Lucy said "We should not do frenotomies just because nothing has specifically said we should not. I'm sure if word got out about it, the medical community, MDs, DDSs, CNPs, everyone, would be up in arms. It's just like the situation with medications. There are many times we know better than the woman's MD that she can take a particular medication and continue to breastfeed, but if we start telling her that her doctor doesn't know what he/she's talking about that will not go over well when word gets back to the doc. We have to try to educate the medical community, sometimes through the moms, sometimes directly." I can't help wondering what happens to all the mothers and their infants who are tongue-tied while IBCLCs nurture their relationships with the medical establishment. Surely, if a practice can be supported with good research evidence, is carried out skilfully and prudently it matters little what the ignorant ENT down the road thinks. The first principle of biomedical ethics is 'Do not harm'. In some cases, failing to act is doing harm. In most cases, if a tongue tie is not sorted out, the outcome is artificial feeding ... We know that is harmful. Of course I am not suggesting deliberately setting fire to good relationships with our local MDs - but when they are wrong, they are wrong and mothers have a right to know. There are ways to let them know this without saying, 'your doctor is an idiot'. I personally like, 'doctors are really busy people. They don't always have time to read all the new information that comes across their desks. Let's have a look at what the definitive textbook on medications and mother's milk has to say about this.' I also realize that if MD's won't refer to you then, mothers won't get your help and then many mothers and their infants suffer a great harm. However, I would hate to think that we are more worried about harming our relationship with the 'establishment' than we are about harming individual mothers and babies. Perhaps we could create a list of ways to let mothers know that they have been given dud info without compromising our professional standing. Nina Berry BA/Bed(Hons) Dip Arts(Phil) Breastfeeding Counsellor PhD Candidate - "Ethical Issues in the marketing of 'Toddler Milks'" *********************************************** 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