> >A nearby high school health teacher (who breastfed her own baby) has asked >that one of the local LCs come in and talk to her class for about an hour. >I'd like to oblige, and was wondering if someone could share a ready-made >outline. The focus ought to be on why to breastfeed, more than on how to >breastfeed. I used to present to a high school class each semester. One thing that helped a lot was for a nursing mother to go with me. She spoke for a brief time and answered a few questions but the "prop" was most valuable. The best one was a young mother who was about 18. I had known her for several months and her 4 month-old baby girl was charming. When this mother began speaking to the teens I felt that it was a foreign language. Her demeanor, inflection, and vocabulary were totally different from what she had portrayed to the LC. She spoke "Teen" and they related amazingly. She let them know how surprised she was that feeding her baby was so enjoyable. She hoped that they would do it too. I still speak to groups of girls who are part of a School Age Parenting Program. I stress the importance of physical and emotional bonding with the baby and share how valuable that is for breastfeeding success. I let them know that it is so much more enjoyable to be with a baby and child whom we are closely connected to. Also that it is something that is uniquely theirs to give their babies. I don't find that telling of babies who are sick less goes far with most of young people. They are not usually into health, including their own. Speaking to teens who are already pregnant is different, of course, from the class that you will be presenting to. I assume that it will be a mixed-gender class and you would want to offer some supportive information to the guys. Hopefully others on this list will have more detailed suggestions for you. Patricia Gima, IBCLC Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mailto:[log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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