said something along the lines that these are just numbers ... and that statistics are numbers and as we all know, statistics lie. IMO ... there are exceptions to every rule. In reading the threads on this topic I took to my "handy-dandy" Oxford Dictionary. It states in likeness to the thoughts I have attatched below. It's definition of breast-feeding is "to feed a baby at the breast.". The definition of nursing is "... 2. feed or be fed at the breast. 3. hold or treat carefully. 4. a)foster or promote the development of. ..." Just some intersting nicey bits ... Jodi Barnard Ladner, British Columbia [log in to unmask] "But as Diane says, there is so much more to it. I both use and explain the language ("breast feeding" vs nursing) with almost every call or consult. Consider how many breastfeeding challenges can be met or eased with an understanding of the difference!" *********************************************** 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