I have been interested in all the various posts surrounding breastfeeding and cesarean. We all see such different segments of the population. The newborns that come to my practice tend to be referrals from the homebirth midwives; a select group that is very different than when I was working in the urgent care and VERY different from my residency training ( I wasn't exposed to homebirth in residency.) And of course it would be very different than what I saw in the NICU. I tend to see babies of mothers of four or more, post dates, extended breastfeeding is a given, and natural family planning. Minimal intervention is standard. The few midwife's patients who did end up with a cesarean or who had a previous cesarean also come to me and express much grief. I think a rotation for residents and students with a population like mine would be enlightening. I do appreciate all the different points of view shared Regarding this statement previously posted on lactnet: >>>Don't have any studies to quote but how can we forget the huge maternal >>>and fetal mortality before the advent of c-sections and modern medicine>>> I have found this study that supports that a woman is twice more likely to die during a cesarean. Bewley S. Maternal mortality and mode of delivery. Lancet 1999; 354: 776 Ina May Gaskins in her book Guide to Childbirth ( a must read for anyone interested in this tread) also discusses the earliest mortality data accumulated by midwives and physicians (some of it from preserved jpersonal journals a couple hundred years old). It seems that midwifery model has always had a safer record then the medical model of birth. Before any recorded data I can only assume vaginal birth (and breastfeeding!) works because we as humans have done a great job population the earth. The CDC released US Birth Data for 2003 and the total Cesarean Rate was 27.6% (up 6% from 2002). Looking at it from the other way... I have a hard time believing that 27% of woman were dying in childbirth before we doctors mastered the cesarean and we still managed to populate the world. Many cesareans are planned at the time of positive HCG (no kidding) or coerced with fear near the end of pregnancy with suspect diagnoses like low fluid or SGA following a failed induction to add up to 27%. Denise Punger MD FAAFP IBCLC, private practice, mother of three boys who breastfeeds 6 plus years and tandem, and had a successful undiagnosed double footling breech birth at a planned homebirth has proved to me to take a second look at what I have been previously taught. Fort Pierce, Florida http://denisepunger.tripod.com *********************************************** 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