Dear friends, Well, I'm glad to see that my fellow NJ LLLI Medical Associate has unpretentiously jumped into Lactnet and the discussion about educating docs without even a formal introduction (smile). I don't know if it's out of modesty or lack of NETiquette (nah, nor that); nonetheless I'd be happy to provide her credentials. Alicia Dermer, MD is a family practitioner with staff appointments at UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She is an active member of the NJ Taskforce for the Promotion of Breastfeeding and as mentioned earlier is a Medical Associate of LLLI. Sarah tells me that she is indeed one of those docs who is willing to stick her neck out for the good of the Cause. Welcome Alicia! Regarding "dumb docs", I'm sure we all have our anecdotes that we could relate perhaps from here to doomsday. And as pointed out by Kathleen B, this deficiency has been studied and published in JAMA. When it comes to educating docs about medications and breastfeeding, I concur with Alicia that physicians often respond best to presentations of respected medical publications. I use the January '94 piece in Pediatrics on "The Transfer of Drugs and Other Chemicals into Human Milk" (pp 137-50.) Also Briggs and sometimes the USPDI are worthwhile sources. Forget about the so-called doctor's prescribing bible, the PDR. It is written from a defensive medical standpoint and usually worthless as a resource for supporting the Bf'ing mom who requires medications. Sarah and I continue to look forward to the interesting input of all Lactnet participants whether they be fp's, pediatricians, LC's, LLL leaders or whoever has information to empower the group. Harry Chaikin, MD