Katherine says


>But we shouldn't be so quick to 'pass' on personal experience, because
>there isn't anything to prove it.

True, as long as we know the difference between personal experience, other
people's personal experience, stuff that's been shown to help by repetition
among other people whose work we respect, stuff that's been subjected to
clinical testing, stuff that's speculative, and stuff that's done just
because it's always been done that way......I suppose the skill we apply
here is  critical judgement, which we practice and polish in forums such as
Lactnet.

Sometimes, stuff we 'know' to be true turns out to be pretty flaky when we
really think about it, and try to find the evidence for it.  I would want
to be challenged on this sort of stuff myself, and when I am leading
tutorials (for trainee breastfeeding counsellors) or marking their work, I
want to know how they 'know' that something they state as a fact is really
true.  If it's not a fact, but an impression, or a feeling,  or something
someone told them once (or even twice!), then it doesn't mean it's wrong,
but they do need to know the difference.

> I think there is room for both
>in the field, the practical and the research based.

I agree - not only room for it, but it's essential : )  Sometimes, one
becomes the other, too.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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