I have been following the discussion on helping mothers want to breastfeed their baby. Millions of dollars have been poured into breastfeeding promotion programs using numerous approaches. The National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign was supposed to use a risk based approach describing the health outcomes of not breastfeeding. Approaching breastfeeding as free, healthy, as a mechanism for close attachment, as a means to lose weight, as a money saver for the health care system, as a protection for mothers against numerous conditions, etc, still fails to reach many women. I just read an article in the May 2006 supplement to Pediatrics written by a pediatrician in Biloxi, Mississippi detailing what it was like to provide pediatric care following hurricane Katrina. He states, "Because safe drinking water to mix with the formula would be a long time coming, it was truly an optimum time to discharge all infants on breast milk. Even after lengthy discussions of the benefits of breastfeeding, especially now, mothers of the first 3 newborns chose to use formula. Even in a natural disaster with no running water, some moms still will not be motivated to breastfeed. So we discharged these infants with formula and disposable nipples." He goes on to describe how he visited families in apartment buildings, finding dozens of mothers feeding infants bottled water because that's all that was available. One wonders what it will take to get the message across regarding breastfeeding. Even in the face of a natural disaster with unknown means of providing food for their infants, mothers still refuse to breastfeed. How sad. Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC Weston, MA *********************************************** 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