Hi everyone, Debbie Albert here. It has been quite a long time since I posted on Lactnet. I have been reading here and there, but have not had the time to post because I am actively completing a nursing degree--which will finally be done on Dec. 11, 2004! I have always been a private practice LC, and even though my doctoral dissertation was about personality characteristics and breastfeeding duration, I found that I was seriously limiting my chances in this field without a nursing degree. Through my nursing program, I had the chance to shadow a colleague of mine at a local hospital during my OB clinicals--and I got quite a different perspective. I usually get to work with mothers when they are post-hospital, and I must say it is quite different. Private practice LCs who are critical of the accomplishments of hospital LCs need to understand the circumstances. Esther Grunis' submission about non-latching babies is a gem because that is basically what I experienced. I must say, it raised my frustration level. I got the opportunity to check the birth log at this hospital. Seventy-four of the last 200 births were c-sections(a 37% c-section rate), and unmedicated births are an unusual circumstance, so when I read Esther's post, it struck a cord. Don't get me wrong, private LCs get our share of non-latching babies also, but it doesn't compare to the level seen immediately postpartum in the hospital. It is very important to share input about these non-latching infants, and the care directed toward them. Perhaps it will help hospitals to develop protocols about how to deal with these cases. Thanks Esther. Debbie Albert, Ph.D., IBCLC, RLC (soon to be RN!) Tampa Lactation Counseling Tampa, FL *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html