I totally agree with others that the quality of support varies whether 
you're online or on the phone or face to face.  I also agree that all those 
forms of support are really valuable.

However, I thought that this thread started back with whether Lactnet was an 
appropriate place for mothers to get personal support.

I've been thinking about this over the years and more so in the last couple 
of days.  In the end I decided that I don't think this is the right place 
for mothers to come for support for their own issues (unless, as Rachel 
said, there are exceptional circumstances).  For me, the reasons that come 
to mind are

1. this actually isn't a list designed for mums to gain support.  Allowing 
this list to become a place for mothers to gain direct support will likely 
clog the list and mean that many currently involved would abandon the list 
and the current teaching and learning that everyone brings may evaporate.

2. As mentioned by others, there are lots of places around the world, where 
you can gain free counselling either one to one email, or on message boards 
or email lists for support with breastfeeding.  Mothers are actually not 
lacking in places to gain support.  I don't know about now but five years 
ago Lactnet stated upfront that this was not a place for personal issues and 
that if you had personal issues that required help that you could go to 
Parent-L for support.  (I remember because I availed myself of the wonderful 
Parent-L when I had issues).

3. You would not expect to be able to visit a list for doctors with your own 
problems, why should anyone expect lactation professionals and volunteers to 
use their learning/teaching/debriefing time to help mums.  I would imagine 
that all, or at least the vast majority of lactneters already put energy and 
time in elsewhere to helping mums either directly or indirectly.

4. I don't think that those reading the list automatically have their head 
in the space to be counselling mums on the list.  There will be assumptions 
made, particularly if it isn't made clear that it is a personal query from a 
mum, about what has already been tried or considered.  I don't think this is 
fair to mums and my thought was that this is what Rachel meant by
"Mothers are generally better served by in-person help than by counting on 
whatever they can find on line, and that is the reason for this part of the 
guidelines."

and finally
5. The listmothers very generously offer to be contacted directly for 
support, just not post to the list.  Whether they offer one to one support 
or whether they refer on, the mums are being taken care of.

I think the listmums deserve due credit for their generosity, both for the 
support they offer mums and the fact that they give lactation professionals, 
volunteers and interested parties a list that is not clogged but that is 
also not closed so that many have and will continue to discover the list 
without knowing 'someone' first.

Regards
Suzie Heaton
Australia
Still amazed that it was lactnet that connected me to volunteers just 1/2 
hour down the road :-) and that it's nearly 6 years since I joined. 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome