Norma: I've been preaching for years that all a young baby's needs are met by the breast (I didn't realize I was paraphrasing Dick Grantley-Read!) except one. The one need not met is a diaper change, and I figure that's what Dad is for. This need to HAVE things by mothers has been escalating at an alarming rate over just the last few years. Women come to the prenatal breastfeeding class either with a pump in tow or a list of questions about which pump to buy. They spend all their time and energy looking for breastfeeding things to buy that they have no concept of how breastfeeding works - breast and baby. Period. I think the lactation community in many respects is as guilty as the formula salesmen in leading women to believe they cannot nurse unless they have a pump to "protect their milk supply", lanolin to "cure" sore nipples, a nipple shield because their nipples might not be perfect enough, breast shells just in case...and so on. When did we lose sight of mothers and babies nursing? It is heartwrenching to hear a mother state that she has absolutely no desire to actually nurse her baby, but she wants her baby to get her milk so that he can get the "best nutrition". This scenario has become all too common in recent years also. How do we address this issue? I find it very difficult. Nursing one's baby is the most empowering awesome experience a woman can have. It's too bad more and more women will never know. Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL 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