<If only I had known 20 years ago what I know now, I might have been a much better mother and have less heartache and mourning for what might have been. It was my personal experiences that set me on the road to becoming an IBCLC. I am only too aware of the practical differences between bottle feeding and breastfeeding and still grieve for my own lost opportunities every day.> Hilary, I empathize strongly with your feelings even 4+ decades later. I was finally able to go on to a long successful nursing relationship with my 4th and 5th children. I abandoned my previous attempts at 5 days each because I couldn't stand the pain, and I didn't know "where to go from there". The feeling I remember most strongly was that "someone gypped me out of something" with my first 3 children. The breastfeeding experience changed me as a person, a mother, a wife and a nurse. In retrospect, I can see that without that pain I experienced, and the feeling of acute loss I became aware of, I personally would never have had the keen appreciation of how vitally important it is that a mother receive knowledgeable support. And I would not have had the determination to find ways to give that support that led me to the IBCLC pathway and to where I am today. Jean ****** K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC Dayton, Ohio USA *********************************************** 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