Hi Sharon It is hard to understand the decisions that other people make. The mother you describe declared that her meds were non-negotiable. These are the challenges clinicians face. For this mother the misery caused by untreated rhinitis made treatment non-negotiable. (I have some sympathy - a foggy head makes for a very unpleasant Mummy!) Here we might support this mother by asking her whether she would consider trying a different treatment regime that would be less likely to affect her capacity for milk synthesis. (Psuedoephedrine is not the most effective treatment anyway - wonder if she had developed a dependency that she wasn't willing to disclose???) Topical corticosteroids, nonsedating antihistamines ... Just goes to show that LCs have to have a very very wide knowledge base, I guess. I suspct that if the mother feels heard, that she feels that her Lc understands her need to be free of 'fog-head' then she is more likely to feel that they are working together for the same outcome. Maybe this is one of those mothers for whom success is defined as some breastfeeding or exclusive breastfeeding for a time. Sometimes (well often really) when I see medical professionals, I don't feel that they are working with me towards the same goal. (The surgeon's goal seems to be to remove the tonsils and solve the immediate problem. My goal is to optimise the *overall* health and wellbeing of my child. Surgery my facilitate that but on balance, it may not.) My personal value-system might be as horrified as yours but my professional value system has to prioritise support for the mother's own (informed - and I will tell her about the possible ramifications of her options) choice. Cheers 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