For Deborah:  I am also a WIC breastfeeding Coordinator.  I think your idea
for getting staff to identify their own barriers may be a good approach,
however maybe for some it's a personal issue.  My approach, since we have
both non-mothers, and male account clerks is to educate about some of the
advantages, and include some advantages for them as taxpayers as well and
people who hopefully care about the environment and excessive spending of
health care dollars.  I also stress that their own personal feelings and
experiences are not really so important but rather I define what their role
as a WIC employee is regarding breastfeeding and give examples of how to act
and what to say to participants.  With professional staff who might have
never given birth or breastfed and feel uncomfortable promoting breastfeeding
I give clear guidelines for what to ask and how to ask it and how to identify
barriers and what literature to give and to always try to refer the client to
a peer counselor or myself.
For Anna:  I don't think there is anything wrong with giving support or
sharing information on the internet if you want to, just be careful how you
phrase things.  The internet is full of message boards with people helping
people, why should it be any different with breastfeeding issues?
For Sharon:  Why shouldn't a nurse be able to mention to a patient that from
what she has learned the signs and symptoms might  indicate such and such and
perhaps she could discuss this with her doctor.  After all we are medical
professionals as well and are trained to make a nursing diagnosis.  The key
is to phrase it as such.   I've been off line for several months because my
computer was down and I was upset about missing go much information on
Lactnet.  Are we really still discussing EZZO?  Can anyone tell me how to
find out about conferences and trainings on the net?