In a message dated 4/12/99 8:56:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Alicia Dermer writes: << Obviously, there are physicians who, themselves, or their spouses, breastfed very happily, optimally and successfully. But, just like our general society, they are few and far between. >> I'd go farther -- I think that relative to others of similar education and socio-economic level physicians and their spouses are *less* likely to have breastfed their children. Many physicians have their children during the years in which they are residents or fellows, when there is enormous pressure to go back to full time work -- and full time of the most exaggerated kind -- within six weeks or even less after a birth (compare lawyers -- in the big, hard-driving New York lawfirms it has become routine for women associates to take 3-6 months of maternity leave, and if it's unpaid, well, they can afford it and they do). Physician fathers sometimes may have an even more extreme case of the feeling that so many new fathers do have, that it is there responsibility to alleviate their partner's perceived suffering, in childbirth and in its immediate aftermath -- and "doing it for her" by telling her she "doesn't have to do that" is one way to achieve that. Plus in a milieu where none of their teachers or colleagues is likely to bf (see paragraph above), they have some social conditioning to believe that it just isn't that important. I know a lot of physicians in their 30s and they are by far the least-prone-to-bf segment of my acquaintance. Does anyone else out there know if there has been any kind of study of this population and its habits? Leslie, does the 1995 JAMA article by Gary Freed that you mentioned talk about this? (I'm sorry to rely on the research kindness of strangers -- as a lay bf type without institutional affiliation it is harder for me to get hold of research quickly than I wish it were -- advice on this topic welcome too, thanks.) Because if not, I'd say that one of the things that could most influence how the physicians of the coming years manage their bf patients might be how their medical schools and residencies and fellowships manage them. Med students and residents and recent attendings out there, any comments or thoughts? Elisheva Urbas lay bf agitator in NYC *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html