Hi Betsy and all It seems that I have not made myself clear. You have said, "it is a gross exaggeration to assume that most ongoing education of nurses is given by formula companies. That is simply not true." What I said was "most docs and nurses here have ZERO preservice training in breastfeeding management and their in-service training is provided by formula companies." While that may not be the case where you live, it most certainly is true here. There are two maternal and child health nurse conferences held in Victoria (sth eastern state of Aus) each year. One is run by VicHealth. (and there are plenty of non-code-compliant reps at the trade stall) The other is run by Wyeth. This situation is not very different in other states. The large MCH conference held in NSW this year had no breastfeeding topics or seminars and the gifts I received from the artificial feeding industry made my skin crawl. In pointing this out, I am not entering into an us vs them conversation. I have the utmost respect for those health care professionals that are doing the very best they can with what they have. My point, is that, for the most part, here is Australia, they have very little education in breastfeeding management. I am in no way denigrating medical professionals. I am simply pointing to gaps in their training. I love the ABM and everything it stands for. I totally agree with Dr Wight's observation that Docs are socialised to be unwilling to ask what they see as a 'stupid' question in front of non-docs and that an ABM allows them to learn in an environment where they feel safe. We are all entitled to that. I hope that clears things up 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html