OK, if it is confession time, I emerge from lurkdom to confess also.
Every morning I give a group breastfeeding class to the new moms in our
hospital.  All babies are released from their plastic boxes, and either
breastfeed or sleep peacefully on their moms' arms, and when all are
either plugged in or relaxed, I do my class.  There are only 30 seats in
the room and all are usually full and often I have to turn away moms for
lack of room, unless they want to learn how to breastfeed while
standing, which is often useful when you have more than two kids.

Last week a bottle-feeding mom wandered in and sat down, as often
happens when they are too lazy to go back to their rooms or go around
the corner to another feeding area.  I politely asked her to go to
another room since this was a breastfeeding class, and I need all the
seats for nursing moms.  Usually they understand and leave.  This mom
adamantly refused and insisted that she had every right to stay.  I
tried to explain, and she did leave only to return with three other
bottle feeding moms who sat down very defiantly.

OK, normally, the first part of my lecture is what I call "marketing"
based on my feeling that if you are really convinced that breast milk is
the best and only food for your baby, you will be more likely to succeed
and overcome most hurdles.  I hold up a bottle of the other stuff in one
hand and point to my own breast to compare, and do the  usual comparison
on the difference between this and that, using all the evidence based
research--- you all know the drill, right.  That day, I did that part so
well, emphasizing the differences, quoting SIDS statistics, the HMO
studies, etc.  I was very friendly, very positive, never made one
comment about the hazards of formula, but it was clear that the food of
choice for  human babies was breast milk and NOTHING could replace it,
or come even close.  And that   any mom who  chose not to breastfeed
should do so on the basis of correct information, not just because her
neighbor/sil/mil/friend didn't enjoy it.

By the time I finished, the bottlers were cowering in the  corner, the
three who joined were glaring at their friend, and  one after class
asked of it was too late to try to breastfeed.  HAH!!!  Oh yes, and one
of the bottle-babies puked up all the  yucky stuff at a very timely
point in the lecture, as if he really understood that this stuff was
pure plastic and chemicals.

I felt a tiny bit guilty because I knew that I  overdid it, but
honestly, they asked for it.  I  couldn't resist......

Is that considered "missionary" behavior we are always being accused
of?  :-)

Esther Grunis, IBCLC
Tel Aviv, Israel
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