Good morning Nancy. Thank you for your thoughts... on this. It's so very valuable to hear them. I believe that the issue here is some nurses, physicians, IBCLCs, etc, dieticians (name the group of choice) do *not* support breastfeeding, do not choose to inform themselves about current evidence regarding breastfeeding. Where is the excuse for this, is my question? If a neonatologist did not inform themselves of current NICU research, or if a surgeon did not become familiar with current technique based on recent evidence, or if a pediatrician did not become current with technique involving treatment of diabetic children, would this be easily excused? I guess I do not understand why this is not at *least* as important as that to some medical or nursing or IBCLCs? I am not singling MDs out here. It's all of us. Name the specialty. We can all damn breastfeeding with faint praise... What does it take to convince a professional? I remain convinced that breastfeeding is a singular issue, apart from smoking around babies, apart from using carseats, apart from immunizations, etc. It stands alone because it is such a loaded issue. Kind regards, and with respect, Kathleen "doctors have "known" for years of the effects of formula use. " NOT TRUE!!! Most of the physicians (other than breastfeeding colleagues) I know do not really believe that breastfeeding is better for mother, baby or the economy. They give lip service to the party line, but they do NOT read or believe the research. They believe we breastfeeding zealots are overstating the case. I hear "I was formula fed and I'm OK" almost daily. One very good pediatrician I know claims (correctly) that none of his breastfed infants are ever re-admitted for jaundice. His secret? - he has every breastfeeding mother supplement with formula until the mother's full milk supply comes in. I cannot convince him that he is increasing risks of any immediate or long term problems. I believe that almost every physician really wants to do the best for his or her patients, they are just not convinced that breastfeeding makes a big difference. They rarely get the $$$ that hospitals do. Nancy Nancy E. Wight MD, FAAP, IBCLC Neonatologist, Children's Hospital, and Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women Medical Director, Lactation Services, Sharp HealthCare San Diego, CA, USA *********************************************** *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [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