Of course birth affects both the mother and baby's ability to breastfeed. This isn't a new concept, and it's a HUGE issue worldwide. The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) is a group of over 30 organizations and individuals who joined forces to create the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative in 1996. The MFCI Ten Steps include the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative as the 10th step. I'm ILCA's representative to CIMS. For more information, including a downloadable copy of the MFCI Ten Steps and the parents' version (Ten Questions to Ask When You're Having a Baby), go to www.motherfriendly.org and see what we're doing. Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre www.bflrc.com 6540 Cedarview Ct., Dayton, OH 45459-1214 USA (937) 438-9458 email [log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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