Of course, there are a lot of ways to encourage and educate moms, without being aggressive and punitive in demeanor.  We had a recent case where a pro-breastfeeding mom was totally turned off by the aggressive stances her nurses took, and switched to bottle-feeding -- though I hope she will go back to breast once she has gone home and calmed down.

How we advocate is as important as what we advocate.  

During WBW week we were all given buttons that show a cow, teats forward, with an X through it.  The statement is human milk for human babies.  One of our official LCs was wearing it recently, and another nurse asked her if she felt it was fair to wear this around non-breastfeeding mothers.  The LC was very upset, said strongly "of course it's fair!!  and stomped off.  The same nurse asked me about it later.  I also said "of course, it's fair,"  but without the drama.  I went on to explain that
1) the LC, in particular, only goes to the bedside of BF moms, in the
 first place.  But since many of our staff wear this button too, I added 
that, 2) our jobs, the LCs' and the rest of the staffs' , is to bring 
awareness to the situation, and to educate, as well as to assist and 
 support the feeding efforts of all the moms.    While we do not intend 
to make bottlefeeding moms feel guilty, neither do we intend to 
pretend that they are making the only choice, or the best choice they 
can, in most situations.

My co-worker, by the way, is someone I totally trust to assist moms 
with breastfeeding: she is caring, supportive and knowledgeable.  She 
is also someone who had very poor support for breastfeeding  when 
she had her baby five years ago (in our own hospital), and ultimately 
"had" to bottle feed.  She is also working on having another baby, and 
planning to breastfeed, acknowledging that the problems she had 
before would probably have been surmountable, if she had had 
the knowledgeable support and assistance we now provide.   

BUT:  Opal, in her tale, states that she was put off the floor due to one written complaint by an offended patient.  If one patient writes to say she was offended because there was no LC or equivalent to talk to her and assist her, will this mean the hospital administration (or the nurse manager of the unit) will re-instate Opal in this role?  What if the patient writes to say she was under-served or under-informed or made a choice detrimental to her child's health for lack of adequate information?

Probably not, and that's what makes me steam, light up, and reach for the Rescue Remedy.  In yet another fashion, BF is sacrificed on the altar of ignorance.

Sincerely,  Chanita, San Francisco

(Will RRR become an acronym here for REACH for the RESCUE REMEDY?   Maybe that's what the RRR in A-RRR-GH stands for.)